Piano Repertoire

 February is off to a brutally cold start, though we are still very limited in the amount of snow we have received this year.  I'm sure that will arrive later in the month.  Still, we are hopeful that things will begin to end by the middle of the month.  It went briefly above freezing yesterday, before crashing to today's brutal tempts.  46 days so far with no rise above freezing, and several more in a row coming up this weekend.  Even if we did have a lot of snow it would be too cold to snowshoe.

 

I have a new family doctor, since my doctor moved away.  He is very thorough.  He sent me for a heart stress test and it went well yesterday.  Everything seems to be working as it should.  Huzzah!  Deb is urgently awaiting an iron transfusion, one of two that she needs asap.  We are still waiting for an appointment, hopefully early in the coming week.  She is very tired and run down and her breathing worsens weekly.  She is able to work on her film, but far less intensely than before.  Fingers crossed.

 

In gaming news we are currently playing two games on PC.  TR-49 is a brand new game where the player has to get a very old computer working again.  It has jumbled a lot of books and information and we are supposed to unscramble things.  We have uncovered about a fifth of what we need to do.  It's quite interesting in some ways, and quite boring in others.  There is no travel--you sit in front of an old computer (the Bletchley one, lying forgotten and disused) and do research.  The other game is the original Black Mirror from 2003.  I played it many years ago and am replaying it now.  There are two sequels which are also quite good, and a remaster of the one I'm now playing which I also look forward to trying.  This is Deb's first time, though she undoubtedly helped me with some puzzles in my original playthrough.

 

This is how the screen looks in TR-49.  Our score is at the top right.  Notes are kept by the game automatically (below right).  We are down in a basement, possibly inside the machine.  A man is upstairs telling us to work fast and urgently.  It's mostly all a great mystery to the player so far.

 

A screenshot from Black Mirror showing the great manor house where much of the game is played. 

 

In movie news there are three to report.  One is a really terrible SF film from our DVD collection called The Creeping Terror from 1964.  It's a low budget brain killer.  Instead of trying to survive watching the film as delivered, we chose to watch it on MST-3K, with Mike and the bots joking as the film proceeds.  A spaceship crashes and an alien comes out and begins eating people.  The people never run away, and sometimes have to insert themselves into the creature.  It is too ridiculous.  However, the MST episode is very funny and makes even this film quite palatable.

 

From our DVD collection.  Do not watch the original version; instead, watch the MST-3K episode, from Season Six. 

 

Days of Being Wild is a 1990 film by Wong Kar-Wai.  A selfish and spoiled young man uses women until he tires of them and then moves on, often leaving them emotionally scarred.  Though far from being a great film, it does introduce a lot of the director's signature themes, which are developed more maturely in his later films.  The young man is searching for his birth mother (not too diligently) while living with the woman who adopted him.  A local policeman gives the viewer some hope that something decent may yet come from a relationship he had with one of the young man's cast away girlfriends, though the film ends before a true ending is revealed.  Odd and disjointed at times, and the young man is a true piece of turd, so the film isn't that pleasurable to watch.

 

Showing on Criterion. 

 

Misericordia, a French, Portuguese, Spanish film from 2024 is even less fun to watch.  A young man returns to the tiny French village where he grew up to attend the funeral of a man whom he once worked for in the village bakery.  His arrival sparks jealousy in the dead man's son, who wants him to leave right after the funeral.  For no apparent reason the young man stays on, and is then accused by the son of trying to bed his mother.  They have several fights, and in their final one in a remote part of the forest the young man who returned kills the son in a fit of rage.  He buries the body and his worries commence.  The film might have had some credibility without a murder.  But of course there is a murder.  Why?  Can no one make a film without a major crime in it anymore?  The police know he did it but can't prove it.  The local priest knows he did it and helps him cover up the crime, even moving the body from the forest to the church cemetery in the middle of the night.  How this film ever made it to Cannes and Tiff is beyond me.  It's a below average crime film with some not very impressive acting.  The scenery, however, is lush and gorgeous, mid-autumn in the mountains.  The wide screen aspect works well outdoors, but the many indoor shots look quite silly.  Not recommended.

 

Showing on Criterion.  Give it a miss. 

 

I have now put in four intense weeks of practice on the newest piano repertoire.  It sounds like I'm still at the sight reading level.  Progress is grim.  42 hours practice and not really much to show for it.  I can barely play any of the pieces.  It's always so disheartening at the beginning.  In four more weeks I hope to have made at least a dent in the pieces.  The first half features three works by my favourite composer, Bach.  Two Part Invention in D Major will open the program, a fairly dense and very contrapuntal piece, and not as easy as it looks.  That is followed by the Prelude and Fugue in D Major from Book 1 of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier.  The Prelude is a jaunty number that gives the right hand a decent workout, with both hands jumping in for the finale.  The Fugue is a little French Overture, one of the composer's least learned fugues.  It promises to be a fun piece, and shouldn't be too difficult to learn.  We'll see.  All of the Bach is now being played (slowly) hands together, after many hours of hands separate practice.

