after dinner music

Cover of Ludwig van Beethoven











It appears that scribefire, a blog editing tool, is not supporting youtube video clips. Back to the onboard editor for this post.

Yesterday was an eight hands/two piano session which turned into a marathon of sorts, beginning at noon and lasting till ten in the evening. There were breaks early for lunch, for afternoon refreshment, then for dinner - but the pianists continued after dinner.


Music for the afternoon included Haydn, Mozart, Liszt, Joplin, Beethoven (two complete symphonies, including all repeats), and Wagner. In honor of my recent concert at the Napa Valley College where we had a chorus of over 100 singers plus orchestra performing the final movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony, John and friends played the entire symphony.  Launching into the chorus section prompted a choral outburst from at least two pianists - "Freude!"



For dinner we had southern California style tacos courtesy of John, Rancho Gordo beans, a fresh vegetable platter, guacamole, and olive oil citrus cake described about a year ago. After dinner, another light piece by Wagner:

Jellin'

It is harvest season in Napa. Our wine group, "Leap of Faith" has just pressed out the cabernet sauvignon for 2009. The merlot was pressed about two weeks ago. We brought home several buckets of prime cabernet grapes to make jelly again. Here is the recipe. After getting the first batch made and sealed, I tootled off to sing with the Cinnabar Womens' Chorus. Dear John volunteered to make more jelly in my absence.




The drive to Petaluma is about 45 minutes each way, so rehearsal and commute takes about 4 hours. What greeted me on my return was a counter full of freshly sealed jelly jars, dozens and dozens of them. Such riches of fresh and juicy jelly. There may be many stockings full of yummy ruby lushness this Christmas. Two years ago John made several batches of huckleberry jam - almost all gone now. No longer will we search the pantry for that last jar of jam - the basement larder has been re-stocked.

... or a brick

Another choral music post, this time with a direct window to a Columbia University version of "Brick" by Ben Folds. I prefer this arrangement to the one Ben Folds liked. Not so much "beat box" - and it has female voices!

Ben Folds Acapella

An NPR driveway moment happened today featuring Ben Folds who has discovered college acapella music. The newscast, if you missed it, is in the link and is about 8 minutes long. For many of us BOCA (Best of College Acapella) has been an annual treasure.

I recall my brother John becoming a "barbershopper" in middle school. John is now a big Ben Folds fan and lives once again in North Carolina. Funny how that works. My own kids became "barbershoppers" in high school, then went on to college acapella and beyond. I felt the pull to sing again myself and joined a choral group. There is no feeling to compare to ringing a chord with a well-tuned choral group.

Silver Apples of the Moon - youtube version

Silver Apples of the Moon

Here's a video link for a little W.B. Yeats:

"Wandering Aengus" - also known as "Silver Apples of the Moon" performed by the Cinnabar Women's Chorus in Petaluma ... our Monday evening choral group.

I may try posting a link to the youtube version also, but let's see how this works!

persimmons redux

This past Friday I became a woman possessed. I looked out of the dining room window and noticed a large mockingbird eating the persimmon at the left of the picture. While I have been willing to share the bounty of the fig tree, and did not hoist a net over the tree this summer, I have only these 7 lovely persimmons on the newly planted young tree. The weight of the fruit is so great that it bent the main stem (it can hardly be called a trunk).

I shrieked and called Jasmine (the perfect dog) to help me roust the mockingbird from his perch on the wobbly branch. Jasmine ran down the stairs and eagerly chased the bird.

The persimmons were carefully harvested and brought inside to finish ripening in the dining room in a place of honor. The cake plate is a "Fire and Light" Mother's Day present from Anna.

I left the half eaten one for the mockingbird...



"Fire and Light" is a recycled glass manufacturing company in Arcata, CA. They make lovely things out of a now abundant resource. Unfortunately, the store selling these pretty and useful things has been affected by the recession.

But here in Napa, perhaps they will be a persimmon pudding. Perhaps they will be a persimmon frozen yogurt.

In our women's chorus for the Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma we just sang our Christmas concert. One of the songs was a Randall Thompson setting for the Robert Frost poem - "Come In". The mockingbird was not invited in, though he sought to "better his perch"...






As I came to the edge of the woods,
Thrush music -- hark!
Now if it was dusk outside,
Inside it was dark.

Too dark in the woods for a bird
By sleight of wing
To better its perch for the night,
Though it still could sing.

The last of the light of the sun
That had died in the west
Still lived for one song more
In a thrush's breast.

Far in the pillared dark
Thrush music went --
Almost like a call to come in
To the dark and lament.

But no, I was out for stars;
I would not come in.
I meant not even if asked;
And I hadn't been.