Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to some of my favorite recordings conducted by Mr. Charles Munch. My favorites growing up for many different reasons were Mr. Ormandy (of course), Charles Munch, George Szell, and Dimitri Mitropoulos. And Bernstein. Others would come later, but those were the conductors whose records I bought. Now playing, Munch’s classic 1955 recording of Ravel’s masterpiece, Daphnis et Chloe (Daphnis and Chloe), released on LP only in mono. But on CD, it’s in glorious early stereo and great. He recorded it again in 1961 and that one is also excellent, but I just love this earlier recording and it’s how I first heard this music, so that plays a part in it. Aside from the disc in the big Munch box, it also came out as an SACD disc, in three-track stereo and that sounds amazing, too. I know people like the Monteux (he conducted the premiere of the work), and some like many of the other conductors – for me, it’s Munch all the way and I prefer the earlier recording, although the 1961 is pretty great, too. No chopped liver here. I like the Monteux (excellent 1959 stereo) and enjoy the Andre Cluytens recording – I have a lot of Daphnis et Chloe recordings. Ravel remains one of my favorite composers of all time. I watched no movies last night. Oh, I tried, I really tried – I started four “thrillers” but turned each off after ten minutes. All four were ineptly written and directed with terrible scores. Prior to all that, I got a lovely nine hours of sleepy sleep, got up at 11:15, answered e-mails, then went to Gelson’s and got onion rolls, bagels, cream cheese, lox, a half-pound each of turkey and roast beef, an avocado, and a tomato, came home, made one turkey, cheese, avocado, tomato, and bacon sandwich on an onion roll. It was very good. And very filling. Properly filled, I chose a couple of songs, then I did some writing on what could be this year’s second book. I’ve done about eleven pages of what will be a fairly short book. I had fun writing, which is, of course, the key. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish, opened YouTube and promptly dozed off for an hour. Then I watched some irritating YouTube videos, then around seven I had a bagel, lox, and cream cheese. That was it for food. And here we are, sure as a star.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll choose a few more songs, I’ll probably have a roast beef sandwich for food, although I’m tempted to go out for a proper meal where I can just sit and enjoy myself. We shall see. Then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
This week is very busy, finishing song choosing, meetings and meals, sending the young people their sheet music, taking care of a few things I’ve let slide, and a bunch of other stuff.
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, either have a sandwich or go out for a proper meal, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be reveling and Munch-ing on Daphnis et Chloe, together again.