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July 26 Mahler at InterlochenMara is upstairs in her room practicing the second movement of Beethoven's Ninth on her violin. Seating auditions at her College are less than a month away so I'm sure I'll be hearing more and more Beethoven in the next few weeks.
Last weekend we visited daughter Ashley at her music camp in Interlochen, Michigan. On Sunday night we saw Joshua Bell swoon his way through a performance of the Bruch violin concerto, accompanied by Interlochen's World Youth Symphony. Mr. Bell's sound was exellent and his third movement was played as sprightly as I've ever heard this piece played. But the core second movement lacked the poignency that I heard Pinchas Zukerman deliver last spring in Orchestra Hall in Chicago. Maybe Mr Bell's swooning got in the way of the music. I know that the Bruch is a great Romantic concerto, but Mr. Bell and the conductor Jung Ho Pak didn't have to embarass all of us by repeatedly locking eyes and leaning towards each other. Gee whiz guys, get a room.
The concert concluded with a game performance of Todtenfeier, which was reworked by Mahler to become the first movement of his Second Symphony. This is a sprawling piece based on a death march for the hero of Mahler's first symphony. It's a demanding piece for professional musicians, much less some of the best high school musicians in the country. I missed the pop and sizzle I associate with Mahler, well played. I was so rooting for these kids to rise to the music, but alas, with each crack in the brass and with timid, reticent playing in the strings, I had to conclude that Mahler had won this round. It wasn't a knockout, like what Shostakovich did to the Interlochen Philharmonic last year. It was more like a win on points. This weekend the orchestra is playing the entire Mahler's Second. I saw their intense rehersal on Monday morning and I know how hard these kids are working. One needs to stretch to grow and these kids are stretching to play Mahler. I wish them luck. I would gladly risk being disappointed to hear that concert.
Interlochen is such a special place and we are so lucky that we have been sending one or the other of our girls there for the last six years. They have made wonderful friends there and have had experiences making music that I can't even imagine. For the last six years our summer vacations have been every-other weekend visits to Interlochen. The camp is the perfect marriage of music, art, and nature. Staying on a cabin in the woods adjacent to the camp, watching the sunset on the shore of Duck Lake, walking the wooded path between the practice huts hearing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue overlapping Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. It does not get any better than that. I think this mom will miss Interlochen even more than her girls.
Mara is now playing a Bach sonata to a lovely cicada accompaniment. I live in paradise.
July 15 Garrison at the LibraryLast night my husband, Mike, and I were laying in bed and grazing on the television when we were lucky enough to find Garrison Keillor on C-Span. He was speaking at the American Librarians' Convention about the importance of libraries. How I love that man! I love his cranky demeanor, his earnestness, his wit and intelligence, and his lovely voice. His theme was that libraries are cathedrals of free thought where silence doesn't oppress, but liberates. Libraries spread democracy and learning and should be better supported by all politicians. Amen, brother! I remember as a girl of six or seven my aunt Mary taking me to the library. My mother didn't visit the library much, but this was my very intelligent aunt's haunt and she took special joy in introducing her niece to books. We would enter the library with nothing, but thanks to the magic card we would leave with an armful of beauty and adventure. All free for nothing. And best of all we would repeat the process every two weeks. When I was seven years old my family moved to a more upscale suburb of Chicago, a place of country clubs and excellent schools. But it had a tiny little library. I guess rich people don't borrow books, they buy. I loved that little library. My girlfriends and I would get on our bikes with the baskets on back and ride, parentless and free, to the library. I discovered Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames and I would imagine myself a girl sleuth braving danger and having great adventures. At age ten just going to the library without a parent was an adventure. I still love the library. Whenever I visit a new city or university I make sure to check out the library. My inner nerd loves to prowl the stacks, searching for that early edition of "V" or "Gatsby." I love the smell of old books and the mystery of all those readers who had held this book before me. It's good to have a large personal library, and god knows I have more books than I will ever read. But I will never have a Grove Encyclopedia of Music or the New York Review of Books on microfiche. And my house will never be as grand or serene or as special as the reference room of my public library. July 14 Man DreamsI had this dream a few nights ago and it was so wierd I can't stop thinking of it.
I was going to a party for a girlfriend who was going to get married soon, it may have been a rehersal dinner. I remember that I walked into the bedroom to throw my coat on the bed and I realized that I didn't have my purse. Then I looked in the mirror and saw why I didn't have a purse. I was a man. Blue man's shirt, tight jeans, short brown hair, no bra, no breasts, big package (I checked), good looking male features. I remember staring in the mirrror thinking "this is me?" and then I realised I was at the party to take my girlfriend from her fiancee.
