Retiring the Piano Repertoire

The six Bach pieces and the Grieg Lyrical Pieces (Op 54) have been officially retired from my repertoire.  I managed to perform the first four Bach pieces back in February for the piano performance group; the last three Grieg pieces at the May gathering, and the first three Grieg pieces at the June gathering.  Yesterday I had a few close friends over to hear the entire program, the only time I got to perform all of it at one go.  Jenn came all the way from Cambridge to hear me play!  Thanks Jenn!  So now it's time to move on to some newer pieces, since I have run out of places to play my old ones.  I will resume work on the Beethoven Sonata Op. 10 #3 tomorrow, along with a little duet by Faure that Paula and I will perform at the July gathering.  The following week I will begin a new Bach prelude and fugue, and a Chopin Nocturne I haven't looked at since 1975.

I have been looking over some photos and descriptions from Caroline's train excursions that she sent us, from her first journeys within Switzerland.  She is back in London for two weeks and then setting off again to travel some German train routes.  It certainly makes me yearn for some Amtrak travel.  We have several major Amtrak trips planned, once the hiking days have ended.  Not having hiked in the mountains since 2018, I'm not even certain I can handle this autumn's planned hikes.  We shall see.  I am approaching the end of my 3rd year of continuous basic fitness, and I feel ready to take things to the next level to prepare for the hikes.  Fingers crossed and all that.  I would like to get at least one more season hiking in the mountains of New Mexico.  Five or ten would be even better.

I've just been talking with my parents in Sudbury.  Dad's eyes are getting worse, and the wildfire smoke has been quite nasty there.  Mom was coughing a lot during the phone call.  Dad has to get needles in each eye monthly now, instead of just one eye.  He can't read, and can barely watch TV.  My oldest niece was there to visit for a week.  She is a corporal in the armed forces, in the training division.  She wants to be a military police officer now.  My other niece is graduating from Gr. 8 this week, and will enter high school in September.

In other news, our two rose bushes decided to bloom this year like no other year.  We have hundreds of deep red roses, a record year of blooms.  It was similar with the lilacs this year.  There has been no rain yet, but we are promised some today.  But it's not looking good at the moment.

Two details of our rose bushes this June.

 Turning to film, there are three to report on.  The last of Deb's festival choices was another Franco-era Spanish comedy film, this one from 1953 and called Welcome Mr. Marshall.  A poverty stricken town in Spain prepares to welcome an American delegation bearing gifts.  The town goes all out, decorating itself like a town like Seville.  The humour is often subtle but very funny, and is easily on a par with the best of the British low budget comedies produced by Ealing after the war.  One of the funniest parts is the mayor's dream, coming home one night after watching an American western movie in the town hall.  Everyone in the dream (which takes place in a saloon) talks gibberish English, using words and sounds that make no sense.  The whole, quite long scene is rich and hilarious.  Of course at the end the Americans race through the village at top speed in a cavalcade, and some relief supplies arrive in a single air drop.  At the end the town carries on.  We have one more of these films to go.  Can't wait!

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Next came my two regular choices for the week.  They Call me Bruce is a comedy from 1982, part of a series of films on Criterion called Asian American 80s.  The film is mostly very silly, but has moments of true hilarity.  It's a spoof on martial arts films, as a man who resembles Bruce Lee is often able to fake his way through dangerous situations by saying that his name is Bruce, and that he's Asian.  Probably a movie one should watch while high, but it's still pretty funny for straight viewers, too.  Some of the jokes don't come off well, but there are so many that one just has to wait a few moments for the next one.  The lead actor was a stand up comic, and he uses many of his jokes in the film.

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

My choice of film leaving this month was also from 1982.  Starring Jeremy Irons and directed by Jerzy Skolimowsky, Moonlighting is about four Polish workers who come to London to (illegally) renovate a flat there for their Polish boss.  Their month in London happens to coincide with the communist military clampdown within Poland, in an attempt to suppress Solidarity, though the foreman (Irons) manages to keep the news from his workers until the job is finished.  The film is mostly about the things that Irons has to do to keep his men working and fed, as he was not given enough money to live on.  They eat and sleep in the flat, using cans for pots and dishes.  In many ways it is a very sad and tragic film, though it barely touches on the exploitation of basic labourers.

 

Leaving Criterion June 30th/23. 

 

Mapman Mike