In point of fact, I did rather well. Considering I entered California just as the peak of the pandemic was coming to bear, things could have been much worse. Fortunately my agenda was to explore the various and sundry natural delights the State has to offer. Had I been pitched on exploring its urban delights I'd have been cancelled in a heartbeat. But pandemic or no the redwoods still hold forth in their damp [...]
March 2020 If you want to know why Arcata, blame Google Maps. If you look for the major redwood parks along the northern California coast, Arcata sits approximately equidistant between them. Since it has plenty of places to stay and has Humboldt State University, it seemed as good a place as any for setting up base camp as I explored trees and sea. After driving around the area for a couple days I realized [...]
March 2020 It's great to be on the road after cooling my heels in the wintry North. As I mentioned in a previous post, my agenda for the trip was to be warm before the month of June, something unlikely to happen consistently in my neck of the Bitter North, so I upped stakes and headed south. And oh boy am I glad I did. I knew that the gods were smiling upon me [...]
March 2020 In the interests of transparency I must confess that I've avoided 19th and 20th century opera literature like the plague over the course of my lifetime to the point that my negligence could be said to have moved into the precincts of prejudice. In the past few weeks, however, I've attempted to reassess the literature for the sake of a few voices whose brilliance and accomplishment demand admiration regardless what music they sing. [...]
March 2020 In a couple weeks I'll be heading out on a long road trip. As I prepare to launch myself toward parts unknown I've become aware of just how good I have it in the home territories with regard to landscape and the natural world. My old stomping ground has, unfortunately, one fatal flaw: winter. It's long and brutal here. We're through the worst of it now that it's the end of February but [...]
March 2020 For me to write a blogpost about serialist music -- serialist, twelve-tone, call it what you will -- is both cheeky and astonishing. The cheek comes from the fact that although I'm quite handy with a score and know how to dance the interpretation minuet, that all falls apart for music written after about the year 1800. Ask me what to do with the many ornamentation signs in the work of Couperin and [...]