 

Next comes a sonata by another top favourite composer of mine, Haydn.  It is a miniature piece in three movements, with the first being a theme and variations.  There is nothing too difficult here, and I am hoping it will sound okay in four more weeks.  The second movement is a very short minuet (without trio!), and the third is a rousing finale, a crowd pleaser if there ever was one.  It is the most concentrated and brief version of sonata form I have ever encountered.  I will finish the half with a bagatelle by Beethoven, Op. 119 #1 in g minor.  This is a favourite of mine and I haven't played it in many years.  I have yet to begin this piece.

 

The second half opens with three (more) preludes from Op 11 by Scriabin, #s 4, 5 and 6.  I have yet to begin work on #6, the most difficult one. The first two are slow and the third is madcap fast, in octaves.  Next comes a Chopin nocturne, the most difficult piece on the program.  The Op 27 Nocturnes are among the finest things he ever wrote.  I played #1 years ago and thought I might learn it again, as it is my favourite Chopin piece.  But I decided to give #2 a try.  I can barely play the thing hands separately right now.  This one will require much more time per day than I have been giving it so far.  I likely made a mistake in choosing this one.  Time will tell.

 

I will finish the program with a rousing etude by MacDowell called March Wind.  It's a very effective showpiece, one I have played before.  But I am excited to play it on the grand now!  I'll report back in a month on my progress, if any. 

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 
 

AvantGrand Baptism

Saturday evening Deb and I hosted the monthly piano player get together.  Alde was out of town, but the other regular members showed up.  The piano was given a very good workout, beginning with Paula performing a short piece by C P E Bach, and a Prelude by Gershwin.  Next up, Jim gave a truly beautiful performance of a piece by Scott Joplin, and the piano sounded amazing under his professional sounding touch.  His brother had just passed away last week, but he had been able to record the piece and play it for him beforehand.  So he played it tonight as a memorial to him.  He followed up with the Grande Waltz Brillante Op 34 in A Minor by Chopin.  He returned at the end of the night to perform the Bach Toccata in E Minor, a major work that sounded totally incredible on the piano.  I could not have been more pleased with the sound.  Next up was Dr. Seski (our Rob Sr.), who played a Chopin Waltz and a piece by Schubert, followed by Dr. Ling, who brought the last two movements of the Appassionata  by Beethoven.  After a short break, we resumed with Rob Jr, Dr. Biswas, who played the final movement of the Waldstein sonata by Beethoven.  Again, the piano really shone here (as did Robert), as volumes of layered sound poured forth from the wide awake piano towards the small but appreciative audience.  I finished up with short pieces by Bach (on harpsichord) and Mendelssohn, and two by Alexina Louie.  And so the piano had a very good workout!  Best of all, I got to sit back and hear all different kinds of music performed on it.  Our next meeting in October will be at Jim's home, in the distant city of Chatham.

We are now deep into our final week of trail hiking preparations.  The mountains are calling, and we are nearly ready to heed those calls.  We have been fortunate in having a cool, mostly sunny month in which to prepare for the big times.  Our trip will have a prelude, as we head to Cincinnati (by invitation) to attend the film festival there next weekend.  Following that event, our vehicle will point west for several driving days.  Excitement is mounting here at the Homestead.

There are two films to report on today.  The first was Deb's main choice, a strange little film called The Eight Mountains.  It is about a lot of things, but mostly about a strong friendship between two men.  They met at age 12, one of them a mountain-raised lad, and the other visiting the Italian Alps for a month in the summer.  Filmed in 4:3 by choice (obviously), it seems to suit the film, which requires close framing some of the time.  The mountain scenery is splendid, and the film does well with the emotional bond between the two lead actors.  This could, in fact, have been a really great film.  However, the insertion of at least 6 folk guitar ballads (sung in English!) during the film is so in your face and poorly chosen, that I would have walked out of the theatre had I seen it there.  As it was, we had the mute on for at least 20 minutes of running time.  Luckily it is sub-titled, or we would have missed some of the dialogue.  Watch at your own risk to your ears.

Now showing on Criterion, with extras. 

 

My main film choice for the week was another strange little film, this one from Portugal.  Filmed in b & w, Tabu is from 2012.  It is actually two shorter films, split in the middle by a changing story arc.  The first part takes place in Lisbon.  A woman who lives next door is the only friend that a lonely and very elderly woman has.  The old woman has a live-in housekeeper.  The first story is about the woman who is the friend, but we follow the elderly woman until she finally passes away.  As she is dying she hands her friend a crumpled piece of paper with a man's name and address on it.  She wants to see this man before she dies.  Despite doing her best to find the person (he is in a nursing home), the older woman dies before they can meet up.  He does attend her funeral, and afterwards goes to a cafe with the friend, and her in-home caretaker.  There he begins to tell the story of the deceased woman, and the movie switches now to Africa, namely a plantation in Mozambique.  This is the better half of the movie, and takes place in the early sixties.  There is intrusive music here, but it is fit to purpose, as we watch a Portuguese rock and roll band perform and hang out, helping us date the time that events are happening in the flashback story.  We never return to the cafe, and the film ends when the African part of the story ends.  Of course the old man telling the story and the elderly woman who just died were lovers in Africa, even as she was married to someone else and pregnant with her daughter.  A tragedy finally separates the pair, and they are destined never to meet again.  Quite a good film, and recommended.  There is a crocodile.

