unbillable hours

Proof of the divine?

J.S. Bach, Air from Suite No. 3, BWV 1068.

'It is as though eternal harmony were conversing with itself, as it may have happened in God's bosom shortly before He created the world.'

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on Bach

or, to put it more modernly

'I don't think a greater genius has walked the earth. Of the 3 great composers Mozart tells us what it's like to be human, Beethoven tells us what it's like to be Beethoven and Bach tells us what it's like to be the universe.'

Douglas Adams
(both via BBC 3, A Bach Christmas)

A sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave

Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,

While we all sup sorrow with the poor;

There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;

Oh Hard times come again no more.

Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,

Hard Times, hard times, come again no more

Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;

Oh hard times come again no more.

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,

There are frail forms fainting at the door;

Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say

Oh hard times come again no more.

There's a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,

With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:

Though her voice would be merry, 'tis sighing all the day,

Oh hard times come again no more.

Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,

Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore

Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave

Oh hard times come again no more.

            - Stephen Foster, c. 1859

podcasts

Having avoided podcasts for a while, I'm a little late to the game.  I don't intend to ever create one myself, but I do enjoy many music podcasts.  I'm looking for more, though.  Any suggestions?

If I Lived Till I Was 102....

This should be the theme song to my relationship with nearly every woman in my life:

Colin Hay, Just Won't Get Over You, from Man at Work (2003), and Garden State: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2004). 

I drink good coffee every morning
Comes from a place that's far away
And when I'm done I feel like talking
Without you here there is less to say
I don't want you thinking I'm unhappy
What is closer to the truth
That if I lived till I was 102
I just don't think I'll ever get over you

I'm no longer moved to drink strong whisky
'Cause I shook the hand of time and I knew
That if I lived till I could no longer climb my stairs
I just don't think I'll ever get over you
Your face it dances and it haunts me
Your laughter's still ringing in my ears
I still find pieces of your presence here
Even after all these years

But I don't want you thinking I don't get asked to dinner
'Cause I'm here to say that I sometimes do
Even though I may soon feel the touch of love
I just don't think I'll ever get over you
If I lived till I was 102
I just don't think I'll ever get over you

The next time you feel compelled to analyze the political meaning of music, just consider this: how many people must hide their secret embarassment that, in the eighties, they tried to engage in discourse over After the Fire's Der Komissar?

Are You Happy Now?

Richard Shindell, Are You Happy Now?, from Sparrow's Point (1992).

You took the toaster when you went
You never paid your half of the rent
You took the spices from the rack
But you don't have to put 'em back
'Cause in your haste on Halloween
You left your camera on the bed
Where we played roles in black and white
You left a roll of black and white
I set the timer, thought of you
Put the lens up to my head
I took a photograph for you
What comes out gray is really red

So are you happy now?
Are you happy now?
Are you happy now?

I smashed your pumpkin on the floor
The candle flickered at my feet
As goblins flew across the moon
The children peered into the room
A cowboy shivered on the porch
And Cinderella checked her watch
A hobo waited in the street
An angel whispered trick or treat
What was I supposed to do
But to sit there in the dark
I was amazed to think that you
Would take the candy with you too

CHORUS

I've sat all night, and now it's dawn
And I cannot believe my eyes
There's garbage strewn across the lawn
Where we once stared up at the sky
And streams of paper fill the tree
That hovered over you and me
And shaving cream covers the car
That we picked up in Baltimore
And though I know it's hard to tell
I hope that what's-his-name treats you well
I still maintain that he's a bum
But it's your life, hey, have some fun

CHORUS

You always asked why I had not
Written you a verse or two
Since that's the one thing I regret
I dedicate this one to you

So are you happy now?
Are you happy now?
Are you happy now?
Are you . . . ?

I have a hunch someone will enjoy that.

a little after dinner digestif

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent (right click)

Once again, enjoy. This one is from the 1996 concert done at the Wang Center. Please right click and save. I'm heading back into my turkey-related stupor.

In Dulce Jubilo

A Christmas gift for you, which, I promise, the copyright holder won't mind giving. This is a recording made of my chorale's performances at the Trinity Church/Copley Plaza Christmas Concerts, in Boston. There's more to come, but please right click and save rather than left click.

Download file (In Dulce Jubilo)

The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

Will I have his protection,

Even if I weep

My old eyes away,

Or if my bitter tears

Were to make another River Oder,

They would not bring back

My son to life.

He lies in the grave

I know not where

Though I ask people

Everywhere

Perhaps the poor boy

Lies in a rough trench

Instead of lying, as he might,

In a warm bed.

Sing for him,

Little song-birds of God,

For his mother

Cannot find him.

And God's little flowers,

May you bloom all around

So that my son

May sleep happily.

- Henryk Gorecki, Symphony No. 3, Opus 36, "The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" (1993). Translated from the Polish. (Link).

Schubert: Trout Quintet, Death and the Maiden / Budapest String Quartet and Mieczyslaw Horszowski

Amazon.com: Music: Schubert: Trout Quintet, Death and the Maiden / Budapest Qt et al

Having The Trout Quintet and Death and the Maiden on the same recording is a lot like a double feature of The Great Muppet Caper and Schindler's List. The Trout Quintet is one of the most cheerful, rollicking classical pieces ever recorded. Death and the Maiden, not surprisingly, is not. It's an intensely frantic, almost maddening, sorrowful piece (used quite well in the film of the same name, starring Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley; the film was about torture and retribution in Chile after the coup). Still, the recording is top notch. The string section comes through crisply and the piano has a lot of life to it. Plus, and this is something I'm quite fond of, the CD is part of the Sony Essential Classics series, so it's generally reasonably priced (I think I paid $7.99 for this; incidentally, thanks for the birthday-related gift certificate, mom).