I am reading Solaris for the first time. I may have watched Soderbergh’s adaptation, or translation if you will, but I do not remember much of it. Full disclosure, I am only halfway through the book. But I am thinking a lot about different kinds of minds and disembodied minds, per Ed Yong’s book and a new book by Jay Garfield reframing our understanding of selves. We tend to see entities with less firm boundaries as less of an identity. Boundaries define limits and entities need a demarcation between in and out. However, all of this is an illusion as we are constantly exchanging molecules with the environment; cells are dying constantly and being replaced with new ones; new forms of bacteria enter bodies and others leave. This is why I love the idea of a conscious entity like an ocean because it brings us closer conceptually to reality even though it is challenging to wrap our minds around.
Category: Uncategorized
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January and February Opera Dump
- Das Rheingold Richard Wagner:
Of the first three in the Ring Cycle, I think that I may have enjoyed this one of the most. Here’s the summary provided by the Met:
In the depths of the Rhine, the three Rhinemaidens guard the Rhinegold, a treasure of immeasurable value. The Nibelung dwarf Alberich is dazzled by the sight of it. The girls explain that whoever wins the gold and forges it into a ring will gain power over the world, but must first renounce love. Frustrated by his unsuccessful attempts to catch one of the girls, Alberich curses love and steals the gold.
Wotan, lord of the gods, is reproached by his wife Fricka: he has promised to give Freia, goddess of youth, to the giants Fasolt and Fafner in return for their building a fortress for the gods. When the giants demand their reward, Loge, the god of fire, suggests an alternative payment: the ring Alberich has forged from the Rhinegold, and his other treasures. The giants agree, and Wotan and Loge leave for the Nibelungs’ underground home.
Here they meet Alberich’s brother Mime, who has forged the Tarnhelm, a magic helmet that transforms its wearer into any shape. Mime tells Wotan and Loge how Alberich has enslaved the Nibelungs to work for him. Alberich appears and mocks the gods. Loge asks for a demonstration of the Tarnhelm and Alberich turns himself into a dragon, then into a toad, which the gods capture. Dragged to the surface, the dwarf is forced to summon the Nibelungs to heap up the gold. Wotan wrests the ring from his finger. Shattered, Alberich curses the ring: ceaseless worry and death shall be the destiny of its bearer.
The giants return and agree to accept the gold. The gods have to give up even the Tarnhelm, but Wotan refuses to part with the ring. Erda, goddess of the earth, appears and warns him that possession of it will bring about the end of the gods. Wotan reluctantly gives the ring to the giants, and Alberich’s curse claims its first victim as Fafner kills his brother in a dispute over the treasure. As the voices of the Rhinemaidens are heard, lamenting the loss of their gold, the gods walk toward their new home, which Wotan names Valhalla.
Link to Met’s PageI think that the reason I enjoyed this one as much as I did was the panoply of characters, scene changes, and clear plot movement. The next two are equally enjoyably, but move ploddingly. The version that I watched from 2011 has a wonderful cast and particularly amazing Wotan.
2. Die Walküre Richard Wagner
This has the most recognizable leitmotifs of the whole Ring Cycle and the irony is not lost that most people know it from Full Metal Jacket where masculinity and war run rampant, whereas in the opera we have fantastic chorus of women warriors. Here’s the summary of the opera:
ACT I
Pursued by enemies during a storm, Siegmund stumbles exhausted into an unfamiliar house. Sieglinde finds him lying by the hearth, and the two feel an immediate attraction. They are interrupted by Sieglinde’s husband, Hunding, who asks the stranger who he is. Calling himself “Woeful,” Siegmund tells of a disaster-filled life, only to learn that Hunding is a kinsman of his enemies. Hunding tells his guest they will fight to the death in the morning.Alone, Siegmund calls on his father, Wälse, for the sword he once promised him. Sieglinde reappears, having given Hunding a sleeping potion. She tells of her wedding, at which a one-eyed stranger thrust into a tree a sword that has since resisted every effort to pull it out (“Der Männer Sippe”). Sieglinde confesses her unhappiness to Siegmund. He embraces her and promises to free her from her forced marriage to Hunding. As moonlight floods the room, Siegmund compares their feelings to the marriage of love and spring (“Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond”). Sieglinde addresses him as “Spring” but asks if his father was really “Wolf,” as he said earlier. When Siegmund gives his father’s name as Wälse instead, Sieglinde recognizes him as her twin brother. Siegmund pulls the sword from the tree and claims Sieglinde as his bride, rejoicing in the union of the Wälsungs.
