We just returned from an afternoon concert, which enthralled me for the first half and disgusted me after that. I’ll not even talk about how dissonant and contrived the piece was, I’ll simply say it was a piece of quasi-intellectual hubris and let it go at that.
Click this before starting the next paragraph:
The concert was in an older hall, small but intimate with a magnificent chandelier. The first two pieces were Mozart, featuring flute and harp. The chamber orchestra was from the Moscow Music Conservatory and they are the most magnificent group of young people I’ve ever heard. So intense, polished, accomplished and each one looked like they were having the time of their lives. What you are listening to now, the Andante in C Major, was the first piece and as you can hear, not easy, but our soloist did a bang up job.
The second piece was Mozart Flute Concerto in C, click here to listen:
The soloists for this piece must have been teachers at the conservatory. They were really polished performers and the flautist and harp player have obviously played together many times. At the end of the performance they were literally covered with bouquets of flowers from their adoring students. It was really fun and it should have ended right there.
Last night’s Turkish Dinner was a grand event. Everyone brought something for the meal. I made Glafko’s famous Cypriot Eggplant (I didn’t tell anyone it was from the Greek side of Cyprus) and stuffed green peppers. I baked the pepper shells until they started to get soft and then stuffed them with the leftover pasta from the night before. I carefully ensured that the crumb topping stayed on top. Once stuffed I baked the peppers again to get the pasta hot and the crust crisp. I arranged everything on a nice wooden platter and up we went with our appetizers and a loaf of good bread and a bottle of wine. Others brought great soup, salads and the hostess made a Turkish stew with chickpeas and beef flavored with lots and lots of Turkish spices, really wonderful. Most everyone avoided talking about school and focused on the important things like travel, food, wine and more travel. Lots of fun.
We are about to head out for dinner at the Bavarian Beer hall with Katy and her husband Craig. We are looking forward to meeting him and finding out what they have decided about moving to Moscow. They take off for Costa Rica, via Madrid, tomorrow. I don’t envy them that long trip but I know they’ll be happy to get home to the warm.
From CC: OK, that piece on the second half of the program was pretty modern (1975) and had some odd sounds and combinations, but the musicians did a fine job. The crowd had thinned from the first half, but those who were left went wild with applause at the end so apparently others appreciated it more than we did. Afterwards we noticed that the neighboring music store was still open – I’ve been dying to go there to buy a proper music stand, so in we went. Turns out that even though 2 people were working, only one could possibly have anything to do with selling a stand and we had to wait for her since she was busy with another customer. After 15 minutes I was ready to leave and she miraculously freed herself in the nick of time and sold me the stand. Describing the search for the two halves of the stand (the display model was not for sale) and then packaging them and so forth could take another 3 paragraphs but I’ll spare you. She finally had it ready and asked me whether I had a car (one Russian word I know) and I promptly said yes because I could only begin to imagine what she’d start to do with wrapping up the darn thing and creating carrying handles or whatever if I said I’d be walking nearly 2 miles with it. Wm my favorite Sherpa schlepped it home for me.
Happy Sunday, Cindy and Wm
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