Well, dear readers, sometimes one simply must listen to Shostakovich and so I simply am, whilst I write these here notes in a hurry because I must be up early as she of the Evil Eye will be here all too soon. I’m listening to Shostakovich’s tenth symphony, one of my favorites. I have so many recordings of it and they’re all at least fine, with some entering great territory, such as the one I’m currently listening to, conducted by the wonderful Karel Ancerl – it’s monophonic but what a performance and the sound is great. I always think the Herbert von Karajan version is great – until I hear this again. The von Karajan is, of course, in stereophonic sound, but I don’t love the recording itself. But what a wonderful symphony it is. I may have to take a journey through all the symphonies again and I think I’ll do it by mixing it up and not listening to one conductor. I did manage to watch a motion picture on Blu and Ray last night, Lucy, un film de Luc Besson, which I got when it came out, back in 2015. Here’s what I wrote back then and my opinion remains exactly the same.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson, directed by Luc Besson. From the very start, Mr. Besson has made some incredibly quirky and wacky films, some of which work better than others, but almost all of which are interesting to watch. I’m rather fond of Leon: The Professional and several others. Lucy is just as wacky as all his other films, but I found it entertaining, and Miss Johansson is simply terrific in it as is co-star, Morgan Freeman. Does it make sense? No. Does The Matrix make sense? No. Does The Transformers make sense? No. Is it fun and well done? Yes. And Mr. Besson has a great sense of pace, and the film does not overstay its welcome by even a second – without the end credits it runs all of eighty-two minutes. It looks and sounds great.
Yesterday was a perfectly okay day. I got about six hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, and then had a short Zoom session. That went very well. Then I shaved and got ready for my lunch meeting. I moseyed on over to Hugo’s and met my Nothing in Common collaborators. The meeting was just to decide on the next steps and to make sure we were all on the same page – page 110. So, starting next week, we’ll get the score onto paper – that will take some time, but it has to be done. And then we’re looking at two different dates to do a proper twenty-nine hour staged reading for an invited audience. Of course, I had the pasta papa, and it was excellent. So, that went well. I ascertained there was nothing to pick up at the mail place, so I came home. I had to add two brief things to the commentary because we now have a mystery guest for each performance, which we’re not revealing – kind of like, What’s My Line – “Will the mystery guest enter and sign in, please. Cue delighted surprise and applause.
After that, I finished listening to the Martinu symphonies. I’ve decided I really like the single performances I have of the first and fourth symphony. The others are all in a three-CD set of the complete symphonies, but I find that recording very muddy-sounding and I’m not in love with the performances, so I may try either another cycle or just find the second, third, fifth, and sixth in separate performances.
Then I watched Lucy, after which I went to Gelson’s and got a little dinner salad, and I got some Catalina dressing for it. I came home and ate it, and it was just the right kind of evening snack. Then I listened to Shostakovich and his tenth symphony.
Today, I’ll be up by eight-thirty and out the door by nine. I have a new idea for breakfast, so we’ll see how that goes. Then I’ll do some stuff, after which I’ll come home. Then it’s a ME day, save for two quick Zoom sessions. Otherwise, it’s just listening to music and watching motion pictures, not necessarily in that order.
Tomorrow, I’ll relax during the day and then mosey on over to the theater around six to get everything set up and ready to go. Then we’ll do a stumble-through of the show. We’re not sure when our sound guy is getting there so everything is kind of in a state of flux. Have you ever been in flux? I hear it’s lovely this time of year. Then we do our first performance on Monday and then our second on Tuesday and then it’s right to work on the Kritzerland anniversary show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight-thirty and out the door by nine, I must have an early breakfast, do a few things, hopefully pick up packages, do two Zoom sessions and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What were your favorite TV game shows when you were growing up? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping to leave the state of flux very soon.