Sunday, September 26, 2021
Yes. Another whole day of music. Chatter Sunday
and Chatter Caberet.
My Sunday started off with a cup of Americano, a small scone, and a double-chocolate red-chile cookie, while waiting for the music. I chatted with an old musician sitting next to me. Coffee makes me talkative. The music began with Giuseppe Verdi’s L’esule (1839), with tenor John Tiranno, Natasha Stojanovska on piano.
I don’t enjoy operatic singing. I like the orchestral music that comes with it, but I would be more interested in the story if it didn’t come with all the coloratura. Those trills drive me off the wall. At any rate, Mr. Tiranno sang with gusto, but kept to the words, rather than all the ornamentation introduced by Italian singers in the 17th century, and often highly elaborated and exaggerated by the vainglorious. It was OK. An exile longing for death in English would have been better, for me. Tiranno enjoyed it far too much for me to hear the pathos, but I like passion in people, even it it’s not in keeping with the story.
The musicians took the stage for a piano trio (no. 1, op 8, 1923) by Dmitri Shostakovish. It opened with some harshness, to my ears, but settled into some highly enjoyable and powerful playing. Mozart really rocks.
After that, Damien Flores took the stage, but not to sing or play music. He’s a poet, and there is always poetry in the middle of the musical selctions. Damien is a poetry slam champion, educator, author, and radio broadcaster. He also hosts Poetry & Beer, which I often attend at Tractor Brewing. I enjoyed his collection of poems titled Junkyard Dogs, but he presented two poems today, one of which dealt with hospitals, family and death, while the other was well-written humor. I laughed throughout that one. And yes, out loud, with gusto.
The concert finished with Songs of a Wayfarer (1883) by Gustav Mahler. They are not happy songs. In fact they deal with the pain, depression, and suffering of someone dealing with unrequited love. Sad songs, but I understand them, all too well. John Tiranno sang those also, and he was fierce.
I had the chance then to go home and relax for a bit before heading to the Albuquerque Museum for Chatter Caberet. I made a small plate of three-tiered cheese enchiladas with corn tortillas, onions and both green and red chile.
I enjoyed Lullaby (1919) by George Gershwin, followed by Luke Gullickson on Piano performing Maurice Ravel’s Le tombeau de couperin (1914), during which I knocked over half of my glass of red wine. I was quite embarrased. I spent most of the piece trying to avoid the embarrasment by contemplating the wine spreading out, and being chromatographed throughout the linen tablecloth, as it continued to spread, seperating the wine into bands of red and pinkish colors until the water in the wine expressed itself around the edges. I was sharing the table with four other people, and was thoroughly embarassed. And I had been so enjoying pairing my glass of Merlot with some spicy meats on the charcuterie platter. Ah, well. I often play the klutz.
There followed a long piece for piano quartet by Peter Garland: Where Beautiful Feathers Abound. Nice, but did I mention that it was long? I was still contemplating the tablecloth, as the edges of the spill creeped ever closer.
Finally, some Mozart! A Piano Concerto (no. 12 in A major, K.414 – 1782). This was a wonderful piece to enjoy, full of fire, passionately played by pianist Luke, violinists Elizabeth Young and Donna Mulkern, violist Laura Chang, and cellist Ian Brody. This took my mind off of my wine faux pas.
The night was growing long as I arrived home again. I popped a movie in the DVD player to watch Chaos Walking, a Sci Fi epic that takes place on a planet where all the women have disappeared and the men are afflicted by “the noise” – a force that exposes all their thoughts both audibly and visually. Enter a lone woman arriving to settle on the planet, who crash lands, and does not know what had happened there, and is not herself affected by “the noise”. She was born on the ship during it’s long 65-year journey from Earth. She meets a young man living in a settlement of men, of which he is the only one having been born on the planet itself, and not originally from Earth. He has no experience with girls or women. She has no experience on a planet (and yet, she can ride a motorcycle through a forest). They end up running for their lives. Excitement and adventure. Just what I needed. Above are all of my exposed thoughts today. Such a busy day – perhaps I was avoiding something, or someone, someone whose birthday was today.
Tomorrow (Monday) I have another Covid-19 test. I’m back to work on set Wednesday. It’ll probably be a long day. October promises to be very busy – I’ve applied to be on several sets of TV episodes and movies that are being shot all over New Mexico. Long days and nights. Driving to and from Santa Fe, and also around Albuquerque. Camping out in background holding. Staying awake when the day turns to night after 12 or 14 hours. Fun, fun, fun. No, really – I do enjoy it. And I seriously need to be active.
Random Writings and Photos 
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