I was walking into the other room when I saw my brother who called me over by the name Carol. I went to him confused, because while I didn't look like Carol or feel like a female he treated me like I was his sister. He said he was having trouble adjusting his pant cuff and took me into a bedroom where we laid on the bed and I leaned over his thigh to reach his cuff. As I was fixing his cuff some people walked in and I felt embarassed. Here I was, a man on the bed with another man, laying over his spread legs. I rolled over and there was another man on the bed with me. He was a very handsome and muscular black man in a yellow tank top. I couldn't help myself, I kissed him. Then I woke up.
I've had dreams where I've been a man before, but this transformation was more complete and disturbing than any other that I've had. Plus all the sexual images including those with my brother and the stealing from my girlfriend. OMG, I need to see my shrink ASAP. July 11 BravoI keep a "life list" of famous composers of classical music who I have either met personally or seen on stage. My list starts when I saw Aaron Copeland conducting the Toronto symphony in the late 70's. A few days later I saw John Williams of "Star Wars" and " Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Shindler's List" fame conducting the Boston Pops Orchestra and I was hooked. Since then I have seen Elliot Carter, Pierre Boulez, Harrison Birtwistle, Oscar Knusson, John Adams, Essa-Pekka Salonen, John Corigliano, and others. Some were conducting their own pieces, some were conducting others' pieces, and some just walked on the stage. Each time is a thrill. The rest of the concert was Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman" and Rossinni's "William Tell Overture." In their next concert they'll play some Russian music; Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky thrilling 5th Symphony. I sat in on their practice Monday morning for the Fifth. The no-nonsense conductor criticized whole sections, left the podium to single out off-key individuals, and laboriously worked rhythms. When I asked Ashley about this stern taskmaster she said, "Wasn't she great. I love it when a conductor kicks ass." To which her friends responded that Ashley always likes the conductors they can't stand. I'm so proud of that girl. Our next trip to Interlochen is in two weeks when we'll see Joshua Bell perform the Bruch Violin Concerto with Interlochen's World Youth Symphony Orchestra. Perhaps I'll be able to add the adorable Mr. Bell to my life list of famous violinistis whom I have met.
July 05 Independence DayI'm at the office, bleary eyed after a night of bombs bursting in the air around my house. I swear the fireworks that are available now are much more powerful than in the past. I remember when I was a girl being excited about sparklers and snakes, and maybe some of the neighborhood boys would even get a pack of "black cat" firecrackers. Now the home displays around my neighborhood look and sound like the village fireworks of old. I spent last night on the front porch with my husband and a gin and tonic being shocked and awed by the explosions all around me.
But then I thought...it's Independence Day. What better way to celebrate Scooter Libby's freedom than our entire nation rallying around the concepts of freedom and liberty by flaunting the laws that prohibit blowing up things in one's backyard. I'm not equating treason with the pecadillo of igniting a little gunpowder; I'm just saying that most of us have broken laws by speeding, smoking pot, or taking questionable IRS deductions and we look at Scooter Libby and think...but for the grace of God. But for the grace of god I could have been the one who assisted in subverting our democracy by abetting the process of lying about the reasons for war in Iraq and then lying about the lies. I could have been the vice president's handmaiden who fell on the sword rather than let my boss take political heat. I could have been one of the cabal that we call a government that is more interested in enriching their friends and increasing their power than in serving the public. I hope all of us are shocked by the commuting of Mr. Libby 's sentence and the disregard of the rule of law. An independent prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, presented the case to a jury of twelve citizens, our representatives, if you will. The jury found Mr. Libby guilty and a respected judge sentenced him to prison. None of these people had a personal interest in finding Mr. Libby guilty. The prosecutor was a republican. The jury was a random pick of people. But the man who commuted the sentence did have a great personal interest in a free Libby. By letting Libby walk the President protected Mr Chaney and possibly himself from the cats that Mr. Libby could have let out of the bag if he were offered the bargain of a lighter sentence to testify against his former bosses. Now there is no leverage and no case. Thank goodness for the distractions of the fireworks and patriotic hoopla of the last few days. Otherwise I would have been shocked and awed not by the explosions and glitter of rockets, but by the naked use of our president's power for purely personal reasons. |
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