June 2, 2008

• We had a huge storm here, on Saturday.
  (Minneapolis, MN).
  I did not take any pictures, but the storm was pretty scary.
  We had 1-3/4″ hail sailing right at all of my windows–2″ of the stuff!
  My dining room window and bedroom window are broken,
  and I lost some flowers.  I think it was straight-line winds, and we
  did have a tornado warning.  The pool, parking lot and ground are covered in tons of leaves.  I am no wimp when it comes to storms, in fact I love most of them, but this was
  pretty bad.  There is some hail damage to vehicles, too.

  I almost went downstairs to protect myself, but instead braved it out.  The
  cats were meowing and upset.  What a big, horrible mess!

  Saw this online today, made me sad…

  Bo Diddley dies at age 79.
  He was definitely a pioneer in the music business-
  sad to see him go.

  

  Here is a recent picture of my daughter.  She is now working about 2 days per week
  at Jamba Juice, and she loves it!

  Need to update on our newest cat, but need to get the pictures off of the camera first!

  Here is some really cool music!

  J.S. Bach: The Four Lute Suites
  John Williams
  1975

  One of the 20th century’s most beloved classical guitarists,
  John Williams is also one of the most versatile, having played everything from
  baroque cello transcriptions to contemporary avant-garde music and rock fusion.
  An artistic nomad he may be, but Williams sounds like he’s found a resting place
  in his recordings of Bach’s four lute suites. These are far from the best-known
  works in Bach’s massive canon, and it isn’t entirely clear which stringed
  instrument Bach had in mind when he composed them in the early 1700s; certainly
  not the classical guitar, which hadn’t yet been invented. Yet Bach’s
  compositional genius rings out of the quivering strings and resonant wood of
  Williams’ guitar in interpretations so deeply felt that every arcing melody,
  every chord voicing becomes a thing of quiet profundity.

  A meandering
  single-note figure opens the “Praeludium-Presto” section of Bach’s Lute Suite in
  E minor. It’s an inauspicious beginning to a suite that contains both rich
  harmonies and complicated, interwoven rhythmic lines. Williams internalizes
  Bach’s entire compositional breadth though, playing both the “Sarabande”
  section’s free-form rhythms and the famous “Bourrée”‘s rigid counterpoint with
  spellbinding clarity. The “Gigue-Double” movement of Bach’s Lute Suite in A
  minor could be a virtuoso showpiece; here, Williams articulates its constant
  stream of 16th notes with the litheness of a dancer, twirling and darting around
  the steady pulse of a strutting companion.

  There’s light-heartedness to
  the Suite in E, and it’s more than just the piece’s major key. The “Loure” is
  tender and slow, with wide-open chords radiating like angelic harp strumming.
  Imaginary noblemen and their ladies chatter and flirt over “Gavotte en Rondeau,”
  which feels like the accompaniment to an afternoon garden party with its
  delightful recurring theme. It’s a world far removed from the stately sadness of
  the Suite in A minor, transcribed from an earlier suite for solo cello. The
  “Allemande” is all crisp phrases and subtle ornamentation, summoning images of
  stiff-collared dukes glaring haughtily at one another. And dread pervades the
  spare “Sarabande,” sapping it of its connection to the traditional dance
  form—this is still, contemplative music. In Williams’ hands, each movement of
  Bach’s lute suites has its own internal psychology. These pieces breathe and
  weep, every detail echoing long after the guitar strings have stopped vibrating.
  

  	Listen to all sound clips from this CD
  “Lute Suite in E minor – Bourrée” “Lute Suite in E minor – Gavotte en Rondeau” “Lute Suite in A minor – Sarabande”

  Buy this CD

  

  I have doctor’s appts coming up; the foot doctor wants to remove the 2nd toenail on each foot, as they are curled up tight, and I might get some ortho shoes, as my ankles lean in, when I walk.  I have to have cholesterol and glucose tests done.  I am ‘borderline’ diabetic, so I have been putting off that test.  Diabetes runs in my biological father’s history.

  That’s it from this front!

  I love you!!

  

  • 3:04 pm
  • 23 Comments