Mozart in reverse, KC Symphony, Berlioz, the Musician, and Bach in new ways

I finished my Mozart listening project. After listening to his symphonies in order, 1-41, I decided to listen to them in descending order 41-1. Why? No real reason. But it was a fun listening exercise. As much music as I listen to, there were many Mozart's symphonies I had never heard before. Some points to share....many of his symphonies are very short...7-10 minutes in length. We all know Mozart was a genius, but it struck me that even though many of his symphonies were written when he was a child (he was eight when he wrote his first symphony) they are still very good. It really is incredible what he accomplished at an age when most of us were still eating boogers. Certainly by the time he was composing his final three symphonies, he was in his prime as a composer and operating at a much higher creative level. I would say Symphonies 24 and 29 stood out for me as the most enjoyable. I'm still not a Mozart expert, but I feel like I accomplished something pretty cool. Mozart behaved in deplorable ways during his short life. It is hard to reconcile his disgusting behaviors with the incomparable music he composed, but I am not trying to. I am content just to appreciate the beauty of his music.

Sunday was the final concert of the 2017-18 season for the Kansas City Symphony. I had great anticipation for this concert, partly because it was the close of a great season, but also for the program itself. I had made up my mind just to go and enjoy the music...I was not going to take notes or write about it. But afterwards, I knew I needed to say something because there was so much going on. First, the music. We were treated to Leonard Bernstein's The Age of Anxiety featuring pianist Ran Dank. I had never heard this piece, and I intentionally didn't listen to it prior to the concert. I wanted my first impression to come from this performance. I'd say this worked out very well. I loved the piece and will certainly listen to it again in the weeks to come. Dank plays beautifully, and his encore, a shimmering cover of George Gershwin's Embraceable You put a smile on everyone's face. The other work on the program was the one and only Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz. This is a piece I know very well (I wrote about it last year) and will probably never get tired of hearing. It is a seminal work. I love this quote from Charles Gounod about Berlioz; "His Symphonie Fantastique (an episode in the life of an artist) was a veritable event in music, the importance of which was testified to alike by the fanatical admiration of some, and the violent opposition of others. However open to discussion such a work might be, it reveals, so far as the youth who produced it is concerned, faculties of invention absolutely superior, and the powerful poetic sentiment which is met with all his works. Berlioz introduced into the musical world very many important effects and orchestral combinations unknown before his time, of which several illustrious composers have made use; he revolutionized the domain of instrumentation, and in this subject, at least, he may be said to have founded a "school."
The KCS was on their game today. Maestro Stern needed no score, and the musicians gave a performance that felt incredibly energetic...almost frenetic at times, yet never in jeopardy of crashing...or so it seemed. It was breathtaking. I've gotta say, the French Horns sounded incredible...they are developing a unique sound reminiscent of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in it's heyday, which is not small praise, and staking a claim as our best section (IMO).
It is a time of change for this, my favorite orchestra in the world. Our concertmaster Noah Geller is leaving to join the Seattle Symphony. I wish him well. Violinists Justine Lamb-Budge and Philip Marten are also leaving. And three long-time members of this ensemble are retiring; Marita Abner (bassoon), Steven Seward (tuba) and Kenneth Lawrence (Oboe-English Horn). But take heart Kansas City...do not worry. There is no shortage of very talented and hungry musicians in the world. My buddy Yoichi Udagawa, a conductor himself in the Boston area, tells me this all the time. And he reassured me that we will have no problem finding new musicians to fill these vacancies. And once they are here, Maestro Stern, Frank Byrne, Executive Director, and the other musicians will bring them into this musical family and create new magic for all of us to enjoy. Kansas City is not a minor league affiliate for Seattle, Pittsburgh, New York etc....We are a big league team, and even if other orchestras can afford to pay more than KC, we have reached the plateau of excellence with these other orchestras as a musical force.
I am a musician. I think, eat and breath music. I play music. I did not make it to the level of the Kansas City Symphony, but I am still a musician. I appreciate musicians and what they have to go through to make a living. Maestro Stern's respect, admiration and love for his musicians is undeniable. He took time to acknowledge, hug, and cheer for his team on Sunday afternoon. Well done sir. If I were at your baton, I would follow you to the edge.

A great story about musicians, told by another great conductor who loves musicians... Zubin Mehta. He was a student of the great conductor, Bruno Walter. According to Mehta, "He (Walter) wanted so much to record this symphony (the Mahler 9th) that he accepted all the conditions of Columbia Records. I don't know about financial conditions, maybe he did it for nothing. But they had 12 first violins and 4 basses. In other words, Columbia Records told him "we will do it...of course it will never sell...so if you want to do it, we will do it for you, but we cannot afford more musicians. Not only that... these musicians were all members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic... they also didn't know the Mahler 9th, so they were sight reading (prima vista) and recording at the same time. They were good musicians and he was very patient with them. When you read the reviews of this recording later, "this is the definitive (performance)...and nobody can play it like that"...they were sight reading." Freakin' amazing. Gives me goosebumps.

