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Nov. 21st, 2005 11:35 amI was thinking about cello concertos the other day (and today.) This is because I went to the Conservatory concert yesterday. Sophie Shao played with them: Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations. I was not impressed. For one thing, S.S. wasn't perfect. Sometimes she hit the d-string when she was playing up high; a few times she had to fumble for harmonics; the occasional note would pop out with a scratch or a squeak. It was as though she wasn't always in control. I know it isn't my place to critique her, really. I mean, she's an professional concert cellist: she teaches in the conservatory, where I didn't get. In other words: I'm not good enough to study with her. But it was odd, nonetheless.
The other problem, however, was the piece itself. It's a nice enough piece, yes, but it just isn't very meaningful. It's repeptitive, it's transparent, it's trivial, it's frivolous.
Today, I was thinking to myself: "Yes, compared to something like Elgar, the Tchaikovsky's nothing. There's more meaning in the first five bars of Elgar than there is in the whole set of Variations." Which is true, if, perhaps, not quite fair as the opening five bars of Elgar are some of the most wrenching (in my opinion) music ever written. Particularly the first chord. But then it occured to me that the first chord is a i6. The minor version of the Chord of Masculine Vulnerability. The Chord of Angsty Masculine Vulnerability, I suppose.
So, I think people did really badly on the last Latin quiz. Because the professor talked very seriously to us about the need to keep up the grammar, particularly the new declensions.
And exercituti was a trick! Although I'm not entirely sure what I should have done with it? Should I have noted that it was a bad form? Probably. This is interesting, except I hope he doesn't make a habit of doing it. It's hard enough keeping all the right forms straight for each word.
The other problem, however, was the piece itself. It's a nice enough piece, yes, but it just isn't very meaningful. It's repeptitive, it's transparent, it's trivial, it's frivolous.
Today, I was thinking to myself: "Yes, compared to something like Elgar, the Tchaikovsky's nothing. There's more meaning in the first five bars of Elgar than there is in the whole set of Variations." Which is true, if, perhaps, not quite fair as the opening five bars of Elgar are some of the most wrenching (in my opinion) music ever written. Particularly the first chord. But then it occured to me that the first chord is a i6. The minor version of the Chord of Masculine Vulnerability. The Chord of Angsty Masculine Vulnerability, I suppose.
So, I think people did really badly on the last Latin quiz. Because the professor talked very seriously to us about the need to keep up the grammar, particularly the new declensions.
And exercituti was a trick! Although I'm not entirely sure what I should have done with it? Should I have noted that it was a bad form? Probably. This is interesting, except I hope he doesn't make a habit of doing it. It's hard enough keeping all the right forms straight for each word.
