Sunday, May 11, 2008

The Mahler story

So here's what's on my mind.

I spent the day ripping my classical music to my computer. I started off with Mahler. And here is the story of the 2nd Symphony, Resurrection.

Once upon a time when I was in college, I worked near the Grand Canyon. And for my 20th birthday, Nathan, a classical music devotee, decided to introduce me to the 2nd Symphony. We took my big huge early 90's CD player and trekked down the highway at some hour that should be unheard of, climbed a fire watchtower, and listened to the symphony to watch the sun come up over the forest. Nathan wanted to have it timed so that the 4th section with the oh-so-soft soprano would be starting just as the sun came off, but I think we were a little late. Anyway, it was a glorious morning, with the horizon starting off cinnamon-brown and moving its way through all the pastel bandwidths until morning had come.

I honestly wonder if that was the last time I purposely did anything to greet the sun in the morning. I am, after all, a night owl.

Anyway, today I have had a classical music day. I discovered that Dvo
řák wrote an opera, Rusalka, and so far it's pretty good. I downloaded it - it's a lot like the Little Mermaid, except tragic at the end (no sea foam, though). (Of course I just know what it's about from the synopsis, as I don't speak Czech.) I listened to my favorite Chopin piece, and to The Moldau by Smetana and the Hungarian Dances by Brahms. It's been restorative. Not quite the walk in the woods of two weeks ago, but nice nonetheless.

Something to See

So Hooray! The networks are finally doing something good. NBC has episodes of the old Alfred Hitchcock TV show on its site for online viewing. CBS has Perry Mason and The Twilight Zone. So there IS something good on, it just happens to be on a different screen than we were used to. Who ever said we should work on computers?