ACT II
High in the mountains, Wotan, leader of the gods, tells his warrior daughter, the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, that she must defend his mortal son Siegmund in his upcoming battle with Hunding. She leaves joyfully to do what he has asked, as Fricka, Wotan’s wife and the goddess of marriage, appears. Fricka insists that Wotan must defend Hunding’s marriage rights against Siegmund. She ignores his argument that Siegmund could save the gods by winning back the Nibelung Alberich’s all-powerful ring from the dragon Fafner. When Wotan realizes he is caught in his own trap—he will lose his power if he does not enforce the law—he submits to his wife’s demands. After Fricka has left, the frustrated god tells the returning Brünnhilde about the theft of the Rhinegold and Alberich’s curse on it (“Als junger Liebe Lust mir verblich”). Brünnhilde is shocked to hear her father, his plans in ruins, order her to fight for Hunding.Siegmund comforts his fearful bride and watches over her when she falls asleep. Brünnhilde appears to him as if in a vision, telling him he will soon die and go to Valhalla (“Siegmund! Sieh auf mich!”). He replies that he will not leave Sieglinde and threatens to kill himself and his bride if his sword has no power against Hunding. Moved by his steadfastness, Brünnhilde decides to defy Wotan and help Siegmund. Siegmund bids farewell to Sieglinde when he hears the approaching Hunding’s challenge. The two men fight and Siegmund is about to be victorious, when Wotan appears and shatters his sword, leaving him to be killed by Hunding. Brünnhilde escapes with Sieglinde and the broken sword. Wotan contemptuously kills Hunding with a wave of his hand and leaves to punish Brünnhilde for her disobedience.
ACT III
Met Opera Synopsis
Brünnhilde’s eight warrior sisters—who have gathered on their mountaintop bearing slain heroes to Valhalla. They are surprised to see Brünnhilde arrive with a woman, Sieglinde. When they hear she is fleeing Wotan’s wrath, they are afraid to hide her. Sieglinde is numb with despair until Brünnhilde tells her she bears Siegmund’s child. Now eager to be saved, she takes the pieces of the sword from Brünnhilde, thanks her, and rushes off into the forest to hide from Wotan. When the god appears, he sentences Brünnhilde to become a mortal woman, silencing her sisters’ objections by threatening to do the same to them. Left alone with her father, Brünnhilde pleads that in disobeying his orders she was really doing what he wished. Wotan will not give in: she must lie in sleep, a prize for any man who finds her. She asks to be surrounded in sleep by a wall of fire that only the bravest hero can pierce. Both sense this hero must be the child that Sieglinde will bear. Sadly renouncing his daughter (“Leb’ wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind”), Wotan kisses Brünnhilde’s eyes with sleep and mortality before summoning Loge, the god of fire, to encircle the rock. As flames spring up, the departing Wotan invokes a spell defying anyone who fears his spear to brave the flames.There were great moments and sections of this opera, but there are also some sections which dragged a bit. Beautiful performances in the 2011-12 Met version. Brunhilde is fantastic!
3. Siegfried Richard Wagner
I really enjoyed many of the performances and the Siegfried is amazing. The settings and staging are also fantastic.
