Well, dear readers, as I sit here listening to my favorite symphony, Rachmaninov’s Second, in yet another performance (truth be told, given it’s my favorite I’ve really only heard about twelve of the many, many recordings, so it’s now my goal to hear all the ones I’ve missed), this one by Paul Kletzki on an import from Australian Decca (the remasterings on this series of imports, of which there are many, are superb), I am pondering shrinking soap. You know, one fine day you enter the shower with a brand new bar of soap. And then somehow you use that bar of soap and it seems to stay the same size and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it’s half the size and from there it is a swift end until it’s just a sliver of soap. I have kept my eye on this damn phenomenon time and again, and yet I never see this shrinking of the soap – it seems to just happen overnight or especially after she of the Evil Eye has been there. What any of this has to do with Rachmaninov and his glorious second symphony is anyone’s guess. As I mentioned, last night’s version, one of the longest ever recorded, with not one of the sanctioned cuts, I thought was beautifully done, albeit in slightly muffled sound. The Columbia Ormandy, which is beautiful, has all the cuts but is still essential. The 70s Previn, which reinstates all but one of the cuts I think, is also quite beautiful but I’ve never been as all that about it as most others. I do enjoy it and it’s lovely, but it will never be my favorite. The Kletzki is interesting on all kinds of levels – it restores many of the cuts (one of the first to do so in the stereo era), but boy is he on a rollercoaster ride with it – some of the fastest tempos ever for this symphony. It’s fascinating to hear, always, and the strings sound really lovely, but I gotta tell you, there’s an oboe player who sounds like he’d eaten some bad herring or something – it’s actually shocking how bad his playing is and it does stick out like a sore thumb when it comes to his solos. But for whatever reason, I hear things in this reading that I don’t in any other, at least so far. So, it’s already a bit of a guilty pleasure – not one I’ll return to a lot, but I’m happy to have it. I’m just gonna say it again – if you don’t have this symphony or, worse, you’ve never heard it, take it from me, it is one of the most beautiful things you will ever hear – the slow movement, with its famous tune that’s been ripped off by way too many people sans credit, is one of the most melodically gorgeous themes ever written. The Previn is probably the way to go for first-timers, and it can be had fairly cheaply in its latest remastering – be sure it says from the original tapes on the cover, as the older version has the same cover but without that line. I think the soap has shrunk further while I was writing this endless soapy paragraph.
Yesterday was a perfectly okay day. For whatever reason, I didn’t fall asleep until four, and I was up just before ten, thanks to loud hammering. Once up, I did some work on the computer, listened to four of the six Martinu symphonies (like Sibelius, I share a birthday with him) but I’m not loving them like I remembered, but I’ll give them a second listen. It may be the performances or it may be the muffled sound. I had a telephonic conversation, then I picked up some packages. I got home and uploaded some music and listened to several things, most especially the Sibelius symphonies four through seven recorded in the late 1960s by Herbert Von Karajan. I began with the fifth, since it’s my favorite, and I found it just about perfect and, for me, it may even have a slight edge on the Barbirolli, just slight but the big moment at the top of the third movement is so perfect with Von Karajan it tips it over to best so far. His fourth is also wonderful and the equal of any I’ve heard. I was not as enamored of the sixth and seventh, although both are very good – I just prefer the Sanderling in the sixth and Ormandy and Barbirolli in the seventh. But there are more coming. I also watched the Blu-ray of symphonies six and seven and both were very enjoyable under the baton of Hannu Lintu. Then some friends came and we all toddled off for food, since I hadn’t eaten anything all day.
I had a patty melt and a few fries. We came back to the home environment – I’d gotten three screeners – Arrival, Fences, and Hacksaw Ridge. We decided on Arrival. It seems like every year now there’s some sci-fi feel good picture just in time for the Oscars – The Martian, Interstellar, the thing with Sandra Bullock. This one has the feel of those – not the plot but just the feel and you can throw in Contact, as well, and a little Close Encounters. I enjoyed it – they’re calling it Close Encounters for this generation – that is faint praise indeed given this generation. It’s nowhere near Close Encounters – not even within a country mile. Most of that is because Close Encounters and Mr. Spielberg understood how important a little humor is – Arrival has, I think, one laugh in a voiceover, and that’s it. I found it a bit predictable, and it occasionally gets silly (the military, as always), and I honestly don’t know what’s happened to Forest Whitaker, but as an actor he just makes some of the weirdest choices I’ve ever seen – he started out great, but every time I see him in a movie he’s weirder than the time before. He’s doing some kind of accent here, which renders everything he says as unintelligible. Amy Adams is her usual great self, but the critics are so in love with her that anytime she opens her mouth they scream Oscar. I’m not sure this role is Oscar material, but what do I know. Anyway, I enjoyed it for what it was and it’s not something I ever need to revisit.
Then my friends left and I turned on the Kletzki and began writing these here notes while pondering shrinking soap.
Today, I think what was happening is now happening tomorrow, so I’ll just work on the Kritzerland show. Once again, it falls on Stupid Bowl Sunday – we’ve done it before and always sold out because it’s a kid show, but last year I moved it to a Monday – I don’t love doing that, but we’re checking to see if it’s possible, either the week before or the night after. People are nuts about this football crap and it’s something I will never understand, but then again, I hate sports something fierce. I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, then at some point I’ll relax and watch Fences. I hear Hacksaw Ridge is great, but I also know it’s very violent and do I really need to see another war movie ever?
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, and on Friday I think I’m supping with dear reader Jeanne, a belated birthday meal.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, work on the Kritzerland show, eat, hopefully pick up packages, if the weather is better I’ll jog, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could leave town tomorrow and visit anywhere you’d like, on a whim, where would you go and why? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall search for the meaning of the shrinking soap.