It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve blogged. A bunch has happened….but it’ll come up in chunks.
Worked as an official at the Fort Ritchie Criterium on May 10. Very nice venue. Started out rainy and chilly but got nice later in the day. All the racers raved about the course. But what a long day! First race at 8am, last race finished at about 5:45pm. And it was almost 2 hours to drive to the race, so that meant on the road at about 5am. McDonald’s doesn’t even serve breakfast that early! By the last race of the day I was brain dead and hard pressed to function fully. I’m not sure how many crits I will want to work in the future because of the fatigue factor. It was a good crew – me, Lisa, Jim Patton and Lew Strader, with John K. on the moto. Lots of fun over all. Technical issues arose from our attempts to be fully digital with results. The promoter used an algorithm to assign bib numbers, so when we tried to sort for results, things got all out of whack. And they were bringing us files that didn’t have the race-day entries. Jim handling the typing side of things. I guess eventually I’ll get a notebook computer so I can have it along with me for doing similar work.
As a woman racer, I was definitely annoyed by the fact that there were lots and lots of men's races (many with relatively small fields) but only one women's field. More races need to be like RFK!
Lisa & I stopped in Frederick for dinner. Nice brew-pub with decent food and good beer. Then we strolled around the historic downtown and checked out a couple of galleries before driving home. Didn’t get home until after 10pm. It was an exhausting day.
My original plan for the 11th was a bike ride and then make a nice dinner for mom for Mother's Day. Instead my brother and his clan came over for a few hours. I think we all enjoyed the visit - good to see the little ones as they change so fast when they're toddlers. But I had really been hoping for a quiet day. Not that cooking wouldn't have been demanding in its own way, but it would have been low key and a different kind of fun. Oh well.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Mahler 8 - Philadelphia Orchestra - May 3
I’d been looking forward to last Saturday night for more than a year. Ever since the Philadelphia Orchestra announced the season. Eschenbach concluding his 5-year Mahler cycle with Mahler Symphony 8. It was going to be bittersweet, as it was also going to be the last time I’d see him conduct the orchestra as its music director. But oh, what a glorious way to go out! So-called the “Symphony of a Thousand” because it takes almost that many performers, it’s a monumental work. Composed in two parts – the first in Latin “Veni, creator spiritus” and the second in German, the final part of Goethe’s Faust – the work calls for an oversized orchestra, 3 adult choruses, a children’s choir, pipe organ and 8 solo vocalists. Because of the expense that goes with an undertaking of this size, this work isn’t performed very often.
90 minutes of Mahler, what could be better? I hadn’t focused on who the scheduled soloists were, so I was surprised and delighted to see that James Morris was the bass. The choruses overflowed out of the choir box and into what would have been audience seating. The stage was extended to make room for everyone in the orchestra, including the 4 harpers, and the children’s choir and 7 soloists to fit.
Mahler doesn’t ease you into this monumental work. He throws you in the deep end from the opening chord – with supersized orchestra, chorus and organ all involved. They decided to project translations, the way the opera companies do, rather than print them. While I don’t care for the visual distraction in some ways, it’s better than the rustling of paper that happens when you do printed translations. They were also recording the performance for future release on the Ondine label. The down side of announcing that to the audience is it seems to bring out the coughing more than ever. Also the concert went out live via the internet around the world.
I can’t begin to describe in words what it was like. It seemed almost as if one more performer would have been too many somehow, that the sound would overwhelm to the point of loss. There are times when more is too much. As it was, the perfect balance, the limit of sensibility, it was moving in ways that cannot be described or communicated – you had to be there, you had to experience it live. I’ve heard the work performed elsewhere – the Cathedral, the Kennedy Center, but those spaces leave much to be desired acoustically, so much gets lost along the way. This was different – I could hear so much. The sound wasn’t simply before me, it encompassed me, making me part of it though I made no sound of my own, I became one with it.
I didn’t really care for the tenor, a last minute substitute for the ill Vinson Cole. He was a little too worried about his diction and missed some of the subtleties and nuances that should have been there. The baritone was not strong enough to avoid being covered by the orchestra in a few spots. Mr. Morris, on the other hand, had no such difficulties. The women were all wonderful – each distinctive in her tonality that I didn’t need to look to know which was singing. The 8th soloist, the 5th woman, sang from upon high – in the 3rd tier behind the orchestra – an angelic voice from heaven. The antiphonal brass was in the 2nd tier in the house right corner, just over our shoulders and up two levels.
Maestro Eschenbach did his usual – he presented an interpretation of Mahler that was astounding. Every conductor puts his/her own twist on work. If it’s one they have a special affinity for they put a lot into it. Eschenbach clearly has a deep personal connection to Mahler. Never would one get a simple reading of Mahler from him. He put some unexpected adjustments to tempo and emphasized in unexpected places – but in ways that worked beautifully and made the symphony work in spectacular fashion.
I didn’t let myself think about the fact that this was his grand farewell. Oh he may be conducting a couple more weeks before the season is done, but nothing like this. Now, two days later, I can let the sadness of his departure, the musical loss, enter my mind and heart. The state of the art of the symphony in this country is continuing to dwindle as major orchestra after major orchestra struggles to find competent leaders and here Philadelphia had one and they’ve lost him.
90 minutes of Mahler, what could be better? I hadn’t focused on who the scheduled soloists were, so I was surprised and delighted to see that James Morris was the bass. The choruses overflowed out of the choir box and into what would have been audience seating. The stage was extended to make room for everyone in the orchestra, including the 4 harpers, and the children’s choir and 7 soloists to fit.
