Music at the Philharmonic

Last Friday we had the grand opportunity to go to New York City and listen to the Philharmonic.  As many of you know, Paul's father was a subscriber to the Philharmonic beginning in the 1950s.  When he got old, he passed the tickets on to Paul, and we get to go to a couple of concerts a year.  [The rest we sell at cost to friends -- if any of you are interested, let us know.]

This year we had the opportunity to go and hear one of the most magnificent concerts we've ever had a chance to listen to -- Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. 

The concert started with Lisa Batiashvili, playing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.  This is the concerto that is so hard that when Tchaikovsky created it the first violinist he asked to play it, Auer, said "no way ... that's impossible."  Well ... it isn't impossible but it is damn difficult.  We'd never heard it before -- either live or on a record -- and the loss was ours.  For 35 minutes Batiashvili played her heart out, with power, grace and beauty.  She eared the standing ovation and the 4 curtain calls she got, for sure.

After intermission, the orchestra played Dvorak's New World Symphony.  That we'd heard before, of course, but never like this -- live in New York by the orchestra that premiered the piece more than 100 years ago.  The power of the horns; the vibrancy of the timpani -- this was just about as pure a joy as you could imagine.  It seemed less "complex" than the violin concerto, but in some ways our familiarity made it purer and more fun.

Add to all this a pleasant train ride up and back and lunch with Paul's brother, Jim, on a beautiful sunny Fall day and it is hard to imagine that anything could be more perfect.  Sometimes we wonder if keeping the tickets is worth it.  On day's like last Friday we don't wonder ... but we marvel at our good fortune instead.

More Great Music -- In Manassas

Grandsons  Kyle (5th Grade) and Aaron (12th Grade) both played in the Manassas All-City band concert on Wednesday night.  It was a pleasure to listen too for proud grandparents.  In one of these clips Kyle's band plays a bit of Beethoven's 9th.  If you look just to the left of the conductor you can imagine that you see Kyle playing his trumpet.  In the other clip Aaron's band plays "Into the Storm."  Aaron is the rightmost of the two tubas.

A Fantastic Weekend in New York City

In general, New York City is always challenging. The crowds in the city are daunting and the congestion makes getting around a pain in the butt. That having been said, when things fall right, there is no place like New York -- especially if you like good art, good music and good food.

We had one of those magical visits last weekend -- a quick 36 hour trip that packed in all the types of things we just love. It started, as all our good trips to NYC always do, with a pleasant train ride from Union Station to Penn Station. Nothing is really more fun than 3 hours alone on the train to read, or think, or chat.

After dropping our bags at the hotel (the Empire, right across the street from Lincoln Center) we went for a nice walk on the crisp day, across Central Park. Our first stop on the Saturday afternoon was the Frick Museum at 7oth & 5th. They had a wonderful special exhibit of Renoir's full length portraits. This one, "The Promenade" is in their permanent collection and always makes me think of our daughter-in-law and her two girls. The others, including several fantastic pieces we'd never seen before like "Umbrellas," really brought home how special Renoir's painting is. After a suitably extended visit with this small exhibit (just 10 paintings all told) we still had time for a wander through the rest of our Frick to see some old friends -- JMW Turner, Vermeer, Rembrandt. It is always a special pleasure to return someplace you've been before and refresh your memories.

After a nice rest and a nap at the hotel, it was time for our concert at the New York Philharmonic. We've been going for years and the music is always quite fine, but this concert was truly special. We were treated to two of Beethoven's symphonies, No. 2 and No. 7. We'd never heard #2 live before, but of course #7 is quite familiar. And yet these were different. The conductor, David Zinman, has spent the past few years reconstructing the original scoring from when the works were first performed. He has stripped away much of the romantic encrustations that have become so familiar. The result is like hearing these for the first time -- spare, dynamic, and powerful. The musicianship of the players and their sheer joy in playing really made the pieces come alive in new ways The opening phrases of the No. 7 Allegretto were some of the most gentle music we've ever heard and haunting. Throw in Peter Serkin on the piano playing a Stravinsky Capriccio and the music was pure magic.

We capped the day off with dinner at Picholine an very pleasant French restaurant just a couple of blocks away. It was a fine meal (Katy had the lamb; Paul the bass) with a nice French wine that just mellowed the day to an end. We finally rolled into bed around Midnight.