Cheryl and I went to see Oceans 8 Sunday evening. The other "Oceans" movies have been fun, so this seemed like a safe bet. Sure enough, I thought it was a lot of fun. But what grabbed me most was one particular tune in the soundtrack....Bach. His Fugue in D minor. Mixed into a very eclectic soundtrack was this 300+ year-old standard with electric bass, drums, and organ. WOW! I was hooked and when we got home I checked YouTube and found it. Daniel Pemberton wrote the soundtrack for Oceans 8. And this is credited to J.S. Bach. Check it out:

But not so fast Daniel Pemberton....and I am willing to reserve judgment should someone be able to offer up proof....but a comment made in this video refers to an progressive English rock band called Egg who also did version of the Fugue in D Minor in 1970. I looked it up, and sure enough....

Hmmmm...I'd say it's a no-doubter...Egg came first and Mr. Pemberton has some explaining to do and a credit to acknowledge. I searched Google and YouTube for any interview or comment from Pemberton to see if he gives credit to Egg for this Bach cover-masterpiece. So far, no luck.
But I love BOTH arrangements. It is Bach after all.

The Flint Hills tell their own story.

Cheryl and I went to the Symphony in the Flint Hills yesterday, out in the middle of the Flint Hills in southern Kansas. It is a special place. If you have not been there, I suggest you place it on your bucket list. I have traveled throughout the plains of Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana pretty extensively. I see the beauty of these grasslands that others see as "nothing". The Symphony in the Flint Hills organization started a tradition in 2006....an event celebrating this special land with symphonic music. The Kansas City Symphony, playing everything from Smetana, to Copland to John Williams to Paul Simon sounded marvelous. Out here in the wide open land, classical music brings everyone together for a sunset performance that celebrates the Flint Hills. Special guest Aoife O'Donovan joined the Symphony. She has a great voice and her music was incredible. Her first song was Magic Hour, and it has been stuck in my head all weekend. Her rendition of Paul Simon's song American Tune was also spellbinding, as was the orchestral accompaniment composed by Colin Jacobsen.
Other works of note on the program were two movie themes (The Cowboys and The Patriot) by the incomparable John Williams, who seems to know how the music of America should and has always sounded. Similarly, what would an event such as this be without some Aaron Copland right? For this performance we were treated to the first and second movements of The Red Pony. (Rodeo would also have fit in perfectly.)
But I was not completely at ease today. This celebration of the Flint Hills centered on the settlers who came to this land...who worked hard to make a living here. Visitors could take a wagon ride just like the pioneers did, walk the prairie, and watch a cattle drive. Some mention was made of how the farmers...or sod-busters... ruined the land by plowing under the native grasses...which is true. (I suggest you read The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Eagan.) The iconic music of Copland and Williams expresses the toughness, the "can do" spirit and eternal optimism embodied by the frontier settlers. But that did not sit well with me today. Please understand, I LOVE their music...it is history I am wrestling with. No mention was made today of the "others" ...the Native Peoples who lived here and explored the Flint Hills long before the white man made it his manifest destiny.
The music of Max Richter, composed for the 2017 film Hostiles, better expresses how I felt.

This film shows the West in 1892...the "Indians" had all but been subdued by this time. The music for this film is nothing like Copland or Williams. It tells a different story...sadness, exhaustion, numbness.
Francisco Coronado traveled though the grasslands of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas in 1541. He didn't find gold or the city of Cibola. Later, Stephen Long, explorer and surveyor for the US Army, (Long's Peak in Colorado was named for him) labeled the grasslands the "Great Desert", unfit for settlement or cultivation. But they came none-the-less, hunted the buffalo to near extinction, forced the Indians onto reservations and plowed under hundreds of millions of acres of grasslands. This is not a happy story, and Max Richter's score captures a sense of this struggle.
I stared out at the land all afternoon and evening. I thought about the history of this place and I felt a mixture of joy and sadness. I was enjoying a wonderful day with my wife, listening to great music, looking at incredible views....but the true history of the grasslands was not discussed today, and that didn't sit well with me.
The other constant on this day was the wind. It blew non-stop as it usually does out here.The huge sound system did a great job keeping the music above the roar of the wind. But still, the wind found it's way into the microphones and it too was projected in the mix through the speakers. This was OK with me....the wind somehow seemed to lift my spirits The voices of the past are in the wind. The voices of the past are also echoed in the grass. Maybe that sounds corny, but so be it. I felt the same way visiting Little Big Horn in Montana...the wind and the grass tell the true story.

