Les Arts Florissants

Another blast from the past: a concert review from December 6, 2001.

Last night, I had the (rare) opportunity to hear an ensemble I’ve known about for some time, Les Arts Florissants, directed by William Christie, a Buffalo, NY-born conductor and musicologist. The all-French ensemble presented some major Christmas works by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. I’ve actually never heard this composer in all my Baroque knowings, but it was all good. The ensemble had a really good intonation, and the presentation was crisp and first-rate. Both instrumentalists and singers were on top-form, and I especially liked the no-vibrato technique by the first-violinist. The concert was held at the University of Richmond. It is always distressing, however, to find the audience at such concerts so old. There was a walker (with training wheels) in the entrance area. Why don’t more people my age like this ancient music?

Lobster Shanty

I recently installed a new application on my computer called Leap which is kind of a tagging, find it, organize it application. It does things we all wish the Mac Finder did, by itself.

I found this blog post from December 29, 2001, I thought I’d share.

One evening, my dad took us to Jack Baker’s Lobster Shanty, a little family-style seafood restaurant in Rio, Florida. You can read the entire history of the place on their website, if you like. I’ll save myself the trouble. But my dad orders chicken. Seems odd, wouldn’t you think, for a seafood place? Then he only eats half, and claims he’s sick. My mom blames it on the corn fritters which she adored. They had been fried, you see, and my dad doesn’t react well to fried foods. I had a crab cake and shrimp, and my mom ordered the entire fried shrimp dinner. At Jack’s, you get a choice of salad bar or chowder with your meal, and a seemingly complimentary little scoop of cole slaw. Odd, we thought. But my mom started on those hush puppies, pretty much ignored the slaw, and joined us at the salad bar. But come time for the entrees, she was unsure she could finish the large platter. I admit, I was pretty full upon finishing mine. It was decent food, not gourmet, but a worthy dinner. My mom–and this is the interesting part–claimed she was “done” when the waitress came to clear plates. She said, “Oh– you’re done?!” in a half-believed kind of way. The thing was, my mom’s plate was at first glance still very full. But upon close inspection, you could see that she had cleanly bitten-off only the tips of the shrimp. When questioned, “I don’t want to eat the tail.” Hmm. Seems to me you could divide a fried shrimp into thirds: tip, middle, and tail. But out of a petrid fear of getting to close to that handle of a tail (and I’ve known some Filipinos who eat the tail), she only ate the tips. It could have been said, “Oh, there’s a lemon-scented meal o’ SHRIMP TIPS over at table 4…” So yes, my mom only ate a third of her shrimp, the tips.

So, the next time you invite my mom over for a catered affair, be ready to sink an awful lot of money into shrimp tips, because she’ll leave the rest.

Richmond Flowers

I am trying out a new “widget” from slideoo.com.

Pianoteq

I recently came across Pianoteq in MacLife magazine. Tonight I downloaded it and tried it out.

My keyboard skills suffer poorly now compared to what I could do, say, 10-20 years ago. I began playing the piano at age 5, the organ at age 4; and I was most active composing music for keyboard throughout my teenage years. Today, I rarely turn on the synthesizer, but for a number of reasons, including time commitments, and the “feel/sound/authenticity” of the synthesizer compared to the old-fashioned piano.

Pianoteq promises the most realistic synthesized sound. Instead of samples, it uses algorithms that virtually “shape” piano sound. I still have more testing to do, but it did sound good. Getting pedal sounds out of it was especially cool.

I may also admit that perhaps my synthesizer keyboard isn’t the best match, and perhaps, something like Pianoteq and a new master keyboard would be in order.

Since 1992, when I graduated from high school, I’ve been playing a Yamaha SY99, 76-key synthesizer. At the time, it was high-end, costing around $4K. It’s giant and heavy. But it lacks the full 88 keys, and the keys are not “weighted” piano-style keys. Instead, they are aftertouch, velocity-sensitive, plastic synth keys.

These aren’t necessarily bad; I play much more quickly with this style of keyboard. But I think to get the most authentic piano sound, you need authentic piano touch.

This tradeoff: electronic vs. physical, reminds me of ideas I had posted on my other blog about books versus reading online. To me,

• the piano, and its physical, mechanical action, has a personality
• the piano doesn’t require electricity
• the piano has that… sound

And yet,

• the electronic keyboard has memory (sequencer)
• the electronic keyboard can change sounds (and mimic different acoustic spaces)
• the computer can play the electronic keyboard

So, there are advantages to adding electricity, in that you can playback what you recorded, notate it, and mix it up a in the digital domain. The tradeoff as been the sound quality and the feel.

I think with a new tool like Pianoteq, when coupled with a more physical-action minded keyboard, the answer may be all the more compelling.

Music as comfort

Those who know me the best know that among my favorite music is that written by Bach. I confess, I’m more a Bachfan than a Biberfan, but, alas, I chose a moniker that was more unique.

I recently experienced something that would have some folks reaching for the wine bottle, the anti-depressants, or… pulling their hair out. I’ve never believed in treating stress or sorrow with chemicals.

Instead, I pull up my Bach. Specifically, this evening, his most profound work (my opinion, sure), the Kunst der Fuge. Last movement. Deeper than a gallon tub of ice cream, more rich than caramel sauce, and quite profound.

I have so many copies of this recording; tonight I found the Concerto Italiano version “sloppy.” This is music that breathes. I had the opportunity years ago to perform parts of KdF and it was a very emotional experience. Listening to music is one thing; putting breath, tears, and effort into what it heard is something all the more powerful.

That’s why I likely poured all my frustrations growing up as a teenager into the piano. It was therapy.