Here is a piece I love to hear (but not all the time). “Pierrot Lunaire” conducted by the composer, Arnold Schoenberg (exerpts here). I’m just imagining what his face must have looked like while he was conducting this. I love the wild energy of this piece. (The eccentric singing style is called sprechstimme.)
Opus 21, from 1912. On words by Albert Giraud. From the first part: Der kranke Mond. From the second part: Nacht; Gebet an Pierrot; Raub; Rote Messe; Galgenlied; Enthauptung.
“Heavy, gloomy giant black moths
Massacred the sun’s bright rays (…)
And from heaven earthward bound
Downward sink with sombre pinions
Unperceived, great hordes of monsters
On the hearts and souls of mankind
Heavy, gloomy giant black moths”
“Pierrot ! My laughter I have unlearnt”
Erika Stiedry-von Wagner, recitation
Rudolf Kolisch, violin
Stefan Auber, cello
Eduard Steuermann, piano
Leonard Posella, flute & piccolo
Kalman Bloch, clarinet & bass clarinet
Recording dates from 1940, but was re-issued in 1951.
Russell Steinberg invited me to visit a few of his classes at the Milken School. There is one room that is “the music room” and both classes were there. The students were smart, ranged from 9th grade to 12th, and had all been studying an instrument for 8 to 11 years. I spoke to them about college and then a bit about being a composer and a musician. It’s a vital school and Russell is doing a terrific job with the students.
There was one moment that was priceless.
A girl came up as said “Dr Steinberg, I’m sorry I couldn’t be in class last time, I had to go to my brother’s bris.” The good doctor forgave her and immediately the class burst into chatter about who had been to a bris recently.
That was an excuse for missing class I had never heard.
This weekend I am able to be in Palm Springs for a composing weekend. No dogs, no husband, no books and music and videos and other activities I do to avoid composing. Earl Kim used to tell us that he would rearrange the books in his bookcases in order to avoid getting to work. Yesterday, I got to work right away, although I felt residual stress all day. Today I was awoken by violent winds, winds that seemed to blow away the remaining stress, along with all the fallen palm fronds and branches all over town.
The rain and winds have cleaned a very dirty southern California and we’re all glad. Some sustained rain is needed for a very dry state.
My new piano piece is now two minutes long and starts very much like the Beethoven “Waldstein” sonata — repeated chords — but not as intense as Stockhausen’s Klavierstuck Nr IX (see below). My initial impetus is to avoid counterpoint and melody and favor harmony and rhythm. This is not so hard as I am able to tap into my past as a rhythm guitarist for a whole slew of bands I played in in high school and college: US Blues, Cobblestone Road, Triad, The Yahara River Valley Boys, and Contraband. What fun! But this time I have a LOT more notes at my disposal, and I’m not limited to arm strumming or finger picking on 6 strings. I have 88 keys. I’m following the old French school where melody rides atop harmony, I am avoiding the Italian alternative where melody is supported by harmony.
I’ve been staying at Casa Rubin — Ronnie goes for walks, and suns by the pool and I work. Later in the day we go see a movie and have a lovely dinner out. She stays up and reads, I crash only to get up at 5:30 in the morning to get to work.
The desert is effective in degaussing the electrostatic magnetic charge one builds up living in the city.
*smells the desert air*
Klavierstuck Nr. IX by Karlheinz Stockhausen, performed by Michail Goleminov
Our late friend Martin Nathan was classmates and old friends with Michael Crichton in Harvard Medical School and subsequently in Los Angeles. My partner at the time, Bruce Westland and I went to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics with Marty and his partner Sam, and Michael and his wife and had a memorable time.
Marty and Michael were both very tall men. Michael commissioned a couch during the period he wrote “The Andromeda Strain” that he could nap, read and write on. He gave that couch to Marty some years back. Then, in 1986 Marty gave the Crichton couch to Bruce and me. Bruce bought a Lady Kenmore sewing machine and recovered the rotting Naugahyde that covered the couch. Today the couch needs reupholstering and maybe some new legs to make it a bit higher off the ground. We keep an old comforter on it and the dogs have taken it over.
I was very sad to learn that Michael died yesterday of a private battle with cancer. I loved his novels and am sad that the stream of his work has stopped. He was always able to take cutting edge scientific discoveries or possibilities and weave them into epic dramas. He was wise enough to be able to foresee the dangers of technologies.
Proposition 8 succeeded here, so it appears my marriage is dissolving before my eyes. Yes, it’s not clear what the future holds for the 18,000 lesbian and gay couples that got married this year, but still, I’m really saddened by it. It’s hard to be angry at 5 million California voters. It was really close, but not close enough. I hope that the whole issue comes back as legal civil unions without the religious stickiness of the word “marriage.” Until then, Daniel and I will return to being domestic partners. We still have tremendous benefits in California, and being employed by the University of California is even better. So, we’ve lost nothing but the word.
I look at the statistics and see that people from age 18 – 29 were largely supportive of gay marriage, while people over 30s are against it. So, it looks like we just have to be patient.
rss feed
