Catching Up

The two weeks before a recital are, for me, not just busy ones, but intense ones.  There is usually so much to finish up.  Pieces that have sounded pretty good for the past few weeks now require tightening up.  Difficult passages require extra practice, and easier ones that have been all but ignored lately need to be brought back into the game.  I am fortunate in still being able to find an audience.  Often that turns out to be the most difficult part of the process.  I have no students interested, other than an adult one.  Randy came to the recital last night, and Jenn, from Cambridge, a three hour drive!  My adult student came, and brought her 14 year old son, at his request.  And our two young next door neighbours came; I used to teach Amanda trombone ten years ago, and we seem to be still on good terms.  Her boyfriend, Brandon, also came.

So now that the pieces have been played for a small audience, it could be the chance to continue working on the pieces, or put them away and take out a new program.  If it was easier to get an audience, I would happily continue to work on the pieces for a few more weeks in order to perform them again.  But after nearly one year, I think the time has come to say goodbye to Bach, Haydn, Schumann, and Louie,and move on to my next program:  Bach, Haydn, Schubert, and Bartok. 

Because of my January eye surgery, my performance was delayed by nearly two months.  Those two extra months were good to have, but not entirely necessary.  So perhaps next year, if I am ready to perform sooner, I will hang on to those pieces longer and try to perform them a few times, instead of just once.  

Today I find myself with time on my hands.  It is pouring rain and quite cold outside, so it will be a somewhat carefree day, with some gaming later in the afternoon.  I hope to get back to Syberia 3, also, a PC game I started a while back but had to abandon because of the approaching recital.

Now, it is time for our visit to another work of art from the DIA.

 The Talking Oak, William Maw Egley, 1857.  British.

76 cm x 63 cm.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

Egley took as his inspiration the poem of the same name by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.  You can read it here.  Talking trees are important to several mythologies, and I have even used one in my short story about a young vegetarian vampire.  This maiden is 15, and newly awakened to love.  She spills her secrets to the tree, who in turn talks to her lover.  A somewhat strange love triangle is thus formed.  This is one of the more unusual paintings in the collection, and is usually on display.  It's a difficult work to walk past without stopping for a moment or two.

Detail of above.  Note the ferns around the tree, which are mentioned in the poem.

 Egley's version of Tennyson's tete-a-trunk.

 Detail of the landscape. 

It is nearly time for my end of the month review of the books I have been reading.  I am currently finishing up an epic novel by Spinrad, which has taken a week so far.  Check back soon.

Mapman Mike

The Moon Goddess: Poussin's Selene and Endymion

We are getting close to the March full moon--it's only one day away.  Are you prepared?  It's also the first full moon of Spring, as it occurs just after Equinox.  The Church miscalculated.  Easter should be this Sunday, but instead it is late next month, after the next full moon.  It's difficult to get good help these days, even at the Vatican.

I've got my Polaroid 600 camera loaded with black and white film, and I've already taken one photo, which turned out better than most of the enlarged ones we saw at the gallery in Detroit last Thursday.

 My first Polaroid shot in many years!  A tree in our front yard.  

The interior rollers appear to be a bit dirty, but I can't clean them until the film is done.  I think it adds some ageing to the photo.    

Back to the moon goddess.  Who doesn't love a lovely moon goddess?  Poor Endymion, who fell madly in love with one, immortalized in Poussin's wonderful painting at the DIA.  This is one of a dozen or so paintings in the museum that it is worth crossing half the world to come and see in person.  I think it is the artist's finest picture, positively dripping with mythological madness.

Selene and Endymion, Nicolas Poussin, 1630.

122 cm x 169 cm.  Detroit Institute of Arts. 

According to the myth, if you fell in love with the moon goddess, you had to kiss her goodbye each morning.  The sun is just rising, with the curtain of night being flung back.  I'm not certain how the shepherd hopes to keep his sheep safe during the daytime, if he has been cavorting all night.  Interesting in this picture is how large the figures are, dominating the landscape.  This is one of the most poetic pictures I have ever seen, and I love that chariot racing across the sky.

The curtain of night is being thrown back, as Apollo 

shoots across the sky in his sun chariot. 

 Parting is such sweet sorrow.  Hopefully that dog will keep an eye

on the sheep, while Endymion catches a few Zzzs.

 No doubt about it--that moon goddess is a looker!  Love all the red hair.  Who knew that the moon goddess was a redhead?

Selene and Endymion, up close.

