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February 9, 2022:

HUMMING ALONG TO THE TUNES OF ANTON WEBERN

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, humming along to the tunes of Anton Webern. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I, BK, am humming along with the perky tunes of Anton Webern. This is music to want to strangle chickens by. This is music wherein you want to drink the blood of a yak. This is music of the twelve-tone variety and not one of those twelve tones makes any sense. And yet, I am listening to Marni Nixon sing those twelve tones and she sounds just like Maria in West Side Story singing that score in no discernable key. It seems to me that Mr. Berg wrote quite a few notes and banged on various instruments and then wrote it down. This is a box set, The Complete Music of Anton Webern as supervised by Robert Craft, legendary recordings from the early 1950s. I feel that at some point in his life, Mr. Webern was attacked by a chainsaw and this music is the result. Right now, a violin is plucking and bowing as if it were a myna bird being disemboweled, a piece for string trio and maniac with butcher knife. And now playing is Mr. Webern’s first symphony, a symphony that lasts all of nine minutes. It is nine minutes of various notes. It is interesting in the way an ingrown toenail is interesting. This is a symphony for the ages, the Middle Ages, where torture and pillaging and maiming were the order of the day. The first movement runs about six-and-a-half minutes. The second movement runs about two-and-a-half-minutes. By the end of these nine minutes, I believe you’ll want to brush your teeth with razor blades. But the second movement is very perky, like a hoedown danced by Hannibal Lecter. I cannot recommend this set highly enough for those who enjoy laying down on a bed of nails. And that is high praise coming from the likes of me. What the HELL am I talking about? You see what listening to the music of Anton Webern has done? Otherwise, I did make an attempt to watch a motion picture and got about ten minutes into several, including an interesting picture called Edge of Doom, starring Farley Granger and Dana Andrews, directed by Mark Robson. I also watched about thirty minutes of the first Mission: Impossible movie, directed by Brian de Palma. It’s really bad and the computer stuff, cutting edge computer stuff circa 2002, is hilarious to watch today. “Searching Usenet Groups.” “Connecting to online.” Far out stuff, really. But I couldn’t concentrate and finally just shut the damn thing off.

Yesterday was certainly a day. I believe it was, in fact, a Tuesday. I got seven hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, had telephonic calls, did a handful of further corrections that I’d missed, did some global searches to make sure I got everything, and had a conversation with Muse Margaret, who loved the new five lines I’d added to one sequence and just had me change one thing to the way I’d said it on the phone when I was telling her about it.

Then I picked up a couple of packages, went to Gelson’s, got eight ounces of hamburger meat, came home, and made about six ounces of penne pasta with four ounces of the hamburger meat, onions, and red sauce. I ate it all up and it was a LOT of food, but it was very good. After that, I listened to two Opera Without Words CDs. The first one was conducted by Barry Wordsworth, and it was great, filled with classic opera melodies, many by Puccini. The other one, conducted by Arthur Fiedler was fun but whoever mastered it used some fourth-generation album master loaded with distortion. So, difficult to enjoy it with that kind of awful sound. I think Sony/RCA owe us a large Fiedler set. Then I tried to watch stuff, then began listening to Mr. Webern’s fascinating rhythms.

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll get back to working on the project with David Wechter, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat tuna sandwiches, I’ll Zoom with David Wechter, I’ll have a telephonic conversation about someone I used to know, and I’ll send some stuff to New York. Then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.

The rest of the week is more of that, some meals, and continuing our casting quest. We’ve made a list for our main two people and hopefully someone on that list will do the damn show.

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, do whatever needs doing, do work on the project with David Wechter, Zoom, hopefully pick up packages, eat tuna sandwiches, send stuff to New York, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear readers any old question you like and we get to give any old answers 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, as I hum along to the tunes of Anton Webern.

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