Homeric Hymn to Demeter

Well, I have endeavored to do a bit more reading of Greek and Latin texts in the new year, and now I'm working my way through the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. I had forgotten how hypnotically beautiful the opening tableau is--Persephone picking flowers in the "soft meadow" with her playmates. Her is my attempt at a translation of the opening lines:

I begin by singing
Demeter of the fair tresses, wondrous goddess,
Demeter and her slender-ankled daughter
raped by Aidoneus, given by wide-browed, loud-striking
Zeus,
far away from Demeter of the golden sword,
bringer of the shining harvest.

Her daughter was playing with the deep-bosomed daughters
of Okeanos ....

City Opera Names Steel

Although I must say that I was dismayed by the handling of l'affaire Mortier, I am heartened by the recent naming of George Steel to be head of City Opera. I admired his work at the Miller Theatre, and, much longer ago I'm sure than either one of us would care to remember, I taught him a bit of Latin at Yale. And the appointment has the added benefit of depriving Dallas of a talent that rightfully belongs back East! (Too snide, I suppose, but so be it.)

Some Thoughts on the Met's Orfeo

I thought that the Met's production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice was, well, a bit like cotton candy: awfully tasty, but lacking nourishment. Now, of course, not all of this is the Met's fault. There's only so much one can do with Gluck's in some ways overly ambitious attempt at Gesamtkunstwerk. I hate to be curmudgeonly, but I just don't think that Mizrahi's costumes for the chorus (everyone from Moses to Elizabeth I to Hiawatha) added anything to the production, and in fact distracted from what Gluck (and de'Calzabigi) were attempting to do. In any event, I enjoyed Mark Morris's dances, and indeed, Stephanie Blythe's Orfeo was every bit as heroic as one could wish, with a voice by turns heart-rendingly dusky and gallantly soaring. But it was ultimately Heidi Grant Murphy's Amor that summed up the production for me: chirpy, thin and ultimately forgettable.

iPhones at Wal-Mart

Tom Ohanlan has written an interesting piece in Online Video Insider, Why Apple and Wal-Mart Are Poised To Rule The World Of Mobile Media, discussing how "sideloading" local copies of video rather than streaming them over a network makes for a superior consumer experience (at least with current technologies). Hence, the dominance of Apple's iPhone, now on sale at your local Wal-Mart, of which there are, thankfully, none (yet) in Manhattan.

Kristof on Slavery in Cambodia

Go read this, the second in a series of pieces by Nick Kristof on trafficking in women--in this case, in Cambodia. It is heartbreaking to read of the experiences of these women, taken from their families as young girls and sold into slavery.

Best Long-Form Pieces of 2008

Well, at least according to David Brooks, of whose writing I have not always been a fan. I can't say that I know enough to agree or disagree with these choices, although the summary of the piece by Professor X, which I intend to read forthwith, certainly has the ring of sad, depressing truth. To quote the soon-to-be-gone G. W. Bush, "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?" Well, sir, Professor X, through no apparent fault of his (her?) own, answers a heart-breaking "No."

Happy New Year!

Well, in keeping with one of my New Year's resolutions, here's my first blog post of 2009. I look forward to this new year with hope and determination to do my part to make my work and world as whole as I can. Music-making was long a part of my world, and I resolve to restore it to its proper place in my day-to-day practice. To that end, I just finished a few exercises composed by Flor Peeters to teach the beginning organist the essentials of legato playing--more difficult than it looks! Next, the pedals....