who says classical music is boring?

I went to see the Nashville Symphony last night. It was so lovely! We've been so often lately. It's such a fun and easy way to have a fancy night out.

The effect on that picture kind of makes me look like I have a black eye, but I don't, in case you wondered. Don't worry.

So here's something that.. might be common knowledge, but it JUST clicked for me yesterday.

We're all familiar with Paganini's 24th Caprice, right? It's probably the most popular one, maybe because it starts out so simply with the theme, that ambitious and optimistic violinists choose it to learn (before tossing it aside in frustration when they realize their tiny hands can't play 10ths in succession)(not that I know this from personal experience) In any case, it's catchy. To remind my readers which one it is, here is Hilary Hahn.

And then, of course, everyone knows Rachmaninoff's famous Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Variation 18 - if for no other reason than being a fan of the 1980 movie Somewhere in Time. (and let's be honest, who isn't a fan of Christopher Reeve back in 1980? Dreamy.)

(And here's a fun fact. In the book Bid Time Return, that the movie was based on, the piece was actually Mahler's 9th. But it was apparently too long to fit into the movie, and someone, somewhere decided that Rachmaninoff would be a better hit.)

...

Here's how awesome music is: the Variation #18 is the 24th caprice theme, upside down. WHAT.

Mind blown.

...

music to my ears!

I've realized that my happiness is directly proportional to the amount of music I'm playing and the amount of sunlight that is available. So, I've been pretty awesome in the last week or so. I always become noticeably more cheery when the clock springs forward and the days get longer!

But my life has been filled with so much music lately, it's ridiculous. All of it is good, all of it makes me happy, all of it is epic and wonderful. Last weekend I went to DC to play some video game quartet music for The Art of Video Games exhibit in at the Smithsonian. It was so much fun! I have very limited video game experience, but as soon as I became aware of the music a few years ago, I absolutely admire and enjoy the soundtracks. So good, so well written, and so very well adapted for string quartet by my good friend Chad! We were much more popular than we expected (even signing some autographs), and it looks like we'll get a few more gigs out of it!

My trip to DC happened to coincide with one of my favorite currently touring bands ever. The Infamous Stringdusters played at the 930 club, and wow. If you don't know about them, go listen to everything they've ever done. If you do, then you know. I already knew they put on a good show, because I've seen them plenty of times before - but this was honestly the best I've ever seen them. And good company enjoying it with me made it even better!

Then, as soon as I got back, the Cleveland Orchestra was performing a guest concert here in Nashville at the Schermerhorn. They played Beethoven Symphony #6 (which I always find fitting for this time of year) ( --Beethoven 7 is for rainy days, 6 is for warm spring days. 9 is for summer. 5 is for doomful situations.) The Grieg Piano Concert0, played magnificently by Gabriela Montero (who dazzled us with an encore, improvised the Dr. Zhivago theme in the style of a tango), and then Pines of Rome (Respighi). It was. Fantastic. Pines of Rome is just one of those pieces that, by the end, the world could end and no one would mind. I was impressed with the Cleveland Orchestra, too - not that the Nashville Symphony isn't as good, they are just a slightly different (if slightly rougher) flavor experience. Like, if the Cleveland Orchestra is Maker's Mark, the Nashville Symphony is perhaps Jack Daniels. (which makes the Baltimore Symphony Jameson; the Minnesota Orchestra would be Glenfiddich)

My own little orchestra, the Nashville Philharmonic, is a six-pack of something delicious. Maybe Fat Tire. This upcoming concert series is a really, really great program. We are playing the Sibelius Symphony No.2, that I didn't know at all until we started rehearsing, but I have fallen completely in love with it! I love playing music that I can recognize things that modern composers mooch off of, for movie soundtracks. Dvorak, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius. They were there before John Williams, before Hans Zimmer, and they used techniques and textures to convey things on a broader scale than just the pictures and plots we are forced to associate with modern classical soundtracks. Don't get me wrong - those are great now. Just recognize the great people that came first.

ALSO in the last week, I've been to two graduate recitals at Belmont. One violin and one cello, two grad students that I'm friends with. Both were terrific! Highlights were the 1st movement of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto (that I'm already very familiar with, but his performance was just stellar), and the Boccherini Cello Concerto No. 9 (I had heard her practicing it, but I had never heard it with accompaniment, it was delightful!)

So what's next? This weekend I'm going to the Nashville Symphony. Here's the program:

Kodály - Dances of Galanta

Rachmaninoff - Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, OP. 43

Franck - Symphony in D minor

I'm most excited for the Rachmaninoff - but stay tuned for a review, and also more about the Spring Duet Recital in the works!

rebecca

I. Halloween

Happy Halloween! That magical time of year when people throw all caution and decency to the wind, and they dress up like what they wish they were all the time and then eat loads of candy and drink apple cider with rum. Tonight I'm celebrating by going to the Nashville Symphony, where we are told to "put on your Halloween costume, and get ready for serious chills and thrills when organist Tom Trenney provides live accompaniment for the 1925 silent movie classic Phantom of the Opera. An incredible musician and improviser, Trenney will unleash the full power of the Schermerhorn’s Martin Foundation Concert Organ — the perfect way to experience one of the scariest movies ever made!"

Also, I will be avoiding garlic and wooden stakes, because I will be a vampire.