ACT I
In his cave in the forest, the dwarf Mime forges a sword for his foster son Siegfried. He hates Siegfried but hopes that the boy will kill the dragon Fafner, who guards the Nibelungs’ treasure, so that Mime can take the all-powerful ring from it. Siegfried arrives and smashes the new sword, raging at Mime’s incompetence. Having realized that he can’t be the dwarf’s son, as there is no physical resemblance between them, he demands to know who his parents were. For the first time, Mime tells Siegfried how he found his mother, Sieglinde, in the woods, who died giving birth to him. When he shows Siegfried the fragments of his father’s sword, Nothung, Siegfried orders Mime to repair it for him and rushes out.As Mime sinks down in despair, a stranger enters. It is Wotan, lord of the gods, in human disguise as the Wanderer. He challenges the fearful Mime to a riddle competition, in which the loser forfeits his head. The Wanderer easily answers Mime’s three questions about the Nibelungs, the giants, and the gods. Mime in turn knows the answers to the traveler’s first two questions but gives up in terror when asked who will repair the sword Nothung. The Wanderer admonishes Mime for enquiring about faraway matters when he knows nothing about what closely concerns him. Then he departs, leaving the dwarf’s head to “him who knows no fear” and who will re-forge the magic blade.
When Siegfried returns demanding his father’s sword, Mime tells him that he can’t repair it. He vainly tries to explain the concept of fear to the boy and, in order to teach him, proposes a visit to Fafner’s cave. Siegfried agrees and enthusiastically begins to forge the sword himself. While he works, Mime prepares a sleeping potion to give to Siegfried once he has killed Fafner. Flashing the finished sword, Siegfried smashes the anvil in half and runs off into the forest.
ACT II
The same night, Mime’s brother Alberich is hiding by the entrance to Fafner’s cave, obsessed with winning back the ring for himself. The Wanderer enters and tells the Nibelung to watch out for Mime. He then wakes Fafner and warns him that a young hero is on his way to kill him. Unimpressed, the dragon goes back to sleep.As Dawn breaks, Mime and Siegfried arrive. Caught up in the peaceful beauty of the woods, Siegfried thinks about his parents. He tries to imitate the song of a bird on a reed pipe but fails and blows his horn instead. This awakens Fafner, and in the ensuing fight Siegfried kills the dragon. With his dying words, Fafner warns the boy of the destructive power of the treasure. When Siegfried accidentally touches a drop of Fafner’s blood to his lips, he suddenly understands the singing of the bird, which directs him to the gold in the cave. Alberich and Mime appear quarreling but withdraw as Siegfried returns with the ring and the Tarnhelm. The bird warns Siegfried not to trust Mime, and when the dwarf offers him the potion, Siegfried kills him. The bird then tells Siegfried of a beautiful woman named Brünnhilde, asleep on a mountain surrounded by fire. He sets out to find her.
ACT III
High on a mountain pass, the Wanderer summons Erda, goddess of the Earth, to learn the gods’ fate. She evades his questions, and he resigns himself to the impending end of the gods’ reign. His hope now rests with Brünnhilde and Siegfried. When Siegfried approaches, making fun of the god whom he takes for a simple old man, the Wanderer attempts to block his path. With a stroke of his sword, Siegfried shatters the Wanderer’s spear—the same spear that smashed Nothung to pieces years before. Defeated, the Wanderer retreats.Siegfried reaches the mountaintop where Brünnhilde sleeps. Never having seen a woman before, he thinks he has discovered a man. When he removes Brünnhilde’s armor, he is overwhelmed by the sight of her beauty and finally realizes the meaning of fear. Mastering his emotions, he awakens her with a kiss. Hailing the daylight, Brünnhilde is overjoyed to learn that it is Siegfried who has brought her back to life. She tries to resist his declarations of passion, realizing that earthly love must end her immortal life, but finally gives in and joins Siegfried in praise of love.
Met Opera Summary4. The Listeners Missy Mazzoli
When Missy Mazzoli was just 10 years old, growing up in rural Pennsylvania, she confidently declared she was a composer, although she hadn’t written a single note. Her family thought it was a phase she would get through. Now 42, Mazzoli is among today’s busiest and most respected composers. She’s best known for her operas, such as the career-boosting Breaking the Waves, but a new album, titled Dark with Excessive Bright, is the first to showcase the young composer’s purely symphonic music.
Armed with an orchestra full of instruments, and a penchant for unusual harmonies, Mazzoli conjures peculiar sounds. In her Sinfonia, subtitled “For Orbiting Spheres,” she calls for harmonicas in three different keys to produce wheezy, other worldly tones. She says it sounds like a “hurdy-gurdy flung recklessly into space.”