 Mr. Sunshine, coming to spoil everything. 

I finally have a concert date, as well as a tuned piano.  The concert will be Friday, March 29th.  I will run through my program for Philip Adamson on Thursday morning, prior to visiting Detroit.  I have switched my piano practice times to later in the day, to help adjust to my 7 pm performance time.  Every little bit helps.  So far four people have replied positively.

I finished reading the 27th and final book in my Avon/Equinox Rediscovery Series!  The final work was Black Easter by James Blish, a dark masterpiece of conjuring that has to be read to be believed!  It is part 3 of a 4-book series, so now I will have to back up and read the first two.  Currently reading a book of short stories from the 1950s by Robert Silverberg.  Pulp SF heaven!

Mapman Mike

Mahler 5th Symphony

Thursday was Detroit day.  It was mild, windy, and raining much of the time.  There was a hockey game, so all the good drinking spots were filled with lads and lasses in red shirts.  Jenn was with us for the day.  We started out at Lucky Coffee, then moved on to the Dearborn mailbox.  I had two books waiting for me there.  Then it was off to downtown, where we saw all the red shirts and full pubs.  We parked (free!) on the street beside Orchestra Hall, then walked to 8 Degrees Plato.  This is a store that sells craft beer and local wine.  They also have a dozen taps, and sell tasters for $1 or 2$.  Jenn and I had four tasters, and Deb had a taste of one of mine.  The beer is always changing and always excellent and fresh.

After this we went to Whole Foods and got ourselves food from the hot take-away bar, then ate it at a booth table just outside the cashiers.  By then it was time to get across the street to Orchestra Hall.  Thursday night concerts are the best--the balcony is half empty!  Seats are only $15, and the sound is as good as the conductor hears it down on the podium.  The program opened with the Concert Mistress performing Mozart's 5th Violin Concerto.  It is an odd piece, and quite lengthy.  Her tone on the loaned Stradivarius was beyond the beyond, and the performance was spell binding!

After intermission came one of the greatest symphonies ever written (there are fewer of these than one might think).  The 5th Symphony of Mahler dates from 1911.  While the entire program featured Austrian music, and only about 135 years separates the two works, a greater contrast in style and sound could never be found in classical music.  Especially music using the same basic rules.  The Mozart half of the concert featured about 35 musicians, whereas the Mahler half featured more like 100.  7 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, and a tuba, along with nearly every percussion instrument made certain that Mahler had your attention.  When he uses the full orchestra, which is infrequent, it feels as if the top of your skull is lifting off.  When he uses smaller sections to get certain sound effects and affects, the magic is purer than it is anywhere else, except perhaps in Mozart.

So it was a truly fantastic concert, and $15 can not be better spent anywhere.  It was one of those events that most people would never think could happen in Detroit, and yet it happens all the time.  I wish we lived there, and could take more advantage of what is offered.

As the concert began at 7:30, we were back at our vehicle by 9:45.  We had one stop remaining.  As Detroit's Own hosted a one-night photography show Thursday from 7 pm till midnight. It was at the Tangent Gallery, down a side street in a suitably creepy old industrial area.  The exhibit, which had a few good things but mostly garbage, was a brilliant idea.  Polaroid snapshots were blown up to about 10X their size, complete with frame.  They were all shots of Detroit, and a few were pretty good.  Woodward Camera, the sponsor, was there selling cameras and film.  I picked up a package of b&w film, and my trusty Polaroid 600 camera is loaded and ready to go!  If I manage to get a lucky and decent enough shot, I can get it enlarged to poster size.  How cool is that?

 Deb took this cool night shot from just outside the gallery!

We stayed long enough to view the exhibit, buy my film, then headed back home.  Two days later and I still have all kinds of Mahler themes running through my brain.  Not a bad thing at all!

Mapman Mike

 

March Break

This is the time of year that I think of the desert.  For nearly 30 years we would go to NM during the school break at this time, and wander happily in the desert for a week.  I still have unfinished business there, but did not feel like travelling this year.  Hopefully next year.  Our summer and autumn visits to NM are into the high country, but in early spring we stay down where it's warm.

Even though there are no lessons here this week, I have four students coming tomorrow.  A dedicated bunch.  Today I had my piano tuned.  I wish I could have it tuned every week--it is such an amazing instrument to play when it is in tune.  Since we turn the heat down at night, and then back up in the morning, it plays havoc with the strings.  I was supposed to have a lesson with Philip Adamson today.  I had to cancel, due to a night of insomnia.  I would have wasted my time and his if I had tried to play for him today--it would have just been mechanical, at best.

