Tag Archives: classical music

05.07.13
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Gold in the Clouds Review and Tchaikovsky’s Birthday

Actually, it’ll be two reviews, with one of them being posted a little while ago. Unfortunately I’m no longer on Goodreads, so any review sites who post their reviews of my books there I don’t know about unless I actually pay the site a visit.

Firstly, from MM Good Book Reviews:

“I thought this story was vastly entertaining, with its down to earth characters. With the simple dreams of the characters and with its gentle learning curve for Blythe.” Read more

And from The Novel Approach:

“It’s a story that proves the point there can be only one hero in Jack’s quest, but Blythe has a journey all his own to realize, one in which he will find riches of a very different sort.” Read more

It was a fun book to write, and it was my mental health savior throughout my stint as a juror for five weeks.

Incidentally, today’s Tchaikovsky’s birthday, and since we’re on the subject of fairy tales, I’m re-posting this:

I just got guilt-tripped into realizing that I still have an unfinished draft of that Nutcracker and Mouse-King story I went on and on about last year. Looks like my WIP list will have to be re-shuffled a bit.

04.09.13
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Why Flashmobs Own Me

Because of scenes like this:

When I first saw it, I cried. I know, I’m a curmudgeon on a number of levels, but when it comes to stuff that I love, I’m a goner. And it’s Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. I always cry listening to it, and there’s nothing like surprising people on an ordinary day with a full-on performance (well, not quite full-on, but more than just two violins) of a masterwork.

There’s also dancing in public or freezing up into statues in Grand Central Station, which are just plain fun stuff that adds a touch of the bizarre in a viewer’s day. A good kind of bizarre, of course, unless he/she doesn’t have a sense of humor.

This, though, takes the cake for me:

I’m so in love with this flashmob, it’s not even funny. That they’re honoring Rembrandt, whom I consider to be the greatest artist of all time (sorry, Friedrich, but you know I still love your gorgeous, gloomy art) only adds to this flashmob’s fantabulousness.

Rembrandt Van Rijn's "The Night Watch"

Rembrandt Van Rijn’s “The Night Watch”

I’m trying to imagine how I’d react to this if I were in the mall when this happened. I’d cry. Like, loud, pathetic sobbing. It’s one thing to study works of art in my Art History classes, taking apart details and explaining the whys and whats behind them. It’s another entirely seeing a reenactment of the painting right before you.

In 17th century costume, no less. And they even have the chicken. I’m a goner. I need another box of tissue.

04.04.13
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And Now Carl Orff’s “Gassenhauer” Makes Ultimate Muse Fuel Number Three

I heard this piece on Pandora while at work on Monday, and I scrambled to find a pen and paper, so I could scribble down the artist and the title. I know nothing about Orff beyond what I got from a quick skim of his Wikipedia entry (though I’m familiar with Carmina Burana), so I’m not an authority on whether or not he had Nazi connections, etc.

All I can say at the moment is how much I’m tripping out on “Gassenhauer” and how much it’s working on me the way “In Dulci Jubilo” and “Barcarolle” worked on me and helped me write two novels. Story muse? Yes, please. Some extra on the side as well. Too bad the piece is so short because I’ll have to abuse the replay button in order to fully absorb the music and keep it in my head while I work on Benedict.

Yes, I’m italicizing that story’s title because it’s on its way to being a novel. Um… surprise!

I’m also going to leave you all hanging for the time being as it’s almost midnight, and I need to go to bed. It’s been an exhausting day. I’ll be posting more about what happened regarding my hoped-for anthology which is now no more and what my plans are for this story and “The Weeping Willow”. This entry’s supposed to be a gleeful squee over one more song that’s really firing up the old muse. So for the time being, I’ll leave you with the video to enjoy.

03.21.13
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Happy Birthday, J.S. Bach!

Yes, I know it’s from his Christmas Oratorio, but I’ve never been one to follow the calendar where music’s concerned. I’ll listen to traditional holiday music in the spring or summer, heck, yeah!

Speaking of calendars, I got a bit confused at first when looking up Bach’s birthday. Apparently he’s got two (see Wikipedia entry) because of the shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendars. I tend to default to the Gregorian calendar (well, duh…), but if the local classical music station’s celebrating his birthday via the Julian schedule, I’m not complaining. If anything, it’ll give me more reason to celebrate his birthday again on March 31 following our current calendar. XD

I’m such a nerd, it’s painful.

And since we’re looking at German artists, I’m in the mood for some historical fun, and I just remembered that Netflix streaming finally has this available, for which I squee to the high heavens:

Critics have been lukewarm about the film because of the liberties it took on Goethe’s life, but at the moment, I don’t care. I’ve watched so many staid or melodramatic historical shows or films through the years*, and I’m in the mood for period pieces that are a little more – how does one say it without enraging purists? – irreverent in their treatment of their subjects, even great figures in art like Goethe. Besides, judging from the trailer alone, one can pretty much see that it’s not going to be a deep, thoughtful exploration of his early years as a fledgling artist.

I’m hoping, anyway, that I won’t DNF it the way I DNF’d Mozart’s Sister. We shall see…

* I watched the first episode of Downton Abbey to see what the fuss is about, and massive Anglophile I might be, I just couldn’t, COULDN’T get into it.

03.04.13
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From Vivaldi to Anaya

Firstly, today’s Antonio Vivaldi’s birthday, and I’ve been listening to his works in hopes of getting some inspiration from them. Yep, I’ve got a pile of cheap classical CDs, and I love ‘em. Thanks, Best Buy, for that awesome section you had once upon a time – seriously, ninety-nine cents for a classical CD? This little peasant girl was thrilled speechless.

I’m trying to gear myself up for what’s next on my plate, which is a series of short fantasy stories (original folktales), and I’ll admit I’m a bit freaked. I hope I’m able to write to length again like I used to. Egad, those days feel like a lifetime away. Since I plan for them to be about three times longer than the average short story I published last year, I’ll have a lot more wiggle room with the narrative structure, and people won’t have to pay a cent more since they’ll all fall within the same word count range that the previous stories were written in.

And if that last sentence was in any way grammatically iffy, I blame another soul-crushing shift at my day job. That plus Mercury in retrograde.

Anyway, maybe indulging in Vivaldi’s stuff will help (did I mention how cheap my classical CDs are? They’re cheap!). I usually listen to classical music to get myself going with fantasy fiction, especially since the stories tend to be historical fantasy.

And moving on from there, I never knew that a film was made on Rudolfo Anaya’s novel! I want to see it!

Actually, I wonder if it’s best to reread the book first since it’s been almost twenty years since I first picked it up. My memory of the story runs more along emotional lines than actual plot. I remember telling myself that this was the strangest coming-of-age story I’ve ever read and at the same time marveling at the imagery.

I’m really not doing the book any justice by admitting to remembering only one aspect of my reading experience, but the effect on me was strong enough, even after all these years, to draw out a pretty positive response when I stumbled across the trailer.