After Mazzoli’s childhood piano lessons came gigs in punk bands and composition classes at Yale. These days, she navigates Carnegie Hall debuts and commissions, such as the titular Dark with Excessive Bright, a lyrical violin concerto inspired by a very old double bass which sat in an Italian monastery for centuries and whose cracks were patched with pages from the Good Friday liturgy.
The concerto riffs on baroque formulas while recycling motifs in fresh disguises. Like a photographer, Mazzoli captures moments rich in texture and charged with expression. They are hard to describe, but you can see them in your ear. For example, after the orchestra slides up to a cadence, low strings pluck the beat, high strings twinkle with glitter, and in the middle, a melody wanders a solitary path. (As a fascinating bonus, the album includes a reduced version of the piece for solo violin and string quintet.)
So far, Mazzoli’s greatest success has come in the opera house. On the heels of Breaking the Waves, she (along with Jeanine Tesori) was the first woman to be commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. Her latest opera, The Listeners, is a psychological nail-biter set in southern California. And while this album is purely symphonic, drama abounds in the music. Mazzoli dedicates the piece These Worlds in Us to her father, a Vietnam vet. Sometimes the music swirls downward on sliding string figures while other passages prove that Mazzoli knows how to make an orchestra roar like a jet engine.
Coming of age in a DIY environment, and encouraged by outfits like the Bang on a Can collective of composer-performers, Mazzoli is at home using rock instruments and electronics in her music. On Vespers for Violin, played with ardor and agility by Peter Herresthal, Mazzoli sampled old organs, strings and voices, and waterlogged them in distortion.
Mazzoli likes to think of herself as primarily an opera composer. But with instrumental music as expressive and rigorously built as this — not to mention the dynamic performances here by the Bergen and Arctic Philharmonic Orchestras — we kindly ask that she not forget the command she holds over a symphony orchestra.
NPRI can’t so enough about how much I love this opera. We need more operas to be produced like this. Opera for many people are historical artifacts, not dealing in the language and tropes of the present. If this is the first opera that uninitiated watches, they might be persuaded to watch more.
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February Book List
1. Foster Claire Keegan
Another beautiful novella by Keegan, a writer who publishes infrequently but when she does, she writes with such an emotional force stuck between the floorboards of the mundane that you might miss if you read too quickly. The plot of the story is simple: a young girl is sent to stay with her aunt and uncle while her family works through a difficult time. The story ends rather abruptly, but it left me gasping for more, but also savoring the moment of disjunction, like when a song ends on a note that you don’t expect: these kinds of ends sit with you longer than something that is resolved neatly.
2. Trust Domenico Starnone
Another fascinating novel by Starnone. While I preferred Ties, this one has a similar tone and similar characters. Starnone does relationship dysfunctions as well as any writer I’ve read. The story follows a teacher who first has a relationship with a former student, who encourages him to engage in a trust exercise with that would create a strange connection for the rest of their lives, and then his marriage with a coworker and his fraught writing career.
3. Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion Gabrielle Stanley Blair
I loved this little book so much. This reframing–that all abortions are due to men not ejaculating responsibly–is so needed. Our sexist culture puts all of the burden, blame, and responsibility on women, while men are shielded from the consequences of their actions. I learned so much about the health consequences of the medical system’s emphasis on women needing to be the responsible party when it comes to birth control. One that blew my mind is that there are some states that require women to have their husbands sign a permission form so that they can get their tubes tied. When you read books like this, you can’t help but feel that we are not that far from the Handmaid’s Tale…
4. Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
One of my personal projects this year is to read one bucket list classic each month. War and Peace and Anna Karenina were at the top of that list, but I decided to start with Anna both because it is shorter and has a more seemingly clear plot (that might be up for discussion) and a friend who is wiser and a bulldozer of a reader suggested that I start with love before moving onto war. This translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky is astounding: it is breezy and clear, while retaining all the transcendence. Even the moments that many people either skim or treat as unnecessary interludes where Tolstoy wants to describe the minutia of agricultural practices in 19th century Russia were digestible and didn’t interrupt the flow. For those who haven’t read any Tolstoy, I wouldn’t start here; start with short stories first, but if you looking for a reading experience of the highest order, here’s the place.