Mahler doesn’t ease you into this monumental work. He throws you in the deep end from the opening chord – with supersized orchestra, chorus and organ all involved. They decided to project translations, the way the opera companies do, rather than print them. While I don’t care for the visual distraction in some ways, it’s better than the rustling of paper that happens when you do printed translations. They were also recording the performance for future release on the Ondine label. The down side of announcing that to the audience is it seems to bring out the coughing more than ever. Also the concert went out live via the internet around the world.
I can’t begin to describe in words what it was like. It seemed almost as if one more performer would have been too many somehow, that the sound would overwhelm to the point of loss. There are times when more is too much. As it was, the perfect balance, the limit of sensibility, it was moving in ways that cannot be described or communicated – you had to be there, you had to experience it live. I’ve heard the work performed elsewhere – the Cathedral, the Kennedy Center, but those spaces leave much to be desired acoustically, so much gets lost along the way. This was different – I could hear so much. The sound wasn’t simply before me, it encompassed me, making me part of it though I made no sound of my own, I became one with it.
I didn’t really care for the tenor, a last minute substitute for the ill Vinson Cole. He was a little too worried about his diction and missed some of the subtleties and nuances that should have been there. The baritone was not strong enough to avoid being covered by the orchestra in a few spots. Mr. Morris, on the other hand, had no such difficulties. The women were all wonderful – each distinctive in her tonality that I didn’t need to look to know which was singing. The 8th soloist, the 5th woman, sang from upon high – in the 3rd tier behind the orchestra – an angelic voice from heaven. The antiphonal brass was in the 2nd tier in the house right corner, just over our shoulders and up two levels.
Maestro Eschenbach did his usual – he presented an interpretation of Mahler that was astounding. Every conductor puts his/her own twist on work. If it’s one they have a special affinity for they put a lot into it. Eschenbach clearly has a deep personal connection to Mahler. Never would one get a simple reading of Mahler from him. He put some unexpected adjustments to tempo and emphasized in unexpected places – but in ways that worked beautifully and made the symphony work in spectacular fashion.
I didn’t let myself think about the fact that this was his grand farewell. Oh he may be conducting a couple more weeks before the season is done, but nothing like this. Now, two days later, I can let the sadness of his departure, the musical loss, enter my mind and heart. The state of the art of the symphony in this country is continuing to dwindle as major orchestra after major orchestra struggles to find competent leaders and here Philadelphia had one and they’ve lost him.
May Metric Ride
As is a tradition for OHBike, the first Saturday in May is the “May Metric.” We used to do it as a supported ride, but now the supported metric century is the Rural Legacy in June. So now, we just do it as a club ride, offering various distances (100km, 40miles and 26miles) at various paces. Because of the weekend’s plans, I offered to lead the 40-mile route at a fast pace. I didn’t have any takers to join me. But that was ok, as others needed the cue sheets I’d run off. So I rolled out with the next fastest group that was planning on doing the full metric. Five of us rode together for the first 10 miles, keeping a comfortable pace of 18 or so. We stopped at Merkle Wildlife Refuge and regrouped.
I had about 10 miles to go before we’d split apart, so I opted to ride a little slower to spend some time riding with Blake, Jan, Carole and Walt. There was a fellow – don’t know his name – who had been working hard to stay with us, but he didn’t want to do the 65 so he said he’d go with me at the split. As we turned into North Keys, he told me not to worry if I dropped him on the hills, he’d just wait for the next group of 40-milers to come along. I did pull away from him on that little hill (I can remember that seeming to be a big hill once upon a time!), but I figured he’d catch up with me on the descent down Cross Road Trail. I was right. That road’s condition is getting beyond “bad” and into “seriously dangerous.” It’s great where they put the new bridge in, but on either side of that new section, the road is really torn up. I dropped whoever he was on the climb up out of the stream valley. I almost had an incident on the climb, as I hit a spot that was sand/fine gravel and it grabbed my front wheel and I started to get mired in it. Fortunately I tend to climb only just barely holding the bars, so it was easy enough to apply a little pressure and break free.
As I approached the turn onto Cherry Tree Crossing, my day took a turn for the worse. An old geezer in a big sedan (you know the type, they drive Lincolns and other similarly sized vehicles even though they don’t need the capacity for any reason at all) was waiting to pull out of Cherry Tree Xing. I signaled my turn, watched the guy coming the other way who was making a right into CTX as I slowed and knew that it was possible that the old geezer was going to do something stupid. As I started to make my turn, the old guy started to pull out. I yelled at him as I grabbed the brakes for an emergency stop. My left hand, more used to making that squeeze than my right, gripped tighter and the rearend started to come up to create an endo…. I shifted my weight around quickly turning it into just a fall onto my right side with my elbow and hip taking the impact. Fortunately it was a slow speed thing, so no shredded shorts, no torn skin. Just some raspberries and bruises. I got up, yelling at the moron about looking for traffic and obeying stop signs then headed on my way. The drive train was ticking a bit so I opted for the shortest route back to the car and then headed directly to BikeDoctor to drop it off to be checked over and adjusted to clear up the noise. Didn’t see anything concerning, don’t think anything took real damage, just got a little bit out of alignment.
It’s the first time that I’ve gone down on the bike since 2004, so I guess I was due. I’m sore and I’m bruised, but that’s the extent of it, so I count my blessings and look forward to the next ride.
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