Here are two blogs I just now found that have black backgrounds and white letters.
I think I might like the blogs, but I can’t read them because my darn eyes go all wacky after reading white on black.
Rats.
I know I’ve read other blogs where the writer says he/she finds it easier to read white on black … so I wonder why it’s difficult for me to deal with this. Anyone else have this problem?
The jury is out on this piece. I just don’t know about it. Of course, I’m the next to the most severe critic of my music, the most severe being my son. I like parts of it very, very much. Other things in it I’m unconvinced by. I shouldn’t be giving myself bad press, but I’m being very honest. …
-John Adams (talking about his work, On the Transmigration of Souls)
Interview here.
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You know how some clothes are … they swish when you walk? They look good, but that sound. Ugh. Not as bad as squeaky shoes (at least not to me) but still ….
Anyway (without the “s” … why do so many people type “anyways”?) I do know what Jason Heath meant, but when I read, “Listen to James Levine conduct Fidelio online,” at his blog I laughed because I got an image … um, no … a sound in my head. A swishy sound. I didn’t hear an orchestra. I only heard swishes.
I wonder if conductors think about clothing and noise, or if that’s not an issue. I guess I’ve never seen Levine—or any other conductor—wearing taffeta. Good thing, no?
Of course if you look at the picture at Jason’s site it does appear that Levine is singing. Hmmm.
(Oh, and Jason, I’m really not mocking you. Just goofing off. Because I can. 😉
Tomorrow we begin rehearsals for performances on Thursday, Saturday and the following Sunday. We’re playing Verdi’s Requiem and William Boughton is conducting. The Merc has a Richard Scheinin interview with him in the paper today.
I’m looking forward to working with Maestro Boughton again. He isn’t one to flatter us, but he speaks plainly, he is demanding, and asks us to play well. That’s fine by me. I don’t care for the wacky, screaming, “You can do nothing right,” conductors, but I also think the “Oh you are so great!” conductors can take a hike. There is always something to work on. There is always something that can be played better. I appreciate good direction from good conductors.
The Reqiuem sometimes makes me squirm a little; it’s so operatic and sometimes … well … oh this is sad, I’m sure … it makes me laugh. Just a little laugh, mind you, but I feel as if we are in the middle of a Verdi opera.
Hmmm. Maybe we are?
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