5. The Story of the Lost Child Elena Ferrante
This is the fourth and final installment in the Neapolitan Quartet and another absolute masterpiece. Lila and Elena are getting older, having more children, watching as the world continues to change, dealing with dying parents and friends, and mourning changes in their friendship. After nearly 1500 pages about these two women, I will say definitively that this is one of the best treatments of friendship, in all its complexity, that I have read. I will likely read all four of these again someday. You should start now.
6. Too Much Happiness Alice Munro
Another truly amazing collection of stories by the best. I was trying to describe to someone recently why Munro is so good and the best I could say about her was that each of the stories contains complete universes. Moreover, beyond world building, she might be one of the best at leaving things out: it’s easy to say too much. My favorite story in this collection is about a widow who has sudden violent encounter. High recommended.
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Saying Goodbye to Lena and Lila
I just finished the fourth and final book in the Ferrante’s Quartet that follows the relationship between two Neapolitan women. The story begins when they are children in neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples and follows them as they lives diverge and converge through husbands, fame, revolutionary politics, violence, fame, and despair. My initial thoughts are that this is one of the great epics of modern literature and the best series of books that I have read on friendship. I am now looking forward to watching the HBO adaptation, knowing full well that it will not reach heights that Ferrante’s feverish writing can take you. Cannot recommend more highly.
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Why We Need to Be Honest That Opera Can Be Boring (Sometimes)
I have been making my way through Wagner’s Ring Cycle over the last month. It has taken my longer than anticipated, not because I am not enjoying them, but due the reality that these operas, while beautiful, move at such a slow, plodding pace, it has taken me longer to watch them that I had planned. I am realizing now that one of the main benefits of the opera house is the confinement in the opera house. It’s almost like a roller coaster, where after you have buckled in you just need to see it through.
In latin, the word “opera” means literally work. Pretending that I can watch opera with ease serves further to create mythology and elitism around it. Even aficionados have moments of boredom, where the monkey mind looks down at the program to find the scene and to discern how close it is to the end of the act. I think that if more of us who do enjoy opera were more honest about heterogeneous experience with the art form, it might help to remove some of the barriers for people who don’t immediately understand and enjoy it and remove this dualist vision of the world that there are those who love opera and those who don’t. Some days I am in the mood for arias and vorspiels, some operas are boring, some operas are highest art forms ever created.
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January Movie/TV Dump
Movies:
- Late Spring Yasujirō OzuOzu is name that I was familiar with, in part from the movie Tokyo Story (which I will come back to shortly), but I decided to make my way through some his more famous films starting with this one. Late Spring is about an adult woman living at home with her father who is encouraged to get married by a meddling aunt. A beautiful film. The framing of his shots is unparalleled. The visual artist in this film will leave you breathless if you go for this kind of film.
- Scenes from a Marriage Ingmar Bergman I’ve started and stopped this film many times due to sheer pain at watching certain scenes, particularly the second scene which depicts the main characters having dinner with a couple who resent each other, get drunk, and make a scene. The film is honest and raw and probably the most real depiction of the challenges of marriage that I have seen. If you can survive the nearly three hours, it’s worth your time.
- Early Summer Yasujirō OzuLate Spring and Early Summer have much in common, including cast and central conflict: a woman being encouraged into marriage by meddling family. This time, a visiting uncle encourages his unmarried niece that it is time to marry. Ultimately, the family is devastated when this finally comes to pass. Setsuko Hara, who plays the lead in both films discussed, is mesmerizing to watch and her performances are worth the price of admission.
- Taxi Jafar PanahiI am just now discovering Panahi and feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. Panahi is the most famous filmmaker “working” in Iran, and he has had a lot of trouble doing so. Constantly in trouble with his government, Panahi has continued to make amazing films in spite of the pressure and threats to his life and welfare. In this film, Panahi is driving a taxi around Tehran picking up friends and strangers and engaging in fascinating conversations. My favorite of these fares is Jafar’s spunky niece who tries to make her own film simultaneously while driving around. I will be watching more of his films ASAP.