After sleeeping in the next morning, we had a quick breakast at a near by Le Pain Quotidien and then headed over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The only problem with the visit is we didn't have nearly enough time!!! We began with a small exhibit of Rembrandt and Degas self-portraits. Apparently Degas copied Rembrandt's style and seeing the two together was a revelation.

Then we took a trip back in time to the Renaissance and saw a great exhibit on portraits in Italy from Donatello to Bellini. Watching the style develop was fascinating, as was coming to recognize the idea that individual portraits were "new" at the time. The Donatello bust of a saint which opened the exhibit was truly a sight to behold.

Our third stop was "The Steins Collect." The Stein family (including Gertrude) spent the early 20th century in Paris. Leo Stein had a good eye and a sound business sense and they wound up collecting a number of Matisse and Picasso paintings (as well as several other artists) for absurd prices. One Matisse went for 500 francs (or just $100). Their salon was filled with great impressionist art. What a dream.

Finally, we went to see the work of Fu Baoshi. He was an artist who painted in the "old" Chinese style and lived through the revolution of Sun Yat Sen and then Chaing Kaishek and then Mao. His pictures were quite a joy to look at and something we'd never seen before. Made us want to study Asian art a bit.

And so, tired by happy, we took our seats on the train home and headed back to Washington, after a great weekend in New York.

Tribeca -- Part II

We left the hotel last night for dinner at Sapphire, an Indian restaurant up near Lincoln Center. The food was actually a little different from the "normal" Indian fare we are used to and well worth the effort to try out. Katy had scallops with a mango chutney for appetizer -- an unusual and tasty combination with a smoky flavor. Paul had fried Mussels Balchao that came in a spicy tomato sauce of some sort that was sharp on the tongue and had his bald head sweating in an instant. For the main course, Katy had a rather ordinary Lamb Sorrle while Paul had a much more interesting Lamb Xacutti, which featured a coconut flavor based sauce.

After that, we went the New York Philharmonic to hear another in a series of truly excellent concerts. It seems every time we go, the symphony just does a superb job. This time, they performed a short overture by Glinka and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. The soloist, Leonadas Kavakos, was perfect for the music -- which was much "mellower" than the normal Tchaikovsky music we've heard. At the end, he got a well-deserved standing ovation for his effort with this very difficult piece. The second half of the concert was also quite good, featuring Debussey's Noctures (the Women's chorus of New York was eerie as the "Sirens) and then Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. Overall, a fine, mostly Russian, evening of music.

This morning, we had brunch at a local French
bistro called Balthazar. This photo gives you a good sense of the place -- all hustle and bustle with a whole lot of New York action going one. Our eggs were nicely done and the place had a homey feel to it -- maybe it was the Xmas decorations, maybe it was the crowd. Maybe it was the promise of good coffee and a pastry basket that was outstanding. Whatever it was the walk was worth it and the food was lots of fun.

One last note on the trip in case anyone actually reads what we are writing. We really did like the Tribeca Grand Hotel -- it was a nice place with a good atmosphere. But last night may have broken us of that enjoyment. The bar in the open atrium was playing music, loudly, until well past 2 AM. We suppose we should have expected as much from Tribeca, but still .... Katy was up and didn't sleep well at all. So if, like us, you think 11 PM is a realistic bed time, this one might not be for you. On the plus side, when we mentioned it to the manager on check out, he told us that it had been a special private party and he promised us a quieter room the next time we came and asked us to contact him personally -- so at least they were trying to address our issues. We decided we probably would give them a second chance.

We are on the Acela now on the way home. Will be good to sleep in our own bed.

Vestards Simkus -- WOW

On November 18th we went to a reception celebrating the 92nd anniversary of Latvian independence. We've been to a number of these events for many countries. They are usually pleasant enough but often not really "exciting."

Boy, was this one different! To celebrate, the Latvians had invited a young Latvian pianist, Vistards Shimkus, to come and play a concert. Simkus is 26 years old, tall and thin, with amazingly long fingers. More importantly, he was simply magnificent and a total joy to listen to. Talk about wonderful surprises, this was one!

He started with Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 3 -- a marvelously lyrical piece with great power. Simkus' attack at the piano was strong and energetic. He made the piece come alive. This was followed by Chopin's Scherzo No. 2, which he did with equal precision and energy.

