Parallel universe?

I've now heard Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 three times in the past day on three different radio stations. It's one of my favourite pieces, but still, what's going on here?

Been busy lately, moving into a new house. It's very exciting to graduate from an apartment to a house, but there is a lot of work ahead. At least the place was move-in condition.

What I've been listening to: Joanna Newsome, Ys. She sings like she's from outerspace (if Billie Holiday, Bjork, Tori, a five year old, and a bad children's folksinger got together, the result might sound something like this), and can make your ears bleed if you listen too much, but her rambling, lyrical songs are remarkable. The arrangements for strings and harp are just gorgeous and once you get over the initial repulsion at her voice this album gets inside you.

What I've been reading: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Okay, who's not reading this? It was enjoyable though. Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about how HP is an interesting literary phenomenon because the movies have been introduced at the same time as the books.

What I've been watching: Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel. I'm sure this guy must get some help from the crew, but it's still cool to see him hunt fish with his hands and bite into them raw and jump off 50 foot cliffs. If we dropped him off in North Philadelphia at 2 am, would that count as a survival situation?

To be sung on a summer night...

Some important Choralation milestones have been reached in the long month since my last post. I've had over 1000 visitors since I added the site tracker at the bottom of the page and this blog is now two years old. I have to say I'm proud it's still sort of alive at this point - I've never been a terribly successful diarist. There are a number of posts on here that I think are of fairly high quality, which I hope offset the long lulls between sometimes inane posts. So, in order to give the people what they pay for (well, not exactly), I'll actually write some content now.

I've been thinking a lot about the concert experience of late as a result of the obligatory outdoor summer concert season. I've also been singing much less and enjoying concerts as a spectator rather than a performer. Although I love sitting in a darkened concert hall with controlled acoustics, theatrical lighting, and plush seats, I find something deeply satisfying about the informality of the outdoor concert experience. As a musician, I'm always interested in how things sound and look from a variety of different vantage points. Outdoor concerts give one the opportunity to stroll around while listening. I'm not necessarily less engaged, I'm just adding another element to the experience. I'm also intrigued by audiences and find myself watching people during a concert. I like seeing families with their dogs, picnics, and bottles of wine relaxing while listening to some music. It's kind of fun seeing kids running around playing soccer while strains of Tchaikovsky waft into the air. There has always been a place (maybe not so much with Tchaikovsky, now that I think about it...) for enjoying music in the outdoors. Think of all the wind serenades, water music, divertimentos and brass ensembles written for this very purpose.

I guess what I'm getting at is that we should be free to experience live music a number of different ways. Some music is absolutely meant for the concert hall and one's undivided attention while other music was composed to create a setting for a lovely evening. And on a beautiful summer night, I'll take the latter. Now, if we could only do something about the mosquitos...