Well, dear readers, here it is, the day before Thanksgiving, the day we give thanks for turkey, cranberries, yams, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberries, not necessarily in that order. Meanwhile, I sit here like so much fish, writing these here notes, and have just gotten to the Finnish line with this new Sibelius set conducted by Paavo Berglund who, I believe, is Finninsh. I will say that Sibelius really knew how to Finnish a hat. We don’t allow groaning here at haineshisway.com. In any case, while the sound isn’t perfect (but it is very good), these performances are much more to my liking than Colin Davis and Lorin Maazel. I still have to listen to the remastered Bernstein, which will be here next week, but I think that will be it for a while. While I’ve always loved these symphonies, it’s been grand fun getting to know each of them a lot better. For sound, the three symphonies Ormandy did for Columbia remain, for me, the best sounding of all, as they have incredible orchestral detail. But Berglund really does a good job with all seven symphonies and from the fifth on they take a turn for the better, sound-wise.
Yesterday was another perfectly fine little day – nothing eventful really, but no terrors or irritants and for that I am grateful, but no Major Miracles either, so keep sending those strongest most excellent vibes and xylophones for some outstanding and necessary Major Miracles. We can use ‘em. I got eight hours of sleep and woke up three minutes after the alarm was supposed to go off, but didn’t. Once up, I answered e-mails, had a telephonic conversation, and then went and had some chicken tenders for my meal o’ the day. Since packages had yet to arrive, I came home. Waiting for me to proof was the packaging for our next release – it’s a great looking package. I found a few fixes including a bunch of stuff we’d left out of the credits, so I spent a couple of hours researching and adding that information then got that back to Doug for fixing. He sent it back with the corrections corrected and I sent it on for further proofing by other eyes and then it can go in for approval. We’ve been sitting on this one for four or five months, just because it took me a really long time to get up the energy to write the liner notes, which came out kind of good, I think.
The helper came by, and then I went and picked up some packages, then came home. I began by uploading everything into the computer in terms of the CDs that arrived and I listened to the first two Sibelius symphonies, then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Time After Time, starring Mr. Malcolm McDowell, Mr. David Warner, and Miss Mary Steenburgen. I’ve always loved the movie as did audiences and critics when it came out. I saw it the night it opened and the audience was laughing like crazy and then rapt with attention when the film turns a little darker at the end. It holds up pretty well – Nicholas Meyer’s script is terrific and his direction gets the job done. The special effects are low budget and not very good. But it’s the actors who sell it and they’re all superb. The transfer won’t win any awards and I do think it could look better, but it’s fine and the film is just so enjoyable that I can highly recommend it.
I also watched about thirty minutes of the new Criterion Blu-ray of One-Eyed Jacks. Everyone has been absolutely raving about this new restoration and transfer from the original VistaVision negative. And the sharpness and quality is terrific. In the notes about the transfer they say that the cyan layer had faded and they had to use that layer from 35mm – and that’s where my disappointment comes in – the blues are never what they should be – in the Technicolor prints they were blazingly blue and the lack of that makes everything a bit too brown and I just wish it were more accurate in terms of color – that said, they probably did what they could do. But the clarity is lovely and I’m a fan of the film. The other downside is the mono sound, which is okay sounding but not great. They only had the music/effects/dialogue track. The fact is had anyone actually asked me I could have provided them with the three-track complete score in stereo – I still have all those transfers. But they didn’t, but you can hear how great they sounded in our two-track mixdown on our CD. I’ll write more when I’ve finished the movie.
After that, I went to Gelson’s for a snack – about three ounces of their freshly cooked ham, about two ounces of mac-and-cheese, and some cucumber roll, all calorie-friendly amounts. I came home and at them whilst listening to the other Sibelius symphonies, before moving on to some more Milhaud symphonies, which I’m enjoying very much. I also got the Bernstein The Planets and listened to a bit of Mars – maybe something was awry so I shut it off and will listen again today, but unless my ears were deceiving me, it sounds really kind of not good.
Today I’m hoping for a nice, relaxing day with no work at all save for writing some commentary and definitely a jog. At three I’m supping with Sami and her mom – haven’t seen them since The Brain concert. Hopefully I’ll pick up some packages and I’ll finish One-Eyed Jacks and listen to more music.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I’m on my own, like Eponine. I’ll figure out the food thing, but I might just go somewhere and have a nice meal, or I’ll bring something in. Friday I’ve been invited to a day after Thanksgiving partay and I might just go to it. The weekend is, I hope, free of stuff. Then we have our Kritzerland rehearsal week and show.
Here are some photos from the recording session last weekend. First here’s a photo I just love – Kay and I in the booth. These are all shot by Kay’s ever-lovin’ Michael Lamont.
Here’s my wonderful engineer John Adams and li’l ol’ me.
And here’s our merry troupe – John Adams, me, Kay, and John Boswell.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, write, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have gotten to the Finnish line with another set of the wonderful Sibelius symphonies.