- Tokyo Story Yasujirō OzuUnlike the previous two films from Ozu that I watched this month, Tokyo Story is film about generational changes, duties to one’s parents, and the westernization of Japanese culture after WWII. The stories follow elderly parents who come to Tokyo from the countryside to visit their adult children and grandchildren, who have little time for them. The tragic ending makes the film all the more poignant and speaks beyond its cultural context to all of us as we make the transition to adulthood and live lives apart from our families. My favorite of the three this month.
TV
- Andor This is the best Star Wars content since the prequels or Rogue One. Most Star Wars are fairy tales or somewhat simple moral allegories. This series is more sociological, spends considerable and sympathetic time with officials in the empire. There were beautiful set pieces, a great prison break section, and much more. By far, some of the best TV I’ve watched in some time.
- Welcome to WrexhamThis is a docuseries that follows Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney as they acquire and revive a dying football club in Wales. This an amazing story of two celebrities using their fame and their money to return a sense of community and pride in one of these communities, like ours in the rust belt, who have struggled with the changes that globalization has brought. Recommended.
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January Reading List
1. George Lucas: A Life Brian Jay Jones
George Lucas, along with J.K. Rowling, created a world that shaped my imagination as a child, but before reading this book I knew little about him. Raised in Modesto, Lucas was expected to take over the family business, but, after an accident that caused him to rethink his ambitions to be a racecar driver, Lucas went to film school at USC and never turned back. This book tells his story at a bristling pace and is full of juicy Hollywood director stories, with Coppola featured in many of them. The book definitely changed how I view Star Wars, in particular the narrative and the production.
2. The Subtle Knife (Book 2): His Dark Materials, Book 2 Philip Pullman
The second book in the series is incredibly different from the volume one. The story expands to include other worlds, new characters, big concepts and ideas, and a lot of clarity in regards to plot points that were vaguely referred to in volume one. The characters have gone a lot of different directions and are each facing their own unique challenges and pursuing goals that seem unrelated, but are all moving in the same direction. I am excited to wrap the story up and have already started volume three!
3. The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes
Barnes is a prolific novelist and this one won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2011. The story follows a middle aged man as he reckons with the death of a friend and the fallout of a relationship during his college years after new information comes to light from a will. The story is one of those that as soon as you finish you immediately want to reread in light of what you discover at the end. Recommended.
4. Ties Domenico Starnone
I have been meaning to pick this one up for a while, but didn’t realize that Jhumpa Lahiri, whose book about learning to read and write in Italian I had read last month, translated this into English. Lahiri believes that Starnone is one of the best living Italian novelists and her praise was matched by the quality of the storytelling here. The story follows a family that goes through trauma after the father leaves the family for a younger lover, shuttling back and forth between the time of the affair and the present day. Recommended.
5. Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic Tom Holland
I’ve decided to do some brushing up on Roman history over the next few months. Holland’s books have always been on my radar, but this is the first one that I’ve read through and I really enjoyed. He writes like you are reading a political thriller and brings all the scheming senators and generals to life. There are certain parts where he probably should have introduced fewer historical figures as it’s easy to get their names confused. Nonetheless, a good refresher on the important period of the Roman Republic’s last years.
6. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay Elena Ferrante
This the third volume in the quintet of novels. The characters are moving from adolescence into adulthood, having children and encountering new varieties of problems and complications. Like the previous two volumes, this was a page-turner and I found it hard to put down. At almost a thousand pages between these first three volumes, I find myself fully absorbed in this neapolitan community, leaving with a feeling of excitement to finish the story, but a dose of sadness that the story is coming to a conclusion. Please read these books.
