Well, dear readers, guess what I’m doing? Yes, listening to music – music soothes the savage breast, you know. And my breast is savage, let me tell you that. Oh, wait, it’s not breast, it’s beast, music soothes the savage beast. I was wondering how music could soothe my savage breast when my breast is feeling so damn savage that the only thing that would sooth it is a brassiere made of donuts. In any case, I am listening to music. I’ve been listening to a lot of film music by British composers – a series of CDs on Chandos. While I don’t care for the sound or even the conducting, these are kind of indispensible for the content and composers – there are three volumes of William Alwyn and Ralph Vaughan Williams, there are wonderful volumes devoted to Georges Auric, Malcolm Arnold, Francis Chagrin, Alan Rawsthorne, Arthur Benjamin, Arthur Bliss, Leighton Lucas, Stanley Black and more. While most of those names may not be familiar, if you’re a fan of classic British films of the Golden Age the films they scored will certainly be familiar to you – such great movies as Odd Man Out, Fallen Idol, Treasure Island, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Stage Fright, some Ealing movies, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Innocents, Moulin Rouge, Things to Come, and tons more. I also have gone in search of a great recording of The Planets after hearing the Stokowski. I think I may have one or two buried away in the closet but they’d be budget releases. So, I did a lot of reading up and decided on four.
So, after about five and a half hours of sleep, she of the Evil Eye arrived, I went and had some bacon and eggs and toast, oh, my, and then I went to Amoeba with some credit and found one of the four I was looking for – conducted by William Steinberg with the Boston Symphony, originally released on Deutsche Gramophone back in 1971 or thereabouts. It got very high marks from a lot of people, with many listing it as their favorite. When I got home I uploaded it right away and it was completely magical in interpretation and performance. From what I’ve read, Mr. Steinberg used the Holst metronome markings religiously and while it bothers some people that the first movement, Mars, is faster than they’re used to, it’s what Mr. Holst wanted. I used to really fancy this music, then went through a period where I’d had enough and it’s probably been over twenty years since I’ve heard it – and it really is a masterpiece in every way. Not just the more famous bits, but all of it. It’s so evocative and mysterious and powerful and ethereal. And boy has it stood the test of time, especially in this reading. I’ll report on the others when I get and have heard them. The three others (all bought on Amazon for under five bucks) also get very high marks, but I’ll be surprised if any of them best this Steinberg – not only the performance but the amazingly clear sound.
I did pick up one package that actually arrived on Friday (the box set of Mahler symphonies conducted by Leonard Bernstein – one of those mini-LP cover things I’m so fond of). At home again, I got the first DGA screener of the season, a motion picture entitled Touched With Fire starring Katie Holmes, about two people who are bi-polar, who come together. I must say at times it plays more like the Snake Pit than the kind of bi-polar people I’ve been acquainted with. It’s very earnest, kind of plodding, lots of whispering and mumbling by the cast, and, for me, it was just kind of blah (halb, spelled backwards).
After the movie, I went back to uploading CDs (I also nuked about 1500 tracks because I couldn’t synch my iPod as it was out of room). I’ll be interested to revisit the Mahler music – back in the 1980s, which is when I first had my initial dose of Gustav, I was quite obsessed with some of his music, most especially the fifth and sixth symphonies and the adagio of the unfinished tenth. But it’s been a long time since I’ve listened and I’ll be curious to see how I feel all these years later. Otherwise, I pretty much just relaxed and even dozed off for about an hour on the couch, on which I was sitting like so much fish. I also went to Gelson’s and got a couple of snacks to nosh on during the evening hours.
Today, I really have to buckle down, Winsocki and finish choosing the Kritzerland songs for the holiday show and assign them and get them to the singers. I’ll also eat, jog, write some liner notes, then relax and watch a movie and listen to more music.
This week is mostly getting the packaging done for our next release, on Tuesday I have what I hope will be a very productive lunch meeting with Richard Sherman and a really interesting writer, Thursday we have a work session with Kay Cole, and then we finally do her album over the weekend.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, choose songs, assign songs, get songs to singers, write liner notes, eat, jog, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, whilst music continues to soothe the savage breast as well as the savage beast.