Speaking of Philip, he played his fifth in a series of Beethoven piano sonata programs last Friday evening.  He played the three sonatas that are in the key of D.  It included two of my favourites: The Tempest, which I have played at two different stages of my life, and The Pastorale, which I would love to study.  He performed with the music, which isn't surprising since he gave his last program on October 15th of last year.  That's fast work!  His performances are always worth attending; doubly so when he plays Beethoven, for which he has an uncanny affinity.  Deb and I attended with Randy G. and Jenn G.

Of course skies were perfectly clear the night of his recital, so I had to give up the one and only clear moonless night we have had.  However, it was clear last night, and I headed out to Hallam to do battle with a 5-day old moon, which rides annoyingly high in the March sky.  Still, it was wonderful to be back out amongst the stars!  I was home (nearly frozen) by midnight.  Usually I can fall asleep immediately after such a night.  Not last night.  The brain would not turn off.  Thus no piano lesson today.

On Thursday Jenn, Deb, and I are heading to Detroit to hear the orchestra perform the Mahler 5th Symphony.  The concert mistress will also perform a Mozart violin concerto.  Before that we will sample some beer at Hopcat, and get to the mailbox.  Dinner somewhere, too.  Then, after the concert, depending on how we all feel, there is a one-night photo exhibit we would like to attend, a little deeper into the city.  So I will likely blog again on Friday, time permitting.  No art work today, but if I do get time tomorrow I will post one.

Mapman Mike

Unofficial End of Winter

At last!  The 10-day forecast we have all been awaiting--every single day temps will rise above 0 C, sometimes impressively so.  Winter unofficially began on January 9th, when our first real cold air descended.  It stayed for 8 weeks and 2 days.  Time to say Good Riddance!  Looking forward to walking every day again.  We recently received our gas bill for late January and most of February.  Last year, which was a brutal winter, the average daytime temp for the same time period was -2C.  This year it was -5 C.  The average norm for that period is closer to 0 C.  Yes, it's been cold.

Today was a busy day.  We brought our car in again to VW for an odour problem, related to a leaking sunroof back in October.  Last time they gave it a thorough cleaning and infused it with scented baking soda.  Didn't work.  This time they are going to strip the insides right down to the bare steel, and likely replace the under padding, and possibly some of the carpet.  It's all under warranty.  They gave us a loaner until the job is done.  Also, it was Deb's infusion day, and afterwards she had an examination by her doctor.  She is still in total remission, and everyone is happy about that.  And I got my new reading glasses; trifocals for piano, computer, and close reading.  I am very pleased with the results so far, but I only have practiced piano for an hour.  More tomorrow, but so far so good.  Reading is fine.

Friday evening, Philip Adamson is presenting his fifth concert in the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven.  After this he will have performed 19 of the 32, with several gigantic ones still awaiting.  Jenn is coming from Cambridge to hear him play.  Hopefully Randy G. will also be there.  I hoping to see hm next week for a lesson.  I need to play through my program for him.

And now it's time for another work of art from the DIA.  Following up on the last time, I am presenting another version of the Jupiter and Callisto story....

Jupiter and Callisto, Beauvais Tapestry ca. 1680.

Detroit Institute of Arts.  293 cm x 227 cm 

This time we get the beginning of the story, when Jupiter, disguised as Diana (the fiend!) seduces Callisto.  Boy, is she going to be sorry (see the previous blog).  And surprised.

 The scene is set in an impressively rich landscape.  Detail of above.  Looks like a great spot to make out with your girlfriend.

 Upper levels of the woods.  Detail of above tapestry. 

Mapman Mike

Early March

It shouldn't be a surprise when March arrives as cold as January, and then it snows.  But it sure is disappointing!  We will not even get close to 0 C. for several more days, and it's whiter than white out there, which is a challenge to my newly restored eyes.  Still, with all of the medical appts. we have had this winter, we haven't had to miss any due to weather.  At least I am now done, except for picking up my new reading glasses this week.  Last week Deb had her echo cardiogram, and this week, in addition to her bi-monthly infusion for RA, she goes for a heart stress test.  At that time she will also have a consultation with her heart doctor.  So two more appts. this week, and a stopover to see if my glasses are ready.

It's time to begin writing my next astronomy article for our club newsletter, even though it's been cloudy so far for the entire session.  New moon is Wednesday.  Very disappointing, as usual.  I am excited to try out my right eye at the telescope!

