Well, dear readers, I’m feeling at sea right now because as I type these here notes I am listening to Mr. Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony #1 (A Sea Symphony). May I just confess right here and right now that Mr. Ralph Vaughan Williams is one of my all-time favorite composers. My introduction to his music came via his wonderful Fantasia on Greensleeves, as conducted by the wonderful Adrian Boult, one of my favorite conductors. Mr. Boult, for me, was the best interpreter of Vaughan Williams and happily there is a wonderful and inexpensive box set of the complete symphonies, which includes other orchestral music as well, all conducted by Mr. Boult. Vaughan Williams could write a tune and his music in certain works is achingly lyrical and touching and most beautiful. The Sea Symphony, which has me feeling at sea, is the one I know least, but hearing it now it’s really a beautiful and majestic work for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. My plan is just to go through them in order – I really can’t wait to revisit the third and fifth symphonies, which are my favorites, as well as the Seventh, which is derived from his film score for Scott of the Antarctic. Yes, Vaughan Williams also wrote for the screen and his film scores are just as marvelously marvelous as his classical music. My favorite orchestral piece by him is actually for chorus and orchestra, but there’s one version for orchestra only and that’s Serenade to Music, which makes me weep from the beauty of it. My favorite film scores of his are the aforementioned Scott of the Antarctic, 49th Parallel and The Loves of Joanna Godden. Of course, one cannot leave out the Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, one of his most popularly popular works. He’s the berries and if you don’t know his music, hie yourself to Amazon and buy the Boult box set – you will not regret the purchase, I can assure you.
Yesterday, we thankfully had part one of a miracle (and we need that part to be tied to another concurrent part, but I won’t know that for a few days, but I’m praying), and then there will hopefully be a part two miracle early next week. That helped make the day a pleasantly pleasant one. I only got about six and a half hours of sleep, but that was fine. Once up, I had to do an early drive, then I had to come back, do some banking, and then I came home. Once home, I had the first of my three helpings of tuna pasta salad along with one bagel. I did some work on the computer, some work at the piano, some choosing of songs, a jog, and then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched two motion pictures on the Flix of Net – the first was entitled In the Electric Mist, starring Mr. Tommy Lee Jones, Ned Beatty, and John Goodman, from the novel of James Lee Burke, and directed by the wonderful French director, Bertrand Tavernier. This film didn’t even get released – it went directly to DVD, which is a bit weird. Why make the film at all? Did the producers not read the script and understand what kind of film they were going to get? Did they not understand what kind of director Mr. Tavernier was? It is baffling. But apparently it was not an easy shoot, and it took two years to finish the film’s postproduction, which is ridiculous. Mr. Tavernier turned in his cut, which ran 117 minutes. The producers took the film and cut it down to 102 minutes, losing fifteen minutes. Now, Netflix is showing the short version so I have no idea what those fifteen minutes add to the film, but I will now get the Blu-ray to find out. But just watching the short version I really liked the film – the atmosphere was great, it was a bit weird at times, but the story kept me interested and Mr. Jones was really great, as was Mr. Goodman and Mr. Beatty. Mr. Tavernier’s direction was wonderful and so was the photography and the score by Marco Beltrami. People who’ve seen both versions swear by the longer director’s cut and I’m quite anxious to see it – apparently it clarifies a few things, although I wasn’t confused at any point. It was a very pleasant surprise.
Then I watched another motion picture, this one entitled The Peacemaker, starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman. I didn’t know it was actually the first film released by the then-new company, Dreamworks. It’s one of those stolen nuclear weapons thrillers, by the numbers, exactly like every other one. As I watched it, I kept thinking maybe I’d seen it, but I’ve seen so many of these damn things with this plot that I couldn’t remember – until I got to the final twenty minutes, at which point I knew I’d seen it before. The first two thirds is okay, nothing great, but it moves along. The final third just goes directly to stupidland and you just sit there wondering how low the screenwriters are going to go, and they go pretty low. When the bad guy is hurrying down the streets of New York, there are snipers on buildings – but the can’t get a clear shot. Why? Because conveniently standing in front of him is a man with a little girl on his shoulders, because we’ve all seen that in New York so many times. Then they miss the next opportunity due to trees. While that’s happening, the police stop him, tell him to empty his backpack (which has a nuclear bomb in it), but his brother shows up out of absolutely nowhere and conveniently shoots both cops. The bad guy does get wounded and his brother drags him into a school. Just as Mr. Clooney and Miss Kidman get there and aim their guns – wait for it – school conveniently lets out and the hallway is filled with children. Two minutes later the wounded bad guy makes his way into a church where a choir of children are conveniently singing in the middle of a school day. It’s just stupidland and obviously the film can never recover. No recommendation from the likes of me.
Other things that happened included giving permission to a theater group in Minneapolis to do the stage version of Nudie Musical – that will happen sometime next year. And later in the evening I got word that the video of Welcome to My World is edited so I’ll be seeing that today.
Today, I’ll be seeing the video of Welcome to My World, then I’ll eat something light but amusing, then I’ll finish choosing songs – for the holiday show I don’t actually think I’ll need to gather any music, but if I do it will be minimal. Then I’ll relax.
Tomorrow night I do the event at Barnes & Noble – they couldn’t get books in time, so I’ll be bringing the couple of copies of the first memoir that I have, and thankfully I have plenty of the softcover second memoir and I may bring some Benjamin Kritzer or Red Gold books, too, as well as the Welcome to My World CD. Hopefully it will be fun. Friday I’m going to the Dal-Rae steak house to celebrate the birthday of Jenna Lea Rosen, Saturday I give out hundreds of candies to hundreds of trick or treaters, and Sunday I see a play.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, see a video, eat, finish choosing songs, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer 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, no longer feeling at sea because I feel veddy British as Vaughan Williams’ Symphony #2 (London Symphony).