But the real joy was in the second half of the concert after intermission. After a modest set of pieces by Medins (a Latvian composer) he did a piece called White Scenery, also by a Latvian (Vasks) [listen to the video]. It was one of the most haunting things we've heard in a number of years -- slow, melodic, with periods of near silence that seemed to almost strain our listening to a tension point. After the Vasks, we then heard a incomparable rendition of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, where Simkus played with great precision and clarity. The concert ended with one of Simkus' own pieces "Heartbeats of Astor Piazzolla" which began with him beating rhythmically on the piano. The melody was interesting, but the uniqueness of the piece and its presentation really made the event.

In short, Simkus is something new and talented. I expect to see him at the NY Philharmonic some day. And the sheer surprise of seeing him at an independence day event made the pleasure all the more wonderful.

New Orleans -- The Music

We come to New Orleans for two reasons -- the food and the music. [Actually, we also come for the art and just to get away ....]. In this post, we wanted to talk about the music we have heard on this trip:

Ellis Marsalis Trio -- We started off Friday night with the early show at Snug Harbor. Snug Harbor, as the name implies, is a tiny little bandbox of a jazz room. The entire place fits maybe 75 people in a room the size of a small living room (with a balcony above). It defines the intimate setting and it is the home to some fantastic jazz. We were seated 10 feet from the stage to hear the Ellis Marsalis trio. Ellis Marsalis is both literally and figuratively the "father of New Orleans jazz." Figuratively because his music captures the heart of classic New Orleans style rhythms and literally because 4 of his sons (Wynton, Branford, Delfayo and Jason) have followed in his footsteps and play magnificent music.

Ellis played a great set filled with everything from a cover of "These are a Few of My Favorite Things" (from the Sound of Music) that reminded us of the great Coltrane cover of the same song, to two tunes from his recent homage to Thelonius Monk, including our favorite "Straight, No Chaser." Combined with his own compositions the result was a quiet excellence that just uplifited you. His backups were well up to the task, especially the drummer (whose name we did not catch) who played most of the set with his eyes closed -- feeling the music rather than seeing it. On the whole, the experience was near magic.

New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band -- The Marsalis set ended early enough that we still had some time on our hands. So coming home, we stopped at the Preservation Hall. Katy had never heard them. There we got a nice one-set dose of classic dixieland jazz. The clarinetist had great style and the trombonist was a showman. The band played some old gospel, some swing and ended the evening with the classic "When the Saints." We wouldn't say the music was as technically fine as Ellis Marsalis -- but anyone who can hear the "Saints" and not walk out of the room smiling has no musical soul.

Jeremy Davenport -- Davenport headlines the music at the Davenport Lounge in the Ritz-Carlton. We had been planning to go to Tipitina's Uptown for music Saturday night, but dinner ran late and we didn't want to schlep all the way out to the Uptown area, so on a lark we stopped in the lounge. It's a classic New Orleans hotel lounge -- comfy chairs and expensive drinks. Davenport was backed by a 4-piece combo and they played alot of swing era and Brat Pack type favorites. It was well styled and many folks got up to dance, but Davenport's voice wasn't up to the lyrics. On the whole a "B" at best -- not bad but not music to die for.

The James River Movement -- For Sunday Jazz Brunch, we stayed at or hotel (The Roosevelt) for brunch in the Blue Room. What a fun time! The music itself was pretty good -- not great but pretty good. They played the classics including Fats Domino's "Blue Monday" and some downriver Blues (as well as the "Saints," of course). And the lead player had a neat way of playing -- for example, his harmonica was hooked to his flute, so he could switch between the two instruments seamlessly.

But what made the music was the crowd. On one side of the room there must have been 50 people there to celebrate Alysha's birthday (we know her name because we all sang for her). Alysha turned 80 recently and most of the other guests were her contemporary septuagenarians.

And boy were they having a great time. When the band played a tune they knew, they sang along. When he started to play the Blues, they waved their napkins in the air. And to top it off, the whole lot of them got up and danced a "second line" on the dance floor, led by the birthday girl. It was so exuberant and joyous that you couldn't help but smile -- and we smiled so much that our smile muscles hurt. All of which goes to show that music is about more than the notes on the page -- its about the emotions and pleasures it stirs in the heart. I hope that when I turn 80 I can have as much joy in my life.

Music is part of what makes New Orleans the place it is. Usually, we come down during JazzFest and get overwhelmed. This time, we heard some great stuff and still had time just to hang out.

The Music of Epcot

Epcot Center in Orlando has a series of pavilions reflecting cultures from around the world. We had lunch in Italy and dinner in Morocco. And along the way we heard the music of Mexico and Japan. Here are two small tastes: