Marty’s blog

I love Cecilia Bartoli doing Rossini. She’s just the best! Here she is singing the aria non piu mesta from La Cenerentola.

And if that’s not enough, here are my two favorite (living) opera singers, Bartoli and Renee Fleming singing a duet from The Marriage of Figaro. What more could a person want out of life?

Wish I had my record player still hooked up. I really miss my old opera records. Youtube will have to do for tonight. Soon I’ll have the stereo back in (whenever I finish the dining room cabinets!). I can hardly wait! Then equilibrium will have returned.

Drove around a little downtown after dark, Jeff Beck on the CD. A little side trip tonight to pick up the daughter at the train station (she was visiting her boyfriend downstate, you know…to catch up).

So we played with the camera a little as we drove around.

Old Union Station, one with the Sears Tower, and Old Saint Pats. I’ve go to start getting downtown more and look around, there’s so much new stuff.

Yeah, I know - gotta clean the lens. The camera’s about shot anyways. I wouldn’t have wept much if one of us had dropped it out the car window in traffic. I’m too cheap to buy a new thing if I still have an old one that still (kind of) works. It’s like I still wear shoes until a sole falls off or something.

Here’s some more Beck…

Easing on down the road, my daughter’s room is almost finished - and the first room in the house that will be completely done (well, almost — except for the closet and the drawers and door for the built-in dresser).

Did you think that when I said it was going to be a Prairie style house I was pulling your leg?

Yesterday I had ‘FMT on - Marriage of Figaro - while I put a final coat of shellac on all the woodwork. I thoroughly enjoyed that.

And today I washed all the screens, installed all the hardware and will hang the grasscloth wallcovering. Stay tuned.

This title reminds of “The Wiz”. I saw it in LA when it premiered, caught a glimpse of Diana Ross in person when I was there. The movie was a bit of a flop, but it did make me realize what an amazing performer Diana Ross was (is)!

A bit further with this digression — I was there staying in LA with my friend Jerome (also a violinist), someone told me he died of AIDS or something. I was thinking about making a music career there. Jerome was black - from Gary Indiana, we went to DePaul together, he was gay, and had a lifestyle that was out of control sometimes. He only hit on me once or twice, I think the second time I made it very clear that our friendship was not going in that direction -enough said about that. He always made fun of me looking at the girls, saying if I wasn’t careful I might catch something.

I never did the LA thing. All the show biz stuff was too much of a zoo for me and I just couldn’t wrap my brain around the place. And it seemed nobody was from there - everybody was from some place else, and they were all going to make lots of money.

Anyhow, I never saw Jerome after ‘79. Talked on the phone a few times (this was before email), and then I heard he died. Now, every time I hear something from The Wiz, or even The Wizard of Oz, I think of him.

Here’s a marvelous improv on Summertime with Chick Corea playing with young Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara.

She is very much influenced by his unique style and it’s fascinating to see them playing together. Here’s more of her:

(here’s the link for part two)

And here’s some classic Chick with Return to Forever from the 70’s.

You can argue that they invented the jazz/rock “fusion” style. Their album (CD) Romantic Warrior is still one great addition to any collection…and classic fusion. Pick it up!

Miles Davis, that fabulous minimalist! I liked Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” when it came out - in the early 80’s, I think? When Miles recorded it I realized it was perfect for him.

This video is kind of sad to watch though…actually painful, because he was obviously strung out on heroin. (The released recording is much better playing!)

I had bought hard-to-get tickets to two of his concerts in the early 80’s, but he was a no-show both times. I was terribly disappointed then, but now I’m kind of glad. It would have been sad to see him that way.

I would have loved to see him in his prime, but that was before I was old enough to get to know his music.

Here he is with john Coltrane in the late 50’s.

This track is on one of my favorite “in the car” CDs - Stephane Grappelli improvising on “As Time Goes By”. Still my favorite violinist.

When I first saw the movie on the big screen I fell immediately in love with Ingrid Bergman. Of course, after a while I realized it would never work out, her being 42 years older than me. This is when I started dreaming about time machines. As if.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has just named Riccardo Muti as its new Music Director starting in 2010. My question is, what took them so long?

It’s been more than 40 years since the orchestra had any kind of outstanding charisma, even if its conductor in the orchestra’s golden age, Fritz Reiner, did not.

Georg Solti had a lot of personality, but led the CSO into the age of homogeneity and hype when most of the old great orchestras started to all sound the same - a product of the digital recording era - and the CSO sounded more the same as the rest than the rest. And during Solti’s tenure, the orchestra aged, many players, especially some of the older string players , the deadwood as we call it, on their big fat salaries became over-ripe and lazy, not wanting to retire when they should.

Daniel Barenboim, a phenomenal musician and pianist, began to beef up the roster with some great new players, but the band still never regained it’s unique individuality that Chicago has been waiting for since the Reiner years. And what many mistook for “character” in Barenboim was often closer to buffoonery — much of his stage persona was tiresome affect.

Enter Muti. He exudes charisma - personality. Because he is natural, and talented, and unique. And he’s a bit exotic, a genuine product of his Italian upbringing. From the Italian operas to the world’s greatest orchestras, everything he’s done in the last decades, especially La Scala and Phildelphia, sparkles. And it’s organic and honest. He is Toscanini all over again, but without all the excess baggage, does not have the unmanageable, outrageous personality, and he understands the modern orchestral environment.

I am so excited, I can’t wait to get my first tickets in 2010 when he takes over! And now I wish I had practiced more fifteen, twenty years ago and had had a successful audition to join this orchestra. The next ten years have the potential to be one of the Chicago Symphony’s greatest decades. Just watch.

Listened to Anne Sophie Mutter playing Brahms sonatas this evening since I couldn’t see her recital last week at Orchesta Hall. Sniff…sigh.

Don’t know if I should just burn my fiddle, or maybe take it out of the case and see if my fingers still work. Kind of depressing. But on the other hand, how can one not be inspired by this — she looks great too! And what better accessory than a nice Strad?

(This is Beethoven, BTW)

Right now, if you sent me on a spaceship to Mars (I’m sure many people would like that!), and I could only bring one CD, it would be this gem on EMI - “Callas Life & Art”.

Well, two CDs, actually. (And a DVD.)

It’s now what I’ve been listening to in my car for the past two weeks. My favorite aria at the moment is Casta Diva from Beliini’s Norma. Here is a marvelous slide show wth that aria. I have it playing as I write this post. So beautiful. I think I’ve died and gone to heaven!