Mellow and Musical

This week has been a good one, starting with last week's concert. It was a fabulous performance that got a very favorable review in the F W Star Telegram.  The second part of the concert was the Dvorak Cello Concerto with soloist Johannes Moser.  Prior to the concert I had purchased his CD with the Dvorak on it and I was lucky enough to be first in line to have him autograph the cover for me.  I really liked the little Cellist he drew on his shirt on the cover.  His performance was a rapturous rendition of one of my favorite concerti as was the rest of the concert.

The concert energized me for the week and it turned an ordinary week into an upbeat experience topped off with another raise on Friday as well as the weekend off.  I have been house vegging all weekend just because I could.  I spend so much time on the run it is nice to have nothing to do for a change

I have a check up appointment so my surgeon can look at my surgical wound and its healing.  It looks good in the mirror but there is a depression where the cyst was that I am hoping will fill back in over time.  but I have full use of my arm and shoulder which is the important thing.

I don't have much on the agenda this week, so I am hoping for and upbeat yet quiet week at work.  They have adjusted my schedule at my request and my doctors behest to slw down.  Like I mentioned earlier, the weekend is mine as I approached their wwallet and said surely there is someone you could pay less than me to stand at the register for 3 hours while Robin did the work which is basically my function on Saturday.  My replacement makes 2 dollars an hour less and I have one less work day in my week.  They have also adjusted the Tuesday Truck Night so I am only there from 10 pm to 2 am  help with the truck and then go home.  This will make it easier for me with a few less hours (which I don't need) and one less work day (which I do need).  Let's hope my upward trend and mellow mood continue into the coming weeks and months ahead.

The play list for today contains one of my all time favorite transciptions. The Sonata for Arpeggione and Pianoforte in A minor, D 821 by Franz Schubert was written for an instrument  very similar to the Violoncello.  The Arpeggione as an instrument is no longer around and this Sonata is the sole surviving composition for that instrument.  Today it is hauntingly beautiful in the modern transcription most often heard for Cello and Piano.  The first recording in the playlist is the 1976 recording featuring Lynn Harrell on Piano and James Levine of the NY Metropolitan Opera on Piano.  However I also find it wonderfully transcribed for Viola and Guitar and just as hauntingly beautiful.  The latest recording and the second in the playlist is by the duo of Andrea Dieci & Duccio Beluffi recorded live in Parma at the Auditorium Casa della Musica on May 29th 2016 at the Niccolò Paganini Guitar Festival.  It is posted just below for your listening pleasure followed in due course by some Eye Candy below the playlist. This is for those not into man art who may scroll no further than the play list after reading my c0mmentary of the week.  Thanks for the visit, please do come again.  As always, Enjoy!

Basic Beethoven Blitz

It is going to be exciting times here in the Metroplex for Classical Music Enthusiasts this weekend.  Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra will be in concert in Bass Hall in downtown Fort Worth.  Here is the concert synopsis from the FWSO website:

"2013 Cliburn Gold Medalist Vadym Kholodenko makes his second appearance of the season to perform Prokofiev's boisterous final piano concerto. The FWSO opens the concert with Richard Strauss' virtuosic tone poem, Don Juan, and closes with Beethoven's awe-inspiring Fifth symphony, whose opening motif is now engrained in pop culture."

But that is not all that is happening.  In a series of 3 concerts spaced throughout the day on Saturday at the Dallas City Performance Hall, there will be a Sonata-thon.  Stewart Goodyear will perform all 32 of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas between the 10 AM, 3 & 8 PM performances.  "Known for imagination, a graceful, elegant style and exquisite technique, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished young artist whose career spans many genres—concerto soloist, chamber musician, recitalist and composer. Mr. Goodyear has performed with many of the major orchestras of the world...This very special engagement will find Mr. Goodyear performing a one-day cycle of the complete piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven. The day will be broken up into three separate performances, Part 1: 10 a.m. – 1:40 p.m. - Sonatas No. 1 through 11, as well as 19 and 20, including Pathetique and the Grand Sonata, Part 2: 3:00 pm – 6:30 p.m. - Sonatas No. 12 through 23 (except 19 & 20) including the Moonlight, Pastoral, Tempest, Waldstein and Appassionata and Part 3: 8:00 p.m. – 10:50 p.m. - Sonatas No. 24 through 32, including Les Adieux and Hammerklavier."

While I cannot simulcast the concerts, I can do the next best thing and bring the music that we will be hearing to you.  So in the days leading up to this bounty of beautiful Beethoven being brought to us here in town, I will be doing a Basic Beethoven Blitz where I bombard you with boatloads of the best of Beethoven.  In 1983 and 84, Daniel Barenboim recorded the entire Sonata cycle in the order they were composed.  He later in 2005 performed this Sonata-thon in a series of concerts in Berlin.  The performances from the 80's are gathered in 3 videos which I will share with you over the next three days here at Nichevo while over on my tumblr I will be sharinig some of my favorites of Beethoven's other compositions as the week goes by.  

The play list for today goes like this:

Piano Sonata No.1 in F minor, Op.2/1
Piano Sonata No.2 in A major, Op.2/2
Piano Sonata No.3 in C major, Op.2/3
Piano Sonata No.4 in E♭ major, Op.7 ("Grand Sonata")
Piano Sonata No.5 in C minor, Op.10/1 ("Little Pathétique")
Piano Sonata No.6 in F major, Op.10/2
Piano Sonata No.7 in D major, Op.10/3
Piano Sonata No.8 in C minor, Op.13 ("Pathétique")
                          ** my favorite among his Piano sonatas
Piano Sonata No.9 in E major, Op.14/1
Piano Sonata No.10 in G major, Op.14/2
Piano Sonata No.11 in B♭ major, Op.22

While over on my tumblr, you may hear Quartet No. 1 in F Major,  Op. 18, No. 1 performed by the Afiara String Quartet (Live).  Then there has got to be some visual  inspiration to go along with all this beautiful music.  And I have that covered in spades with this Wet Wednesday collection down below and the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.  Thanks for the visit, stay tuned for more Beethoven and more Men as the week goes on.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!