7. The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War Ben Macintyre
Macintyre is the master of the real spy thriller. This is the third book I’ve read by him and my favorite so far. It follows the story of the famous Soviet Double Agent who started working for the MI6 and delivered more intel to the west than any spy in history. The book details his movement up the KGB ladder, his growing infatuation with western culture, how he turned and his relationship with MI6, and finally his discovery by the KGB and his escape. I won’t give away the thrilling ending, but just will say that I was on the edge of my seat for the final one hundred pages.
8. Small Things Like These Claire Keegan
This little novella packs a massive punch and leaves emotionally devastated and wishing for more. Keegan, a master observer of human nature, sadly leaves large gaps in her publication: she’s only published four works, two short story collections and two, including this one, novellas. This story follows a coal delivery worker through his week leading up to Christmas. The story takes a turn when he discovers a dark situation at a local convent that connects to his past. Please read this.
9. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories Alice Munro
I’ve read many of Munro’s short stories, but I haven’t read full collections before. This year, I’ve decided to systematically read through Munro’s oeuvre. I started with this collection because it is considered one of her best, and I can confirm the accuracy of that assessment: I was blown away. These stories are beautiful, devastating, enthralling, mesmerizing, and powerful in their subtle and deft approach that only one of the greatest living wordsmiths can accomplish. Each story in this eight story collection is its own universe with characters that seem like people you know, who you can imagine having a life apart from the page.
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Weekly Classical Music Dump
- Reicha Rediscovered Vol. 1 and 2 Ivan Illic Here’s his wiki summary: Anton (Antonín, Antoine) Joseph Reicha (Rejcha) (26 February 1770 – 28 May 1836) was a Czech-born, Bavarian-educated, later naturalized French composer and music theorist.[1] A contemporary and lifelong friend of Beethoven, he is now best remembered for his substantial early contributions to the wind quintet literature and his role as teacher of pupils including Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz and César Franck. He was also an accomplished theorist, and wrote several treatises on various aspects of composition. Some of his theoretical work dealt with experimental methods of composition, which he applied in a variety of works such as fugues and études for piano and string quartet.I really enjoyed these recordings and Illic’s lovely performance.
- Janáček – Brahms – Bartók Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Fazıl Say (piano)This is a masterful recording. Kopatchinskaja has played with all the major orchetstras in Europe and has been super productive, releasing multiple recordings a year for the past few years. Say is equally productive, and I greatly enjoyed his recording of the Goldberg Variations that came out last year.
- Mirrored in Time Jörgen Van Rijen / Alma QuartetI can’t say that I recall coming across much chamber music for the trombone. Jörgen van Rijen is trying to remedy that by putting together this collection. I had mixed feelings listening to it. There certainly are reasons why trombone is traditionally not a feature of chamber music. The album is a mixed bag, but one that you might listen to for the novelty.
- The Golden Renaissance: William Byrd – Stile AnticoStile Antico is one of our great vocal ensembles of early (western) music. This is, in my mind, one of my favorites in the past few years. The is second release in a series on renaissance composers.
- 12 – Ryuichi SakamotoSakamoto has had a highly productive career, going back to 1978, and, sadly, was recently diagnosed with cancer. This album a series of ambient synth and electronic recordings that are his quiet and somber reflections on his mortality. I agree with this Pitchfork review: “But rather than mythologize his life in narrative songwriting or theatrical instrumental fireworks, he’s chosen a quiet grace, one more subtle and restrained than even his softest prior work. Rarely does an album this understated say so much.”
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Opera Goals for 2023
One of my goals of 2023 is to stream 52 operas from home (one a week, more or less) and attend more operas in person. I made my first step towards this goal by subscribing to the Met Opera on Demand, an amazing service of the Metropolitan Opera where you can stream any opera in their catalog—which is vast—at home on your couch. I will be using that in tandem with the wonderful YouTube channel called OperaVision. I would also like to attend more operas at the War Memorial in San Francisco, and the LA Opera. This week I started the 2011-2012 Ring Cycle performed at the Met. I will have my thoughts on Das Rheingold later this week. Stay tuned for regular opera content.
