A Fresh Start

 Not in my lifetime (getting to be a significant amount of time) has there been such worldwide relief expressed at the swearing in of a new US president.  It was as if the entire world took a collective deep breath and sigh when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in to the oval office.  Although the time span of any democratic leader is short (maximum of 8 years in the US for presidents), the last four years have seemed interminably long.  The fact that we came close to having another four years with the same president in power was almost too much to think about.  As bad a disaster as the previous term was, I cannot imagine what another would have done, not only to America, but to the rest of the world.  And it's fantastic to see President Biden getting down to work, even on inauguration day!  So much to do, and so little time.

Canada, like other countries, has been walking a tightrope for the last four years.  The US is our leading trading partner, and all has not been going that well.  Of course with Alberta's dashed hopes of a dirty, stinking oil sands pipeline being built to serve the US energy needs, there will be economic fallout here.  Too bad, really, but what choice is there?  If now is not the time to minimize the use of oil and gas, then when?

Our little county continues to be ravaged by Covid, and the vaccine roll out has dried up for a while, too.  Timing couldn't be worse for stopping the production of the vaccine.  None at all is arriving in Canada next week.  And the one after that?  Who can say?  And as Israel, a country that leads in the vaccine race, has discovered, one dose does not offer enough protection.  If fact, if offers almost none.  So until the second dose gets working we are still on our own, taking Vitamin D (we take 4400 mg daily), staying home, wearing a mask when out, and washing our hands a lot.  Even my parents (91 and 89) have no idea when they will receive their first dose.

Turning now to Brexit (very briefly), it would appear that there are a few flies in the ointment, so to speak.  Not terribly surprising, really.  The last minute rush to "make a deal" has backfired in a number of areas, and the slight inconveniences expected at switchover seem to be slightly more than that, and growing every day.  With one dangerous and incompetent world leader gone, perhaps it's time to send another one on his way.

In weather news, there isn't any.  Our deep winter (January 10th to February 14th) has not arrived, nor does it appear that it will.  Our temps (today excepted) have managed to go above or reach 0C nearly every day, with no polar vortex in sight over the upcoming two week forecast.  Our six week much dreaded winter is now half over.  There is no cold air, and there is no snow.  The Detroit River has no ice, and the sun is now returning north at a good clip.  Here is an image of last night's stunning sunset, as seen from our front porch.

I haven't blogged here in a while.  We have been busy!  Thanks to Caroline, our London bestie, we heard a recent all Bach recital by one of my favourite pianists, Andras Schiff.  Presented in Wigmore Hall (with no audience), his playing was, as usual, a revelation.  To hear the inner voices of Bach's music so clearly played, and to hear an entire Bach recital (from memory!) performed so flawlessly and seemingly effortlessly, was a real joy to experience.  The concert is still on Youtube.  Afterwards, the only thing I could say was, "Gee, I wish I could play the piano."  And I wasn't kidding.  I checked my new Bach 333 set, happy to discover that there are several key recordings by Schiff on the discs.

We had an in-house birthday party for Deb on Monday.  However, we got a take away lunch from The Plant Base, a tiny but fabulous vegan place here in A'burg.  Their utterly decadent and sensuous vegan cheesecakes served as the birthday cake.  Usually it is snowy and cold on her day.  Sure enough, at 10 pm it began to snow a little.  Last year we were home that day, too, but shovelling our way out of a good sized snow storm.  There was no wood fire, but lots of listening, movie watching, and a round of Carcasonne (Mage and Witch), which I lost handily.

I promise to return very soon with an update of movies watched, and more art from the DIA!

Mapman Mike

Beethoven's Turn

Saturday, October 20th/18 

For the last three weekends we have attended a concert that has been devoted to a single composer.  Two weeks ago it was Schubert; one week ago it was Bartok.  Now it was Beethoven's turn.  Philip Adamson, my piano instructor for the past many years, was back at his bucket list, performing 4 more of the 32 piano sonatas.  He has now performed 16 of them, and is likely at work today on the next programme.

Beethoven is such a composer of truly odd works, and despite historians and musicologists trying to pigeonhole his styles and periods, in my opinion it is all for nought.  No two piano sonatas are alike, or even closely related.  They all explore completely different ideas, emotions, and, in some instances, games and buffoonery.  When Beethoven wishes to be serious, it can lead to music of such devastation and calamity that it is a wonder a true performer doesn't die in the attempt to bring it forth for an audience.  I am reminded of a performance many years ago of the 5th Symphony by Antal Dorati and the Detroit Symphony.  Even back then I was totally familiar with most of the notes in that iconic work.  However, Dorati's performance was so intense and overpowering that I jotted in the margin of my program something like "This music is like a mighty mountain being torn apart."  

 Portrait of Beethoven we saw in Vienna,

at one of his houses.  My photo.

My favourite performers of Beethoven's piano music are the late Ivan Morovec, who only performed and recorded select sonatas, and Andras Schiff, alive and well and still performing the entire set on occasion.  I have been fortunate to hear these masters on several occasions, and their Beethoven sets standards far beyond anything that mere mortals can achieve, no matter how many hours are spent at the piano.  Having said that, Dr. Adamson has accredited himself admirably in his attempt to climb the mighty heights of the Beethoven Sonatas.  Though he has completed work on 16 of them, there are still some mighty big sonatas that lie ahead, including the Appassionata, the Waldstein, the Hammerclavier, the Tempest, and the nearly impossible to bring off effectively final sonata.  So I congratulate him on his progress, and wish him well with the rest of his amazing journey!

Last night Philip chose to group three of the four pieces he performed around the key in which it was written.  Beethoven chose G Major for four sonatas, but the smaller student one had already made an appearance on an earlier program.  Since (see above) the sonatas are so vastly different, and strikingly odd in each their own way, there was no danger of the works sounding like one another.  Especially so with Philip's deeply thought out interpretations and carefully chosen tempos.  With professional pianists sometimes the music flashes by so quickly that special moments are lost in the flurry.  Philip takes time to bring out these moments, and many others, but manages to keep things lively and moving along.  Favourite parts for me were the slow movement of Op 79, the first movement of Op 14, #2, and the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata.  The latter was as fine a performance of that old chestnut as I have ever heard.  It certainly beats out Morovec, who plays much too slowly, and comes closest to Schiff, though somehow Schiff manages to play with the damper pedal depressed all the way through.

I had some problems with the piano, a new Yamaha CFX, priced somewhere near $100,000.  For one thing, it was out of tune, and a high C# was twanging away throughout the final piece (which was in C#).  For another, the middle range has difficulty keeping pace with the very powerful bass, so sometimes balance of sound was a problem.  Having said that, the acoustics for piano performances are vastly superior in the new recital hall than they ever were at Assumption Chapel, which more less resembled an echo chamber. 

Overall it has been a very fascinating three weeks of live concerts.  Combined with my home listening projects of attempting to hear the complete works of Britten, Brahms, and all the Haydn Symphonies (we already have completed Delius) I am doing my best to keep my ear(s) in good shape!  Our next concert date isn't until November 10th, another piano solo recital (with some Beethoven)! 

In New Mexico news, Jens Hanson was at the concert last night.  He was professor of theory and composition at the university when I attended.  He and Dr. Kovarik, who taught history, were the two most interesting people in the building.  He is from NM!  He managed to get back to his hometown for a visit this past spring.  However, a massive forest fire had devastated the surrounding mountains, leaving him with a rather sad impression.  I am currently at work on my blog version of our journey, and hope to have the first post up soon.  So come back often!

Mapman Mike