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Mon, 26 Mar 2007

Viola concertos

Before I went to El Paso I had the opportunity to hear Paul Silverthorne, principal violist of London Symphony Orchestra, play the Walton viola concerto here. It was a really fantastic performance, and I feel like I understand the concerto better than before. It's still not my favorite viola concerto, but I do have a new appreciation for it.

I just learned today that Roberto Diaz is coming back here to play the Bartok viola concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony in October. I can't wait!  

El Paso

I went to El Paso last week to see Lesley and to play in the orchestra there. She's running the El Paso Youth Orchestras along with Ben Loeb, a conductor we went to school with in Baltimore. He is also the associate conductor for the El Paso Symphony, and they had a side-by-side of the symphony and the youth orchestra together with Ben conducting. The symphony played The Three Cornered Hat suite by Manuel de Falla, the flute concerto by Jacques Ibert, Ravel's La Valse, then the youth orchestra played Marquez's Danzon No. 2, and then the symphony and youth orchestra did Bernstein's West Side Story symphonic dances together.

Ben and Lesley have been working really hard with the youth orchestras and the symphony, and it sounds like things are going really well there.

Me and Lesley from this morning.

Photo of Ben and his wife that I took last night when we went out for Italian food.  

Wed, 14 Mar 2007

Verdi Quartet

I've been listening to my awesome new CD of the Hagen Quartett (my favorite string quartet these days) playing the Verdi String Quartet. It's a fantastic recording, I'm glad to have found it. It was discovered on Amazon, being sold by some seller in Germany.. however, that seller wouldn't ship the disc outside of Germany! But Mirco Müller was kind enough to let me send it to him and he shipped it to me. Hagen Quartett disc

Thanks Mirco!  

Sat, 03 Mar 2007

Icky Thump

Very cool news from the White Stripes today. They've finished recording and mixing their sixth album, which will be called "Icky Thump". Okay, whatever. But I'm excited because the White Stripes are completely awesome. More info about the album.. some of the songs are:

  • Catch Hell Blues
  • Little Cream Soda
  • Monkeys Have It Easy (discarded)
  • Rag and Bone
  • Clicky Bump (retitled into something pleasant)
  • Blue Orchid (relocated to previous album)
  • You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)