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December 28, 2016:

THE JOY OF DELLO JOIO

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, as I sit at the computer like so much fish writing these here notes, I am listening to the music of one of my all-time favorite American composers, Norman Dello Joio, whose music brings me much Dello joy. I discovered his music when I was a serious LP collector in the 1970s and finding out about all manner of composers I knew nothing about, thanks to lots of recommendations and just seeking out very rare early LP albums of music, with an emphasis on the rare. One of them was an old Columbia LPs, a real rarity, had made its way into my collection – a disc that had a Dello Joio harp concerto along with David Diamond’s Music for Romeo and Juliet. One listen to that harp concerto made me a huge fan of Mr. Dello Joio and I immediately sought out everything I could find on LP (interestingly, that early Columbia LP and other rarities from that era have never been released on CD – a shame), including his wonderful The Triumph of Saint Joan and Variations, Chaconne, and Finale, along with some other wonderful works. Years later, when we made Bay Cities, I was determined to get some Dello Joio and indeed we did, and those albums were amongst my favorites we did, despite the not so great mono sound (I’d love to revisit those tapes today with the fellow who restores old stuff for us).

So, I’d already uploaded his wonderful score to a TV documentary called Air Power and it was so enjoyable that I added the Bay Cities stuff into iTunes. But the CDs were buried in the hall closet – and for whatever reason I hadn’t pulled them out until just a couple of days ago. And I’ve been listening to all this glorious music since, including albums that were in the CD closet on top of a shelf that I hadn’t looked at in years. His music is tonal, gorgeous, and doesn’t sound like anyone else’s. For me, he’s right up there with Robert Ward and Copland, but uniquely his own. A trip to You Tube will let you hear some of his wonderful music – I recommend it highly.

Yesterday was kind of an okay day. I slept almost eight hours, got up, did my morning stuff, then went and had a bacon and cheese omelet and an English muffin (and some fruit). I then ascertained that there was nothing to pick up at the mail place, so I came right home. The helper got back from her vacation and picked up invoices. I chose some more songs and am almost finished with that business. I listened to music whilst beginning a sweep of the soundtrack section in the CD closet – where once I was trying to be a completist, I am now done with that silliness. There are simply things on the shelves that I will never ever go near, so I pulled about fifty of them – some are quite rare so I put those up on Amazon to see what happens. I intend to keep going through this stuff over the next few days – the non-rare stuff will go with the helper over to Amoeba and we’ll get what we can get and I’ll be able to put away stuff that’s on the floor and stacked above CDs on the shelves – that will be very nice. It’s just the stuff by composers I don’t care about and movies I don’t care about – things I just had for the sake of having – who needs that anymore? Not me. Not I. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.

First I listened to an SACD of the Khachaturian violin concerto (and also Prokofiev and Glauzanov concertos), whilst thinking about various and sundried things. The SACD, a recording of recent vintage on the Pentatone label, was quite good I thought. Very open and clean and the soloist was very talented. Then I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Lodger, the sound version starring Laird Cregar and Merle Oberon, directed by John Brahm. I really like the film and its score by Hugo Friedhofer a whole lot, but the transfer is sketchy – if you have the DVD you have this transfer – it’s okay for DVD, less so for Blu-ray, which is why a couple of reviews that gave it high marks are baffling to me. Maybe this is the best it can be, but something in me doubts that. This is a transfer that I have no doubt Twilight Time would have refused – in fact, they may have refused it for all I know. But the label who put it out will basically put out anything they’re given, which is fine and fans of the film get to have it on Blu-ray, so there’s that. If you don’t really care about a stellar image and you like the film, you should grab it. If you have the DVD, you’re probably okay with that.

After that, it was more joy from Dello Joio, and I also took a nice hot shower and thought about book things. I’m still waffling between the book I’d decided to write and this newer idea, which isn’t all that new since the idea of it is something I’ve been toying with for many years as Muse Margaret would probably tell you. But we’ll see where I am by Friday. I will say, I wrote a couple of paragraphs just to see how it felt and it felt pretty good, actually.

Today, I shall do more listening, I’ll finish choosing songs, I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up packages, and I’ll watch a screener or two – one is arriving at some point today – have no idea what it is but hopefully it will be something I’d like to see.

Tomorrow I have a dinner thing, and then we count down to our annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Bash right here at haineshisway.com – the safest and most fun place to ring in the New Year.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, listen, choose, eat, hopefully pick up packages, and watch screeners. 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 be getting joy from Dello Joio.

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