The shepherd is a little rocky.
10:19 a.m.
Hubby is seriously thinking of starting a band, he�s not quite sure what kind yet, but he already has a couple of musicians interested, our very own Kevin O on drums, and the brother of a man he plays tennis with, whom we shall call JJ, who is apparently a fantastic jazz pianist. I have been told that I may sing, if I can stand the excessive volume (I haven�t made up my mind about that yet), but it occurs to Hubby that I�m not really a rock singer, and JJ is not a rocker either. Kevin can do anything, and the bass player we have in mind is a rocker. We shall see.
Okay, that was random. Well, actually it wasn�t. For my birthday, Hubby got me an Aretha FrankIin CD, and I think I can sing soul, not sounding like Aretha perhaps, but I could do that repertoire with a little practice. I mean, with my training, I should be able to do anything, right? Remember the little engine that could? That�s me!
Okay, it�s time to talk about the concert, now that I�ve dispensed with pleasantries. I�ll mention the weather later, okay? (I actually remembered to bring a programme home this time. Yay me!) First, though, I must begin with a riddle: How many sopranos does it take to change a lightbulb? Only one, and the whole world revolves around her. Now, there is also an alternative answer to that riddle: Five. One to actually change the lightbulb, four others to say, �That�s too high for her.� My friend Vlad is the former soprano, I am one of the latter.
The concert opened with the Sonatina I for violin and piano, a lovely piece that was very well played by our resident violin teacher and the other pianist on the programme. They are both good musicians, and it was a nice performance. This was followed by the same pianist accompanying my friend Vlad on four Lieder. This is where it becomes difficult for me to be honest and not sound like a catty soprano myself. Maybe at one time Vlad had a pretty voice, I can still hear remnants of it. But my friend Patsy assures me that she never liked the way she sang, and she�s been hearing her for many years. So, anyway, Vlad has what I term a �nymphs and shepherds� sound, in other words, she has a bleat that I find incredibly annoying. She also has only one dynamic setting, mezzo-forte, which becomes rather tiresome after a while. I couldn�t understand her text, and her German sucks generally. Also, she tends to sing out of tune, overshooting pitches on the way up, and worse, on the way down. So, that passed, and was followed by piano four-hands played by Vlad and the other pianist, Deux marches caract�risques, which my husband tells me were composed as dance music. It was rather rhythmic and dull, I thought.
After intermission we were treated to another violin sonata, this time Vlad accompanying, which was lovely. Vlad is not a bad accompanist, although she does miss out on some subtleties sometimes. This was followed by another piano four-hands duet, Fantaisie, this time Vlad taking the secunda and I could not hear the primo at all for her pounding. Then for the pi�ce de r�sistance, all three came on stage to perform Der Hirt auf dem FeIsen in a version for violin (as opposed to the usual clarinet). Although I must say I prefer the original, our violinist played beautifully, very sensitively, lots of dynamic contrast and nuancing. I wish the soprano had done the same. I know this piece very well, having sung it myself, and I had to be so careful not to let my face betray my emotions as she massacred it. * sigh *
Okay, enough. When we stepped outside, the wind was high and the temperature was absolutely balmy. And now, having taken two hours to write this damned entry, I am going to have some lunch.
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