 

Leaving Mubi in 3 days. 

 

That's all for now.  Iaido tonight, and back to hill walking tomorrow. 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

Doings and Happenings

It's been mostly a bust for astronomy, despite several clear nights.  Wildfire smoke continues to turn our skies milky in the daytime, and less than black at night.  I have managed two outings, both hampered by the amount of particulates in the air.  That's two months running now for smoke in our skies.  After talking with my parents recently, it's worse in Sudbury.

I took a week off from strenuous piano practice, following my program on the 10th.  I also took a week off from blogging.  But this week it's back to a full time work schedule, with a few new pieces added to the heap.  For now I will try for 2 1/2 hours per day, with a day off in there somewhere each week.  The Beethoven Sonata (Op. 10 #3) takes up the bulk of my time, but the Bach Prelude and Fugue (Book 2, Eb+) and Chopin Nocturne take up an hour.  I am also working with Paula on an (easy) piano duet for our next group gathering.  As for the Beethoven, I am now attempting to memorize the first movement.

Sunday we resumed work on the yard, mostly strenuous clearing out of weeds, and overgrowth from ivy and shrubs.  Only three large bags went out to the curb this time, but it's a start.  There has been some rain, but not very much.  We are not (yet) in another drought situation, but it won't take long.  The smoky skies have been keeping down the temperatures to the low 80s so far.  I guess one good thing came out of the smoke filled skies.  Plus some very red sunsets.

And last night I returned to Iaido training!  I thought today I would be in much worse shape, but aside from some stiffness in the hips, I don't feel too bad.  Relearning the basic katas will take a few weeks.  I hope to continue training over the summer, counting it as my cross training fitness day.  Being fit for three years now is paying off in having more energy overall, and recovering more quickly from strenuous activity.  Iaido also helps me with concentration, something I badly need to play piano successfully.  I have not trained in at least five years.  But last night felt good.  It was time to return, at least for the summer.  I was only able to dress in the hakama with help from Deb and the internet.

In movies news, there is only one film to report that I mostly enjoyed.   The Misfits is from 1961, directed by John Huston, screenplay by Arthur Miller, and starring everyone.  The film appears to be about Marilyn Monroe herself, who soars to new heights in this movie.  She plays a woman who has just divorced, and who teams up with three very different men (played by Clark Gable, Eli Wallach, and Montgomery Clift).  Highly watchable, though the wild mustang scenes might be too much for some people.  But therein lies the catch:  while Marilyn cannot stand to think of the wild horses being captured (they are to be sold for dog food), she is more than willing to take the wildness from Gable's lifestyle (it was time, anyway) and tame him.  The movie does feature several scenes, some of them eye popping, demonstrating Marilyn's sexual attraction to men (the famous bar scene where she bats a ball on a small paddle board over and over, to name one).  But her acting easily transcends those moments.  At times in control, at times totally vulnerable, at times womanly, and at times like a young girl, she attains depths in this film that must have made other actresses add another reason to hate her.  A very unusual Hollywood film, and not to be missed.

Now showing on Criterion. 

Mapman Mike

 

 

January Reading Summary

We are currently in line for the first big snowstorm of the season.  It appears we will take a direct hit, and up to 18" of snow is predicted on Wed. and Thursday.  Not my favourite thing to report, especially as it has been such a dry winter so far.

Our county is in the direct path of the worst of the snow.  It is going to be very unpleasant. 

This past month I seemed to have a lot of very long books in the queue.  I managed to get through my 8 Avon/Equinox authors by the 19th, and then continued on to read three others, as well as a chapter of the Beethoven biography by Swafford.

As usual, the month got started with Silverberg.  I read his Dying Inside, from 1972.  Silverberg continues to have problems with his writing, and it is not difficult to see why he lost so many of his readers in the early 70s.  His lead character is quite awful, being morally suspect, unimaginative, and quite boring.  He also continues to write poorly regarding female characters.  He mustn't have known very many women.  They are either far background characters, or mere sexual objects there only for the pleasure of men.  This time he does insert an important female character, but she is not treated as such.  The novel is about a man born with the gift, or curse, of being able to read other people's minds, even those of animals.  What he chooses to do with his powers is what really drags down the novel.  He becomes a mere voyeur, probing unsuspecting people's minds to get his thrills.  We are supposed to sympathize with him when his powers wane and then fade out.  Not recommended.

Next up was volume four in a fairly interesting series by Piers Anthony.  Wielding a Red Sword puts Mars, Incarnation of War, into the crosshairs, and the story is actually pretty good.  For one thing, the page count is shorter than most of Anthony's later novels, and this helps keep the story uppermost.  Anthony tends to wander off into infinite explanations of why things happen, and as a result his story is often bloated by a hundred pages or more of needless trivia.  This time he sticks closer to the tale at hand, as Mars has to visit Hell to rescue someone, and then find a way to escape.  There is some good imagery and pacing, making this a successful entry in his Incarnations Of Immortality series (8 books, I believe).

