My turn for Moscow Musings, hoping that the Blogmeister will approve my submission while he is in WV! Today is cloudy and rainy but above freezing so it is feeling more like spring. There are actually a few crocuses blooming in the common area outside our apartment, and there is direct evidence of tulips on their way soon. William will be able to enjoy yet another spring when he returns this week.
I decided that I needed to take advantage again this weekend of something cultural in this wondrous city. Last Sunday I went to a piano recital with my friend Leah the math teacher (who plays piano) and we enjoyed a lovely concert of Chopin and Schubert. We muddled our way through the program, sounding out the easy words like Chopin and Schubert, and then struggled with a phrase describing one of the pieces until we figured out it said “4 hands.” OK, a duet. But then the soloist came out alone and it wasn’t a duet after all … at which point we decided the line underneath said “transcription” because he had transcribed the duet into a solo. It was a beautiful piece, as were all of the pieces he played.
Today my cultural pick was the Glinka Museum: http://www.glinka.museum/eng/index_eng.html
Glinka is a lesser-known Russian composer from the 19th century – as it happens Leah and I have been practicing a sonata by him that is beautiful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Glinka
When reading about the museum, it looked to me like it would be rather esoteric with lots of manuscripts and other items of moderate interest to me and of little to no interest for a non-musician so I didn’t even invite anyone else (I was wrong; in reality almost anyone who enjoys music would probably like it). It’s a 20-25 walk from our apartment and it was interesting to stride past all the cars that were barely crawling in the Saturday afternoon traffic. My map studying paid off and I walked right up to it, but once I got inside I almost gave up because I was afraid everything would be in Russian. I wandered about the lobby for a few minutes and then decided that since I was this close it would be foolish to leave, so I bought a ticket and went in. It turned out to be mostly musical instruments, some old and some modern, and every one of the descriptions was in English as well as Russian. Whew. The older Russian balalaikas were cool, and I noticed there is a similar instrument called a droma that is round rather than having a triangular shape like a balalaika.
My favorite exhibits were several modern violins and violas, some of which had been winners in recent Tchaikovsky violin-making competitions. However, I can’t figure out why someone isn’t playing these lovely instruments; it’s not like they’re so old and valuable they have to be preserved in a museum and it seems to me someone should be taking advantage of playing them.
After learning that a Russian bassoon is a brass instrument rather than a woodwind and admiring some beautiful keyboard instruments, I retrieved my coat from the friendly (not) coat-check lady and headed home. About halfway there I came across a busser in the underground pedestrian passage playing “Summertime” on a balalaika. So incongruous and yet somehow fitting!
Note from Wm. It is so lovely to get a little taste of Moscow from such a gifted writer, while sitting here in Charles Town. Can’t wait to get back on Tuesday. Hope you all have a lovely weekend, Cindy and Wm
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