Tanglewood and Ashfield

Last weekend we worked three nights at Tanglewood and just to make it a completely overwhelming experience we spent Sunday afternoon listening to a Boston Pops concert. The Friday night concert was an all Beethoven affair and excellent. It included his 6th Symphony, my least favorite of the nine, However, this performance was an eye ( ear) opener for me. It brought out all the nuances and textures I had been ignoring. Perhaps my circumstances now make me more receptive to a pastoral symphony. 


The Saturday night concert was a mixed affair with a mediocre performance of Barber's School for Scandal Overture, followed by almost unlistenable pieces by Ravel and Meyer. The latter is a bass player in the BSO and his concerto for violin and bass had some decent orchestral passages but generally annoying and unmusical solo parts. The concert was redeemed by a solid performance of Tchiakovsky's Fourth Symphony. This piece contains some extremely dramatic and rousing music and is sonically unsurpassed. I invite all of you to listen to part of the first movement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-c1LLZaVCA  You will need decent speakers to get the full effect. I hope it will convince you to listen to more classical music. I truly believe that the music written from the mid 1700s through the early twentieth century represents some of the greatest achievements of Western civilization.


The Sunday Boston Pops concert was okay. The second half featured Bernadette Peters, whom I was informed, was born in the same year I was. Looking at her condition and at then at mine, it is clear that I have led an ill spent and hard life.

She has an excellent voice for Broadway tunes, but she sang too many Sondheim lyrics. I won't call them songs since they are really just speeches with some background musical notes.


Monday was devoted to recovering from the weekend and my first real long bike ride since the hip replacement last year: 52 fairly hilly miles.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in desultory efforts on finishing up the mud room exterior. This morning, Jean and I walked through some groves of ancient pines in Mohawk State Forest. Some of the trees were over 150 feet tall. It was inspiring and relaxing.


Came home and went back to work. Just three more pieces of siding to go on and then the finish work.