Next up was The Hammer and the Cross, a gargantuan epic novel by Harrison from 1993.  It deals with 8th and 9th C. England, and imagines the vikings ruling the land.  It is alternate history at its finest, and only veers off from fact very, very slowly.  In fact, it is difficult to say exactly when the fantasy element enters the story.  I am a sucker for a good Viking story, and this is a great one, ranking up there with those told by H Rider Haggard and E R Eddison.  There are actually three groups battling it out.  The Vikings have split into two camps, one being your basic rape and pillage gang, and the other, far more interesting, being a splinter group that follows old Nordic religious beliefs.  Of course there are the Roman Catholics opposing all heretics, but it would appear that they are going to lose out in this series.  Yes, it is a series, with three giant books in all.  Can't wait to get at the 2nd one in a few more days!

Following on the heels of the Viking saga came a dashing and daring pirate novel, the 2nd and final one of a series written by Kenneth Bulmer.  Captain Shark: Jaws of Death takes up where the previous novel left off, and the swashbuckling action comes fast and furious.  There is a very funny episode when the captain, dragged overboard and presumed drowned by his crew, finds them again months later drinking in a tavern.  He disguises himself as a man back from the grave and enters the tavern.  One of the best scenes Bulmer ever created!  Good jolly fun.

The inexhaustible source of stories written by E C Tubb continued last month, with I Fight For Mars, another 1950s pulp novel that is much better than its title.  This story brings back memories of Quatermass and the Pit at times, and I continue to enjoy reading Tubb's SF.

Once again Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson team up for a fine novel.  The Singers of Time is from 1991, and was pretty long (I consider books with small printing over 300 pages to be pretty long--this one was 340).  There is a lot to like about this story of the future.  Earth has been invaded by merchant aliens resembling turtles.  They trade their technological advances for Earth's raw materials.  They have eliminated war on Earth, and seem to be able to bargain for anything they want, since humans are hungry for technology.  Before too long we have left Earth and are traveling in space and time.  There are many unusual features to this story, not the least of which is that the humans are constantly bickering and fighting among themselves.  I feel the story is missing something that would have made it even better, and by the end I found myself wishing there would be a sequel (I don't think there ever was).  The book is good enough to recommend, and the wrap around cover wins best cover for January.

Best SF cover for January 2022.  Art by Michael Whelan.  

I finally got around to starting on Michael Moorcock's Elric stories.  There are a lot of them.  The first was Elric of Melnibone, supposedly the author's rebellious comeback to Tolkien, whom he claims to abhor.  It's not unusual for writers to claim to dislike Tolkien, as he was so successful a writer, and so brilliant at creating a fantasy world, and still remains unequaled to this day in his field.  There are certainly some problems with his writing, but they pale in comparison to the problems of most fantasy writers, such as Robert E Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, who Moorcock takes his cues from.  And so there is very little that is original in this first book, from 1972.  Anyone at the time reading the Conan stories and series by Burroughs would not have seen much different in Moorcock.  However, his hero is quite different, very non heroic.  He is pale, sickly, needs magic to keep up his strength, and doesn't really want to do much about anything.  His evil cousin tries to kill him and take over his kingdom more than once, but Elric forgives him each time, and somehow manages to survive.  At least this plot device keeps the story (a rather short one, indeed) going, though it does tend to repeat itself.  This would not be a great introduction to Moorcock's writing.  Most Conan and Burroughs adventure stories are much better than this first effort.  And then there is Fritz Leiber, in a class all by himself.  

I entered a new phase of writing with Barry Malzberg, who collaborated with Bill Pronzini for several murder mystery books.  The Running of Beasts is a gripping story about a serial killer in a small summer resort community, during the off season.  Literally anyone in the town could be the murderer, and in a tour de force ending you will not know the criminal until the very last page.  The book is fast paced and mostly, if not all, believable.  Malzberg has always been the best writer about insanity that I have ever come across, and there are several such people in this story.  Overall, very well done.

That takes care of my required reading for the month.  I had time for three other books, one of them a very long and confusing, rambling tale by Sherry Tepper.  The Waters Rising is mostly one big mess, though it has a few redeeming qualities.  At slightly over 500 pages, this was a tough one to get through, and I believe that many of her readers do not make it very far.  The basic story is almost directly lifted from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.  There is no Sauron or Mordor; however, there is The Old Dark Man and The Old Dark House.  I kid you not.  There is a journey with a fellowship.  There are no Hobbits, but there is a child of 7 or 8.  And she suddenly transforms into a 19 or 20 year old woman part way through the story.  There is a long journey, with a sort of Bree pub stop along the way (with a Bill Ferny character to go with it).  There is a monastery that serves as a Rivendell.  There is no ring bearer, but the child is a soul bearer.  And so on and so on.  The real problem with the book is the historical detail and the workings of society that the author cannot free herself from.  The actual story would take about 200 pages to tell.  The rest seems like it should be a massive (though hopefully shortened) appendix explaining how things work.  Take the monastery, for example.  We learn every single detail about how it functions, down to how the cooking is done, how tables are served, and how the dishes are done and stacked afterwards.  This is only one example among pages of them I could list.  The history of the lands is also very confusing, though it is a time of rising oceans, and the only chance people have of surviving is to turn into fish really soon.  And they do.  So go read this book if you really want to, but I suggest readers stay away.

Next up came Tales From Earthsea, by Ursula LeGuin.  There are five stories, some of them of novella length and some novelette, as well as a description of Earthsea, in which she does what Tepper should have done, taking about 30 pages to describe all manner of things about Earthsea, including history, language, magic, dragons, etc.  Though I did not like all of the stories, I really enjoyed most of them.  Having said that, I have always been somewhat unsatisfied with LeGuin's Earthsea stories.  She focuses so much on magic and wizards etc it seems as if much of the real goings on in her little universe never make it into print. A few of these stories help out somewhat in this regard, but not very much.  And while it's true that not all great writers can create something as believable as Middle Earth, or Majipoor, but if they are going to attempt such a feat they must go all the way.  LeGuin begins this process in her concluding description chapters, and in some of the stories found in this collectors' hardcover volume.  Her wonky map of Earthsea is included, something else that needs quite a bit of work.

P G Wodehouse was my sugar treat for the month.  I read Right Ho, Jeeves!, one of the funniest books I have ever read.  This was my first Jeeves and Bertie Wooster book, and hopefully it won't be my last.  The climax of the book is the ringing of the fire bell, and the events that follow.  A master craftsman of humourous writing, his characters are rich and full of fun cliches, his plots are as well woven as Shakespeare's, and his upbeat outlook on life is the icing on the cake.  Sadly, there are a few racist jokes and references amidst all the fun.  These very few parts would undoubtedly have seemed funny to some people in its day (1934), though today they remind us of our sad and woeful past.

I read Chapter 22 of Swafford's Beethoven biography, dealing mostly with his 5th and 6th Symphonies.  Our listening project currently has us attending to the three Op 31 piano sonatas, so we are still a long way from hearing those two symphonies again.

I  will be back soon with a winter storm report, and some movie posters.  Today is sunny and mild, our first day above freezing in 13 days.  After today, it's all downhill till who knows when.

Mapman Mike

 

Heat Wave

 Heat and humidity, minus the storms, have been with us long enough now to declare it a heatwave, the first long one of the summer.  Even sitting outside is uncomfortable, never mind having to actually work out there.  I cut the grass earlier in the week, but the Lone Mountain jungle continues to spread unabated.  A lot of outdoor work will have to happen when it does cool down, supposedly this coming Sunday.  Tomorrow will be the hottest day of the season, with strong storms promised.

Monday night I got to run through my piano program, finally, after a ten month delay.  I was originally going to perform it last October, but Covid started up again.  So at last I got to play it right through for someone.  Paula M., good music friend and former private teaching colleague (both of us now retired) came over last night to hear my program, and to perform four  piano pieces she has been working on.  It was a fun evening, and as usual from any given performance, I learned a lot.  My next play-thru will be at Deb's mom's retirement home, possibly next Monday.  After that, I will likely invite a friend or two at a time to come hear it, if they are indisposed.  Then I can finally put the pieces away and concentrate of some newer ones.  My brain is becoming numbed by the current pieces.

Deb continues to have her films accepted in some mighty important film festivals, including the Poe Festival in New York (she also made their 2022 Poe Festival calendar, March's photo being devoted to her film).  And she just had two of her films accepted for a festival in Detroit, called Shetown Festival.  She continues work on her latest (last?) Yorick adventure, an underwater one starring a singing mermaid and a lute playing octopus.

In listening news, we are just about ready to hear Beethoven's Op 13 piano sonata, one of his more revolutionary works.  Slowly getting there, though it will take at least two years to hear his complete works.  And I continue to read Swafford's 1000 page bio of the composer, a most entertaining read.  In reading news, I just finished the complete short stories of Ballard, and am reading another excellent novel by Malzberg.

In movie news, Deb's two most recent picks are as follows. Delirious was shown at Sundance, and stars Steve Buscemi as a paparazzi ("No, I'm a licensed professional.") who takes in a temporarily homeless young man and begins to teach him the business.  It's a fun film to watch, as the young man works his up to eventually becoming the hottest day time soap star on TV.

Now showing on Criterion. 

Her leaving August 31st choice was a 2018 Indian film called Naal, starring a happy young boy of six or seven years who is told by a visiting uncle that he is adopted.  This fact changes his entire outlook on life.  While the film (and young star) is charming, it is perhaps overlong by about 15 minutes.  There is some lovely photography, with the action mostly taking place in one small farming village near a river.  We get a direct view of local village life far from buses and trains, in a world that seems out of time with the rest of not only India, but the world.  Acting is very good, and the slim story is fleshed out nicely.  Definitely worth a peek, though seeing the little boy's face in closeup, expressive as it is, may becoming tiring after a time.

Naal, leaving Criterion August 31st. 

Sorry, no art today.  Next time.

Mapman Mike

 

Maps, Movies, and Music

The Beethoven CD collection arrived today, and it is really something beautiful to behold.  Even if one never listened to a single disc, it would still be a major investment.  In addition to a large book with many full colour illustrations, each of the several sections comes with a booklet with essays and full track details.  Nothing like this has ever been put out before; in addition to the complete works, there are many different interpretations of many of the main works.  For example, there are 4 complete and different sets of the 9 symphonies, and two full sets of the string quartets, three of the piano sonatas, in addition to several single works being given several times with different performers.  A miracle in a box!

The box is huge, holding 123 discs, one large hardcover book, and 9 smaller booklets.  I have died and gone to heaven.  Someday I will own the same kind of set, but of Bach's music.  I may never leave home again voluntarily. 

And speaking of mind-blowing purchases, I turn now to a brief discussion of maps.  I own a CD-ROM set of all of the maps published by National Geographic.  I've had the set for many years, but the program does not work on modern computers.  Thus I have not had access to these maps for nearly a generation now.  Recently, National Geographic has put all of their maps on-line.  They can be purchased individually, but even better is that if one buys a print subscription ($19 US), then not only do you receive 12 issues of the magazine in the mail, but you gain on-line access to their entire map collection.  even better than this, the quality of the scans is much improved over the old CD set.  So guess who recently purchased a subscription to National Geographic?  It's been an orgy of maps around here lately!

A map from 1922 that I have been perusing lately.  Sections can be downloaded and copied, too.  A Few things of note from the legend.  First, there are no roads, only railroads and caravan routes!  Secondly, many rivers on the map are marked "Unexplored."  Be still my beating heart!!

 

Small detail from a 1922 National Geographic map of Africa, one of hundreds I now have access to.  

In all the excitement we have hardly noticed that it has been unseasonably cold the past few days.  We had our first wood fire Wednesday evening, and it was a beauty.  It even attracted a cat.  The furnace got tested Thursday morning, and the 50 year old boiler is performing magnificently again.  We are all set for cold weather, though it is supposed to moderate by Tuesday of next week.  That is good news, as that is when the new astronomy session kicks off, weather permitting.

In movie news, we have each watched one of our own selections, and I watched part 12 of Berlin Alexanderplatz.  My movie choice this week was another TV undertaking of Fassbinder, a three and a half hour production shown in two parts called World On A Wire.  We watched Part 1 this week, and really liked it.  It's a fairly engrossing SF story about creating a computer program that simulates life as we know it, and people in the lab can communicate with their coded counterparts.  People on our side of the equation keep disappearing mysteriously, and no one seems to remember them.  Part 1 ends with a cliffhanger shock, so we are anxious to see Part 2 next week.

 

Now showing on Criterion.  We watched Part 1, lasting 1 hr. 45 min.

Liking it a lot so far. 

 

Deb's film choice this weekend was directed by Robert Siodmak, from 1944.  It is a well done noir film that has some very expressionist scenes, including a night scene at an El station in New York.  We also get to watch a crazy jazz set in a very small room.  Elisha Cook plays drums like a madman, and kisses the heroine, who is pretending to like him to get information from him.  Her reactions to his kisses are classic, as she will do do literally anything to free the man she loves from jail, where is wrongfully imprisoned.  Though hailed as a classic, the story is not consistent enough for me, but still worth a look.  The sets and photography are excellent.

Now showing on Criterion.

Sculpture studio.

Elisha Cook, Jr. jams on drums.

Visiting her man in prison.

My favourite scene, an el station at night, where the stalker becomes the stalked.

  

Now that we are in a suitably artistic frame of mind, I had promised to reveal some more works from the DIA collection.  I have some German Expressionist art that would fit in nicely here.  However, by coincidence I heard from Dino again today, and he sent his latest creation.  It's about as far from noir as one could get, but that's just fine, too.  Enjoy his painting of a barn swallow!  Thanks, Dino!

 

A recent work by Dino.  Beautiful capture! 

 

   Mapman Mike                                                                                                                                                                                       

 

 

September Books, and A Few Purchases of Note

On December 16th it will be the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth.  We had already planned to incorporate many of his works into our nightly listening program next year, and in addition I am embarking on a 1,000 page biography written by Jan Swafford of Beethoven, published in 2017.  A few years ago I read his work on Brahms, and was enthralled for the several months it took me to finish it.  It was like reading a novel, rather than a biography, and I am hoping for much the same with Beethoven.  There are 33 chapters, and I will read one in between every two novels I finish in my Avon/Equinox project.  So far I have read the Introduction, Chapter One (his grandfather, father and mother, and his birth) and the Appendix, which has to do with musical forms used by the composer.

 

Now part of my on-going reading.

I was getting ready to buy the complete works of Bach on CD, something I've wanted to own for some time now.  We have purchased and listened to the complete works of Delius, Britten, and we are just finishing up Brahms.  But at the last minute I put the Bach project on hold, and purchased the Beethoven collection instead.  This makes more sense just now, even though I doubt we will listen to everything (though I am stubborn and persistent).  The collection gets rave reviews, consists of 118 CDs, including multiple recordings of some works, and vintage recordings of many others.  Also, the piano sonatas and string quartets and symphonies are not by all the same people, but a mix of top performers, which I like.  Combined with my own Beethoven collection on vinyl and CD, we are pretty much set for a fun year of Beethoven! 

This set is on the way to our house!

BTHVN 2020 ‐ Beethoven The New Complete Edition (118 CD + 2 DVD +3 Blu-ray Audio) 

 

On to my September reading.  I read ten books related to my Avon/Equinox project, which now stands at 495 books read and reviewed online, and one book unrelated.  I also began the Beethoven biography, a mammoth undertaking.

 

First up was a Piers Anthony novel, as I began yet another one of his series.  Split Infinity is the first of his Apprentice Adept series, which tries to lead his SF fan base into his world of fantasy.  The novel begins as SF, and then changes to fantasy, as we hop back and forth between two worlds, though existing on different planes of the same planet.  An interesting concept, but he doesn't pull it off very well.  I really like Piers Anthony's SF writing, among the best I've ever read.  But after three of his fantasy novels, I am not a fan of his writing in that genre.  I might try one more in this series later, or not.

 

Next came a Harry Harrison non SF novel, called The QE2 Is Missing.  This is a very taut tale about the great ship being hijacked at sea, then found later with all crew and passengers missing.  The novel has a great opening, and a satisfying ending, and in between is some nail biting adventure.  Another winning combination of husband/wife team up (Harrison is great at this) to help catch the baddies.

Next came Bulmer's 1969 Stained-Glass World, a 160 page distopian novel of a drug-filled escapist future, with the world divided between Workers and Uppers.  If the workers don't work, they don't get access to their off duty dream worlds, which is the only reason they work to keep the world running in the first place.  The Uppers have access to better drugs and dreams, and whenever they want.  There are various kinds of security forces, including the toughest of them, the Revenue men.  The streets are mean, and no one ventures out alone.  Very grim, and worth a look.

An early work by E. C. Tubb was next, from 1953, called The Price of Freedom (alias Space Hunger; alias Earth Set Free).  Coincidentally, this story makes an excellent pairing with the Bulmer novel, above.  Tubb gives a very honest and grim look at a truly free society of the future, one that a good deal of Americans are always screaming for.  It is a world filled with private security and bodyguards, assassinations, raids, robberies, and mostly jungle law.  It would no doubt appeal to a certain type of weapons-loving personality, but most people would prefer what we have now, flawed as it is.  A somewhat strange book, though not nearly as strange as the Bulmer one mentioned above.  Fun to read and think about.

 

Next comes Jack Williamson's highly readable adventure story, a retelling of Theseus and the Minotaur, called The Reign of Wizardry.  If, like me, you have always been fascinated by Crete and the Minoans, then this fun novel will be right up your alley.  It gets silly from time to time, and there is one (for me) big disappointment, but all in all this is a good book to seek out in a used book store on a rainy day.

Michael Moorcock's The Quest for Tanelorn concludes his Castle Brass series (3 novels), and Hawkmoon series (4 novels).  It's only 155 pages and easy to read, and in addition to wrapping up the two series mentioned, it also sums up all of his Multiverse writings up to that time (1975).  The three Count Brass books have been added to my all-time list of favourite series, though the four Hawkmoon books, which are good but not great, must be read first.  Highly recommended!

Next came Super-Cannes: A Novel, by J. G. Ballard.  Several of Ballard's books are my favourite books of all time, and this one is right at the top of the list.  Absolutely amazing writing, the book, at 340 or so pages, left me wishing it had never ended.  He hits so many things right on the head in this book that it could provide me with an infinite number of quotes, enough for several years of those little daily tear-away calendars.  One of the best modern novels, without question.  Not SF, but worth it for SF fans anyway.

Cinema by Barry Malzberg is another novel he wrote in the early 70s for a publishing house trying to upgrade itself from publishing standard porn novels.  They got way more than they bargained for with Malzberg.  Despite the sex, which is not pornographic at all, this is great literature, and reminds me of the joke of why blokes used to buy Playboy magazine back in the day ("for the articles, man").  A young woman, a recent college grad, wants to become an actress, and instead gets herself involved in the porn film industry.  Like his previous book for the same publisher, called Screen, this one is tragically hilarious, as we watch the poor heroine get ground down until she has a breakdown.  Doesn't sound very funny, but black humour is hard to explain.  This stuff is jet black.

Last in the cycle comes James Blish, who co-wrote A Torrent Of Faces with Norman L. Knight.  Published in Galaxy Magazine as three novelettes, and expanded and published here as a linked novel, we are taken to a future where Earth is home to 1 trillion people!  Now that's what I call trying to tackle a true population nightmare!  This is a nearly perfect story, so well done and so highly readable, from 1967.  One of the great SF novels, to be sure!

Before resuming my next iteration of the Avon/Equinox authors' books remaining, I now always take a break and read something different.  I returned to my childhood again, reading The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. It is a very well crafted novella, and my only regret is that the author never returned to the theme.  How I wish he had written a sequel!  One of the greatest stories every written, and I was suprised by how well the 1960s feature film followed the author's writing.  The movie did add more things, and left out the far future segment, but overall did a great job of bringing the story to the big screen.

Lastly for September came a novel by Robert Silverberg, as I start over in my reading cycle.  To Open The Sky, like the Blish book discussed above, also consolidated some works previously published in SF magazines in the mid-60s.  Five novelettes tell the story of how interstellar travel was achieved, over a period of some 90+ years.  Many of the same characters return in each story.  It is a very imaginative and unique look at how the speed of light might someday be breached.  Sometimes the writing is a bit too straight forward and not that engaging, but overall this is a well done project.  I wish there had been one more story at the end.

 

I am currently reading a 532 page SF novel by Piers Anthony called Mute (for mutation).  Next month I'll talk about it a bit.  If this or any of the novels mentioned above are of interest, refer to my Avon/Equinox blog.  There should be a link at the top of this page, in the left margin.

Too tired right now to include art from the DIA.  Hopefully next time.  Happy October, and Happy Full Moon!

Mapman Mike

November Reads

I read 7 books related to the Avon/Equinox authors, and 1 book that wasn't.  That one book was a SF novel of some length (over 300 pages) by Sherri Tepper, called After Long Silence (The Enigma Score in Britain).  It details life on a planet that may have intelligent life, in the form of crystals that grow to mountain size.  From 1987, it was my main read during my trip to Sudbury.  A pretty intelligent book, and definitely worth reading.  I gave my cope away to a Sudbury friend when I finished.

I began November near the end of my 16-book author rotation with a novel by Ballard, called  The Unlimited Dream Company, about a man who dies in a plane crash, but who then experiences a suitably strange after life.  This is a phenomenal book, spell binding from the first word onwards.  I took my time with it, which I always do with Ballard, as the novel is rich in imagery, and often requires pause to think about matters occurring.  So it was a great start to the month's reading! 

Next up was Barry Maltzberg's incomparable Gather In The Hall of Planets, about a SF writer attending a convention, and being told by aliens that if he doesn't discover who the alien is masquerading as, the world will be destroyed.  The book completely spoofs SF fans, cons, and is a very funny story.  I laughed at nearly every single dark-humoured page.  This is a book that a true fan of SF literature should read more than once. 

A cycle of reading is complete when I arrive at James Blish, long a favourite SF author.  I began rereading his Cities In Flight novels, likely the best SF series ever written.  The first novel, They Shall Have Stars, begins at the beginning, just as several major developments are about to come on-line, enabling travel to the stars.  The VR scenes on Jupiter are so far ahead of their time that they still resonate.  A true classic, and an excellent beginning to such a wonderful series of four novels.

Well, that makes for 3 books in a row to which I awarded 4 stars, from the Avon/Equinox authors.  What could top that?  Well, not the next book, which was a real clunker from Robert Silverberg.  Called The Seed of Earth, the first half is one of the most abysmal stories I have ever read.  The second half at least achieves average pulp standards.

After Silverberg comes Norman Spinrad.  I spent a huge chunk of the month reading his 500+ page novel called He Walked Among Us.  The premise is amazingly good, and this is the author's third attempt to help Earth avoid environmental catastrophe.  In the end, though, one tires of Spinrad's voice, and especially of one of the characters, the one from the underworld, so to speak.  I really wonder how many people actually finished this novel of those who started it.

I began a new series by Piers Anthony, a major author who I have come to like more and more.  His genius is undisputed, but sometimes he has difficulty expressing himself clearly and concisely.  God of Tarot is a kind of St Anthony in the wilderness story, and is quite well written.  However, I didn't feel totally engaged, instead feeling like an outsider watching things happen.  Perhaps just a bit too clinical.  Some stunning attacks against religion!

I'm running out of novels by John Christopher.  I have begun his Tripods series, with The White Mountains being the first book he published as an author for children.  This mixture of SF and fantasy serves as the template for virtually all of his youth novels.  I thought this was his last series written, because of the publication date.  But the books are reissues from the 60s, and were actually his first.  In my edition the author talks about his experience trying to get this book published in Britain and the US.

I am currently reading a Stonehenge book by Harry Harrison, which I will review soon on the Harrison page of my Avon/Equinox blog. 

Sunday afternoon was Philip Adamson's 6th concert in a years long series playing the 32 Beethoven Sonatas.  yesterday's program included the monstrously difficult Hammerclavier, lasting nearly 55 minutes.  It was a beautiful and magnificent performance!  Now that Philip has a bit of free time once again, I shall try and sneak in a lesson with him.  My own pieces are coming along, and might be up for a January performance or two.  We shall see how December goes.  Randy G. also attended the concert, and we went out for coffee afterwards.

Also on Sunday afternoon was Deb's appointment with a heart specialist from London, Ontario.  Basically they cannot go ahead with any treatment for her until she can provide an EKG strip during one of her episodes.  So we are going to work on that problem, and hopefully provide a strip on her next SVT attack. 

Sunday evening Amanda L came over for a visit, her first since last Christmas holiday.  We had a bit of catching up to do, and even found time to play a round of the Dr. Who card game!  Sunday was a busy day, and our most social in a long while.  I'm afraid we are becoming hermits. 

Last weekend was also Deb's choice for a film festival.  She chose three films directed by Anthony Asquith:  Pygmalion, The Woman In Question, and The Browning Version.  All three are remarkable films in some way or other.  These monthly mini-festivals are fun to have, and with nearly unlimited choice for grouping them, they should continue indefinitely.  Along with the listening programs we have going on, many pleasant evenings are being spent here at the Homestead.  We are prepared for winter nights.

M.

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

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