Well, dear readers, it would seem to me that December is half over, and that we’re heading into the final two weeks of 2020, one of the weirdest and wackiest years in years. Thankfully, yesterday we had light and sanity and hopefully that will now be the order of the day, and anything further nonsense will just be treated as the white noise it is. I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the LA Opera production of Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten (The Gezeichneten), just to hear another version, since it’s my favorite of Schreker’s operas. It’s sung nicely and I like the conductor, James Conlon, very much, but they had to downsize the band, which is a shame, and the band, beyond that, is a little ragged at times. Being a live recording, you get a lot of clomping around the stage, but oddly, not a single audience cough or any audience noise, which I found fascinating. The sound is more immediate than the Decca Entartete CD, which is nice, but in the end, the Decca CD is the one to have – the band is the full number of players required, the singers are excellent, and while I wish the sound were a bit more immediate, the performance is fantastic and the band sounds incredible. Back in 2010, LA Opera did a whole series of neglected operas by composers like Schreker – very adventuresome of them, but sadly only two of those productions were released on DVD/Blu-ray – Braunfels’ The Birds, and a double bill of two one-act operas I may try should I be able to locate a cheap copy – by Viktor Ullman and Alexander Zemlinsky. Anyway, happy to hear this other interpretation. I also listened to the delightful Leos Janacek opera, The Cunning Little Vixen, conducted by Simon Rattle and in English – not a fan of Mr. Rattle but he does well here and having it in English is fun in terms of following the story. Singers are excellent and the band sounds fine. The go-to recording for this opera (in Czech) is apparently the one conducted by Charles Mackerras – this opera was his specialty, I’ve read, and it’s with the Vienna Philharmonic, if I’m remembering correctly, and it’s supposed to be great. As to the opera itself, the music is fantastic and there’s as much orchestral music as there is vocal music – it’s wonderfully tuneful. Other than that, I’m just relaxing. And why shouldn’t I, damn it? I should and I am, not necessarily in that order.
Yesterday was an okay day. I got about seven-and-a-half hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, did not get a major miracle but am hopeful because to not be hopeful is to be defeatist, heard an orchestration that sounded great, and then moseyed on over to the mail place to pick up some packages and no envelopes. As it turned out, I did get a thirty percent off coupon, so I immediately ordered pasta papa from Hugo’s. It arrived about twenty minutes later and it was great, as always. After that, I worked on project two and within spitting distance of finishing it now – I can’t imagine that won’t happen today. I suspect as I go through it, which I have not done at all, I’ll be adding stuff throughout, but I really wanted to get the bones of it done and, as I said, that should happen today. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched act one of the Met production of Der Rosenkavalier. I found it delightful – beautiful settings and costumes, wonderful performances by Renee Fleming and Elina Garanka – the latter is brilliant – wonderful singer and, more importantly, for me at least, a wonderful actor and funny to boot. And finally, a director with a brain, who doesn’t make it about himself and his “vision” but who makes the storytelling clear as a bell and finds the humor without everyone being all phony baloney, as I see in so many operas. The band sounds incredible and I’m looking forward to the other three hours of it. The director is Robert Carsen, who deserves a whole lot of credit for this.
After that, I did a quick Gelson’s run and got some snacks – a little noodle kugel, one potato pancake (pretty small), and a tiny bit of chopped liver – guess I was in a Jewish food mood. I came home and ate up the snacks, which were all good, and then I listened to the music I’ve already talked about.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’m praying for a major miracle, hopefully a major miracle is praying for me and do feel free to send some most excellent vibes and xylophones, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat (probably a salad, or maybe a cube steak and a baked potato – we shall see), I’ll hopefully finish the first go-through of project two, we’ll finalize our Zoom meeting for project one, probably for Thursday, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is project two, the final three orchestrations for project one, the Zoom meeting for project one, and figuring out if there’ll be a Kritzerland show for January – IF there is, it will be our annual all young people show. But that could happen in February instead, especially if project one is ready to unveil in January – not sure how possible that will be, but we’ll have to see how it all shakes out.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora and the rhumba, for today is the birthday of our very own dear reader, ChasSmith. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own dear reader, ChasSmith. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN DEAR READER, CHASSMITH!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, hope for a major miracle, do whatever needs doing, hopefully pick up packages, eat, hopefully finish the first go-through of project two, finalize the Zoom meeting, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What were your favorite books of 2021? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we head into the final two weeks of 2020, perhaps one of the oddest years in years and even decades, and just let light and sanity rule the day, and ignore the white noise should it continue to bloviate into the ether.