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December Reading List
1. The Archer Paulo Coelho
I’ve never been much of a fan of Coelho, but I decided to give this one a try because I really enjoyed the book Zen in the Art of Archery and it seemed like they had the same flavor. The book was fine, but certainly not mind-expanding. He essentially is teaching wisdom principles through his version of Koan or parable. If you have read books of spirituality or Buddhism, you will find echoes here. I think that there are better books than this that illustrate these principles and ideas though.
2. The Story of a New Name Elena Ferrante
I read the first volume in this four book series last year and meant to continue, but got sidetracked with other books and kind of forgot about it. But then I was scrolling through HBO Max and realized that they had adapted the novels into a series. After watching the riveting first season based on the first book (My Brilliant Friend), I was reinvigorated to return and finish reading them. The second novel continues the story of the friendship between Elena and Lila as Lila gets married and Elena continues her education and pursues love interests. The book is so beautifully written and the story so enthralling told that you will not want to put this down. If you are looking for a good book series to start this year, consider Ferrante’s.
3. The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward Daniel Pink
These types of books–business or self-help books that offer summaries of psychology research with anecdotal applications–had their heyday, but may be coming to an end, given that most of them should just be articles and the frailty of psychology experiments called into question by replication crisis. This book is in many ways a Ted Talk about the benefits of learning from regret. The key takeaway is to learn from regret and not get mired in woulda, coulda, shoulda mental dialogue. A valuable point, no doubt, but one that could have been delivered in far fewer pages.
4. The Golden Compass: His Dark Materials, Book 1 Philip Pullman
I do not often read YA, in part because there is so much bad YA out there. But it’s becoming clear that there is good YA and, in looking through lists of people’s favorites, His Dark Materials typically tops the rankings charts–and for good reason. People often compare these stories to Harry Potter, except that I think the storytelling, ideas, and writing is much better. The story is too complicated to explain in his brief vignette, albeit to say that there are talking animals, Oxford dons, witches, fighting Polar Bears, multiverses, wormholes, discussions of the origin of consciousness, zeppelins, and more. I’d highly recommend the audiobook version as they utilize a full cast with sound effects as well. A great book to take a long walk with.
5. Pachinko Min Jin Lee
I remember a few years ago when this book was making everyone’s best books of the year list. Sometimes, with books like this, I like to wait until the glow has dimmed a bit to read them, shielding myself from the implicit pressure to match the fervor. I am glad that I waited and also glad to say that the book lives up to hype. The story follows a family that immigrates to Japan from Korea in the 1920s/30s and follows the descendants until the late 1980s. At its core, it is a family melodrama, but of the highest order. The story is subtle and quiet, but has a deep emotional intensity and is compulsively readable: the pages seem to turn themselves.
6. Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor
To say that this book is difficult to read would be an understatement. Melchor is one of the most exciting novelists working in Mexico, but her books are hard reads. First, the book has few paragraph breaks and some of her sentences seem to go on for pages. Secondly, the story is about the murder of a town “witch” and each chapter takes on a new character involved in the crime. The language is graphic and content is often disgusting, but that macabre and profane content is meant to deliver a point. An important novel, but not one that is easy to read.
7. In Other Words Jhumpa Lahiri
I’ve read and enjoyed a lot of Lahiri’s short fiction and was excited to pick this one up about her learning to read and write in Italian. In fact, she wrote the book in Italian and then had the translator who translated Ferrante’s novels translate her writing back into English. Her writing, in Italian, is on the left-hand pages and the translated version on the right hand pages. The book is a beautiful series of essays on learning and inhabiting a new language. I will read really anything she writes.
8. Beautiful World, Where Are You Sally Rooney
Rooney was known for a time as the millennial novelist, a reputation she earned through her first two books (Normal People and Conversations with Friends), but I would say that this is her most mature book and at points strikes me as somewhat conservative. It follows the story of two friends who exchange emails, correspondences which may be the highlight of the book, and their relationships with each other and their lovers. Her perceptive and punchy dialogue is really what sets her apart. If you haven’t read her, I’m not sure I’d start here though, it might be beneficial to begin with Normal People or Conversations to observe the evolution of her tone and ideas. Recommended for those of a certain age, but to all who enjoy dialogue of the highest order.
Jordan Mattox 