Franck, Mozart in order, Wedding ring, A traffic stop

My favorite music at the moment are the three Chorals (for organ) by Cesar Franck: Choral 1 in E major, Choral 2 in B minor, and Choral 3 in A minor.. He started writing these in late 1889. During this period, in July 1890, he was injured in a traffic accident in Paris that left him with a head injury from which he did not fully recover. He died on November 9, 1890 of pleurisy. But he managed to complete the Chorals. These three pieces are really a musical odyssey...a journey... that encompass just about every sound an organ can make. I am not an organ expert by any means, but having grown up attending a church with a big organ and a great organist (Charles Barnett at the First United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas) my love of the organ and it's repertoire go back to my childhood. In modern terms, the Chorals are like a huge, theatrical rock show. They are both big and small...soft and loud, and everything in between. Franck may have invented the power chords that Pete Townshend or Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page applied to the electric guitar seventy years later. If you listen to all three in succession, you will be breathless and limp upon their conclusion. And Franck had an epic beard as well.

Mozart. A few years ago I listened to Mozart's symphonies 1-41 in sequential order. It was an "ear opening" exercise. I am sure I had not heard at least half of his symphonies up to that point. Most of time, 21, 25, 39-41 are the ones that are played. So I heard them all and felt good about myself! I decided to do it again this year, and last month I listened to 1-41 on order again...it took me about two weeks. This time, the collective, symphonic Mozart lodged itself in my brain. I went much deeper than I had in 2012. I wanted more....so last week I decided to listen to them in descending order. I'm on 26 now. I will report back on what I learn when I get to number 1.

Wedding Ring. Several years ago, I think it was in 2011, I broke the ring finger on my left had...I was trying to catch a football that my son Jack threw to me. I did not open my hands enough and the ball hit square on the tip of my finger and bent it back, breaking it. It swelling up immediatelyand made it impossible for me to remove my wedding ring...it was trapped... and my finger began to turn black. The doctor had to cut it off...the ring, not my finger! The swelling went down and my finger healed. But my wedding ring was toast. A few weeks later, after my finger had healed, I wanted to get a new ring. In was early June, and I was at a conference for work in Orlando. Cheryl and I had agreed that we would get a new wedding ring for me in July when we had our anniversary. I was in the Orlando airport killing time and I saw some rings at a kiosk in the atrium. They were value priced at $19 and one ring caught my eye:

Seven years later, I am still wearing this ring. I love its musical notation.It "fits" me.

Traffic stop. I was recently driving home from Texas (I was coming home from a work trip). It was late at night and it I had already been a long drive. I was tired and my back was bothering me. I did my best to stretch my back and legs while I was driving to try and get comfortable. I was also trying to stay awake. So I'm somewhere....nowhere...in the middle of Oklahoma and I see flashing lights in my rear-view mirror. I was pretty shocked by this. I had the cruise control set exactly to the speed limit, so I was sure I had not been speeding. My heart was beating faster now. The officer approached from the passenger side. I rolled down the window and was greeted with a blinding light from his flashlight. "Good evening sir....do you know why I pulled you over?" I said "good evening", and "no I don't." "I've been following you and noticed you have been drifting into the other lane several times." I told him I was tired and that my back hurt...I was trying to stretch it to get comfortable. "Where are you headed?" he asked. I told him I was on the way home from work in Texas. He peered around in the car with his light and asked for my license and insurance card and went back to his car to check me out. I have never been pulled over on the highway in my life. I was not speeding, impaired or running from the law. I was very nervous even though I knew I had not done anything wrong. And I'm all alone in the middle of nowhere on an Oklahoma state highway...not one car had passed since I had pulled over. The mind can do funny things when you are tired and nervous. After a few minutes, he came back to my car and handed me my license and insurance card. "Here you go sir. I am not going to give you a ticket or anything. I just want you to make it home safely. Please be careful." I was so relieved of course...and I thanked him with relief and appreciation. We went our separate ways and I began to reflect on what had happened. This man was sent to me to keep me safe. I was probably on the verge of falling asleep at the wheel. This traffic stop woke me up. He was a guardian angel. I have no doubt about it. 

So here we have a white man, pulled over by a black police officer. I have black friends who have told me stories about being pulled over by white police officers for no apparent reason other than being black..and hassled and harassed. They live with this fear. I have no such fear of the police. And after this, I began to wonder what would my traffic stop have been like had I been black and the officer white...late at night on a remote Oklahoma road? The officer who pulled me over was kind, and professional. He did not ask me to get out of the car to take a sobriety test, or subject me to any inquiry beyond his first questions. Would this have been the case if a black person veering into the other lane was pulled over by a white officer? I wish I could answer this "yes" with confidence...but I can't.

 I also wish I had had the presence of mind to ask the officer for his name so I could share it with you. He really was an angel sent to keep me safe.