I am getting lots of reading done.  I completed 12 novels related to my work with the Avon/Equinox Rediscovery Series, and finished reading the catalogue to the Bruegel exhibit.  I read The Drowning World by Ballard, my second novel by him.  A very haunting book, it was one of the best of the month.  Next came my first novel by Barry Malzberg.  Called Revelations, if this is typical work by this author, then I think he is going to have to be an acquired taste.  My edition came autographed.  The book is confusing but readable, is more connected to media than to SF.  He was quite prolific, so I will be reading more of him, for better or worse.  Since there are two books in the series by Robert Silverberg, I read two of his for every one of the other writers.  I am currently reading his shorter fiction from the 1950s on the first Silverberg page.  He was so prolific at this time that he used other names so readers wouldn't get tired of seeing his name.  Some of the monthly SF magazines he wrote for had as much as 70% Silverberg content in a single issue!  It is pretty amazing how well he wrote, despite his speed.

Next came Spinrad's Deus Ex, a short and strange little work that involves the first female pope (she is pretty amazing!) and a lot of time spent in cyber space.  A weed-smoking Rastafarian tech wizard is the hero of the story.  Piers Anthony came next, with Rings of Ice.  It's the end of the world, a flood, and Noah's Ark this time consists of several people in a Winnebago.  This is certainly one of the better end of the world tales, with a nod to John Christopher and others who tackle the theme (Ballard's Drowning World, for eg.).  Speaking of John Christopher, I read Book Two of his Prince in Waiting series, a kids series that ties in an end of the world scenario (his favourite kind) with medieval knights.  It is really quite good.  One more book to go in that series.

Captive Universe by Harry Harrison might be the best of the month, though it sits among a pretty high standard field of entries.  This one concerns two villages of Aztecs living alongside a river, and confined to a valley for their entire lives.  Some of them are blond, so we suspect that things are not as they seem.  One of the males tries to climb out of the valley, and things are set in motion that will rock their civilization forever.  Excellent SF writing, with a nod to Heinlein.  Demon's World by Kenneth Bulmer, another of several British writers in the Equinox series, writes a great pulp SF story, a tense Land of the Giants kind of thing.  Then came E.C. Tubb with his Mars epic entitled Alien Dust, a dated but worthwhile read spanning the first 35 years of the first Martian colony.  It pulls no punches, and could easily be updated to a great TV series.

The Legion of Time and After World's End, two short novels by Jack Williamson, came next.  I am still among his silly but fun pulp SF from the 1930s, reflecting the influence of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers (the comic strips, not the Republic serials).  This is an era of pulp writing that is almost forgotten today by SF readers.  Of course it owes a lot to Edgar Rice Burroughs, too.  The 2nd story shows the beginnings of his ideas for The Humanoids, one of his masterpieces from the late 1940s.  Williamson wrote well into the 2000s, a career almost unmatched in SF writing.   

Rex Gordon, alias S.B. Hough, wrote SF as Gordon and mysteries as Hough.  I just read Dear Daughter Dead.  His mysteries are completely off beat, and likely not to everyone's tastes.  I love his SF, and I love his mysteries.  Sadly, I am coming to the end of his works.  The final book I read in February was by Hal Clement, a novelette about aliens stopping by on Earth on their way to their honeymoon on a much nicer planet.  They need to stop as the alien male requires some blood.  However, it must be extracted without causing any harm to the humans.  Good stuff!  It is called Assumption Unjustified.  More details about these and other SF books can be found on my Avon/Equinox blog, link at left.  Along with the book reviews and discussions are the fun and colourful covers to everything I have read!

And now, on to another art selection from the DIA.  Many religious and mythological paintings gave excuses for artists to create some beautiful landscape art.  This early Italian drawing shows the mythological topic front and center, but also contains a truly wonderful background landscape.  Hope you enjoy!

 Callisto's Transformation Into a Bear After Giving Birth to Arcas.

Domenico Campagnola, ca. 1558.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

36 cm x 48 cm.

Jupiter is up to his old tricks again, and his wife doesn't like it one bit.  Sorry, Callisto.  Doesn't matter that he tricked you and appeared to you as Diana.  According to Juno, that old excuse isn't good enough!

Detail of the left side, upper.  Very Bruegelian, no?  And virtually the same date as many of Bruegel's drawings.

 Detail of the right side, upper. 

Mapman Mike