My listening post this morning is my happy place – the second floor of our local library. Very little pleases me more than gazing out on open spaces, while surrounded by books, in solitude, with music in my hears. If there is a heaven, that is what it will be to me. Anyway, as I … [Read more…]
My listening post this morning is Bagel Beanery. Even my ninja liked my choice. Hungry little fella. While I sit here watching customers enter and leave, and the cars go to and fro outside (as opposed to what – to and fro inside?), I’m listening to American-Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt (1927- ), Staatskapelle Dresden, and … [Read more…]
My listening post this evening/early morning is with the Irish TV series Ballykissangel in the background. In this scene (late in Season Three), Fr. Peter Clifford and local barkeep Assumpta Fitzgerald have a heart to heart chat while out on a walk. My wife hates Ballykissangel. She says it moves too slowly. Maybe it does. … [Read more…]
My listening post today is my home office, a bottle of Smart Water to my right and a half-eaten bag of Ghost Pepper Potato Chips from Trader Joe’s to my left. In the background, turned down low as if I’m in a restaurant for breakfast, is R.E.O. Speedwagon’s first album, simply titled R.E.O. Fantastic guitar-driven … [Read more…]
My office this afternoon is on the balcony overlooking the lake. It’s a lovely fall day: sunny skies, winds at 9 miles per hour from the north, and a temperature of 61 degrees Fahrenheit. I’d be a fool if I did not carpe diem. Since my Momma didn’t raise no fools, here I am – … [Read more…]
This morning, as I wait to meet up with my mom and brother for breakfast, I find myself sitting in a Tim Horton’s restaurant sipping coffee and eating a Boston Creme donut. Both are delicious. Just what I needed to start my morning. Well, that and conductor Herbert Blomstedt (1927- ), my wife, Staatskapelle Dresden, … [Read more…]
I own a lot of box sets from Brilliant Classics: Brahms Complete, Chopin Complete Works, Beethoven Complete Edition, and Haydn Edition. At one time, I believe I owned the Bach Edition: Complete Works box, but I sold it to buy another Bach complete set that didn’t use period instruments. (I can only take just so … [Read more…]
This morning, the world–renowned conductor of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major is Herbert Blomstedt (1927- ). I first encountered Maestro Blomstedt when I listened to the complete works of Beethoven a few years ago. The label then, as it is this morning, is Brilliant Classics, one of the best in the world if … [Read more…]
A couple of years ago (April 15, 2014 – July 9, 2014, to be exact), I listened to everything Beethoven composed as part of a (failed) three-year exploration of great works that I called 1095 Days With The Masters And Me. (You can read about why my three-year project failed on the My Year-Long Project … [Read more…]