Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, several CDs into a little 16-CD box set called Julliard String Quartet – The Early Columbia Recordings 1949-1956. That must mean there are later recordings, but since I didn’t know from Julliard String Quartet, I thought I’d take a chance on this, since I always try to better my chamber music knowledge, as I’m just not that much of a fan. In perusing what was in the set when I pre-ordered it on Amazon, I thought the material was so interesting that I knew I’d at least be fascinated with it, which is proving to be true. First of all, all the performances here are with the quartet’s original members (they changed over the years), including the cellist Arthur Winograd, who’d become a favorite conductor who made records for MGM. Second of all, they are superb players. Third of all, the mono sound is fantastic in this set and chamber music is well-suited to mono. And boy is the music fascinating. I will say that listening to many string quartets, for me, is like listening to Music to Become a Serial Killer By – very dark, moody, astringent, and raw. That especially applies to all the Bartok quartets, all of which are included here, and the Schoenberg quartets, all of which are also included here. The first disc was a delight and very tuneful and wonderful and all by Darius Milhaud, one of my favorite composers. Then we get all six Bartok quartets – I enjoyed them all, but they’re not easy listening and they’re very moody. I do think repeated listenings will help me understand them better. Then we suddenly get the Ravel quartet and what a gem that is – beautiful, melodic, and classic Ravel. We get a Copland sextet, which I loved, then an interesting, film-music-like concerto for viola and quartet by Ellis Kohs, which I absolutely loved – it’s modern but very accessible, at least to my ears. That’s how far I’ve gotten and the box costs under forty bucks, which is about 2.25 a CD. No one does these boxes better than Sony – you get all the original album covers recreated, as well as the original liner notes on the back of the album covers. Upcoming is a lot of American music – William Schuman, Andrew Imbrie, Virgil Thomson, Lukas Foss, Samuel Barber and more – and one CD of Mozart. Prior to the string quartets, I also managed to watch a motion picture on Blu and Ray, entitled The Window, from Warner Archive. It’s based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich called The Boy Cried Murder. I’ve always enjoyed this film – it’s seventy-three minutes, a perfect length, very suspenseful, well-directed by Ted Tetzlaff, who was a great cinematographer who’d just shot Notorious for Hitchcock and who obviously learned suspense from the master of suspense. Bobby Driscoll plays the boy who’s cried wolf a few times, so that nobody believes him when he actually witnesses a murder. The transfer is gorgeous.
Yesterday was a perfectly okay day. I was up at ten-thirty after about seven hours of sleep. Then I had a productive ninety-minute Zoom with David Wechter, and that was fun. After that, I moseyed on over to the mail place and picked up a couple of packages but no envelopes. I really need the damn envelopes. Then I stopped at Popeye’s and got two mild chicken breasts that had just come out of the oven, so very fresh. They made sure the order was correct before I left. I then came home and ate the breasts, which were excellent.
Then I did stuff on the computer, saw the number of orders for the new titles and am hoping for many more, then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish and instantly fell asleep for almost an hour. Then I watched the movie.
After the movie, I had some telephonic conversations, I went to Gelson’s and got a small Wolfgang Puck mixed greens salad, came home and ate it and listened to the Juilliard String Quartet.
Today, I’ll be up by ten and then the singer arrives, and we’ll rehearse for a couple of hours and see how the structure and flow works and how the patter works. Dinner with the Pearls has been pushed to next week, so I can eat something fun but light on my own. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages and important envelopes, I’ll do whatever needs doing, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’m not sure what’s happening, nor am I sure what’s happening on the weekend. On Monday, I’m lunching with Cindy Williams, so that will be fun.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten, rehearse, eat, hopefully pick up packages and important envelopes, do whatever needs doing, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films that have kids in starring roles? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be expanding my knowledge of string quartets, with strings attached.