Verdi's Requiem (February 26, 2011)

Sanctus.  PJr = second from right in top row.  Me = third from right in top row.

(per usual, click to enlarge photos  . . .)  

Another tremendously gratifying concert performance experience.  One of the best over the seven years we've been doing these things.  I've tried to write a bit about why these events run so deep in a few prior concert posts (acknowledging it inherently cannot be put into words).  I won't repeat that effort here.

Things I particularly liked about this performance:

1.  Second time around with MusicFest - so more comfortable with the process.  Last year's performance (Beethoven's 9th) also was wondrous.  

Rehearsal of January 28, 2012 (church at 7th Ave and Glendale)

2.   Second time around with Verdi's Requiem - so more comfortable with the music.  Last performance (described here) was also a delight. 

3.  MusicFest has a UCLA connection that turned out to add quite a bit to the performance - Bob Moody's mentor (or whatever is the right characterization) teaches there; one of his other ment-ees (UCLA faculty member Rebecca Lord) took over the rehearsals for the MusicFest chorus; her UCLA choir joined in our performance.  So we had the numbers to match the orchestra, and to really make a statement in the somewhat-small venue in which we perform.

4.  Extra nice to do this with Paul Jr., who likely will have a less-accommodating schedule for a few years now.

The famous Dies Irae.  And what a terrifyingly great quote on the wall in superscript . . . illustrative for Verdi.

5.  Extra nice that PJ shows up both for the Saturday dress rehearsal and the Sunday performance (also that Nedda showed up each time), and then throws a fine dinner back at the house after - this is an irreplaceable way to experience and share the event.  Ray and Linda, Mary Beth and CPG also attended on Sunday (concert and dinner).  It's important to me to be able to review and discuss in the immediate aftermath.

6.  In the end:  the music.  Verdi's Requiem is a wonderful choral work.  There are too many high points to list.  (I personally feel that one could walk out of the performance after the Kyrie and already have gotten one's money's worth.)  The requiem texts - in Latin - are beyond compelling.  To state the obvious:  good music has incredible power.

These are fine moments, in a life that seems so full of them.

Milling around prior to first rehearsal with the orchestra and soloists. (February 25, 2012)

My parents' 60th wedding anniversary (post 2 of 2)

(click on any photo to enlarge all (per usual) . . . )

Our visits home to Iowa are always fine.  But this one seemed finer.  I think because it revolved around a 60th wedding anniversary for my parents - a number which is pretty astonishing, really.  A number that, even

The honorees, Saturday eve.  Therese found an excellent - and very chocolate - cake.  Nice corsage (thanks, Liz).

if we don't like to entertain the concept, makes us all wonder now and again just how many more of these five-year anniversary increments we will be celebrating.  I really don't know what else to say about that.  Other than that I am planning on attending #65 in February 2017.  And that I declare that plan knowing it can all change for any of us in an instant, which circumstance certainly gives these excellent occasions a tinge of the bittersweet . . .

First time we had seen the foundation of the burned-down house, up close.

As to this trip - something nice was that we were able to visit with different groupings of folks over the six days we were on the road.

50+ degrees in February.  Fine day for a stroll.

Get to work please.

Grandchildren who were able to attend.

Day 1 (Thurs 2/16) - arrived in Minneapolis, killed some time, picked up Nicole at the airport, went to New Brighton - the typical fine hospitality at the House house.  We had just been there in November.  Dinner at Barley John's with Nick, Therese, Mark, Steve & Cecilia, Nicole, Patricia and me.  Back to New Brighton - for five minutes.  Then back to downtown Minneapolis where a friend of a friend of Steve & Cecilia was performing at some bar - this lady had some real talent, we thought.  Back home - this time for the evening.  POC showed up later, though he had to let himself in (and verify location on his own).  V. nice that Nicole and POC were able to make this trip.

Children who were able to attend.

Day 2 (Fri 2/17) - coffee and yakking with the Houses; PJ shopped groceries, we drove to Iowa and had late "dinner" with G&G (also Nicole and POC, who came via separate vehicle).  Grandma wanted to make "ham balls" for supper and we weren't excited - it's not a very attractive name for a dish.  But they turned out

Sunday Mass - with nice remembrances of the 60th.  Happened to be on the exact anniversary date.

to be very tasty - good news.  We should have had more confidence. This was a nice day, pretty quiet, we all caught up on things.  And interrogated Grandpa and Grandma about their courtship, the wedding day, etc.

Nice photo.  Color-coordinated couple.  60-year-old suit and tie have held up well.  Nice outfit, Grandma!

Day 3 (Sat 2/18) - Grandma felt like she might be getting strep, so she and I went to the ER and found out that she wasn't.  All sorts of fine folks were arriving throughout the day:  Cecilia and Therese; Dolores and Art; Steve, Liz and Julia; Barb, Emily and Allison.  Beautiful weather, we all took a walk up to the hill farm, then up and around the cemetery.  Watched the video from the 50th anniversary - which is quite a fine piece.  Patricia made stuffed shells for supper (in addition to her usual focus on cleanup) - fine stuff indeed.  Very pleasant catching up with everyone.  Took some photos of those in attendance.  Therese brought a fine chocolate cake that was attacked.  The Storm Lake and Mason City folks returned home at night, sorry to see them go.

(Back) Mary Lou, Kathy, Irene, Clarence; (front) Mom, Dad, Caroline

Day 4 (Sun 2/19) - the actual 60th.  We all went to 8am Mass - celebrant acknowledged the anniversary, Grandpa wore his wedding suit and tie (and made a few Kirsch-inspired remarks during the Mass about some of the family connections), we spoke with various folks after Mass, all very nice.  Clarence and Caroline, Irene, Kathy Baker, Mary Lou came over for brunch, photos, conversation, all nice as can be.  Watched the 50th anniversary video with this audience as well - I enjoy watching the video, and watching the watchers; some of this must really resonate with folks reliving events from 50+ years ago.  Nicole and POC had to go to the airport.  Played cards, had dinner. 

Much enjoyed revisiting the awesome 50th anniversary video. . . Barb as prime mover on that 2002 project, nice work!

Day 5 (Mon 2/20) - the day flew by.  Cecilia and Therese left for MN.  Nice to spend time with them.  Nice to have the Haag family folks around all day.  PJ and I had a fun visit over to Clarence & Caroline's place in the afternoon.  Clarence's typical fine beverage service; good 500 games (Caroline and Patricia won three games to our two, though this came down to the very last hand (in which Caroline blessed the blind being picked up by Patricia - it had four trumps and  an ace)); lots of conversation; reminiscing about the very early days of their being together; gracious, fine, a tinge of bittersweet (there's that word again).  Played huckledebuck back in St. Joe, had dinner together, chatting, a bit of work on Grandpa's spiffy new computer (among other things, got his photos better organized and Picasa and Google Earth working)); a bit of work on an email to the relatives about Claude's history.

Electronic diversions, enjoyed by two pals.

Day 6 (Tues 2/22) - early start, good-byes, return to Phoenix in time for Choral Union rehearsal.

Not possible to measure how fortunate I am to have these kinds of experiences.

Not possible to measure the benefit to me of having parents like I do.

PJ = good traveling companion.

Seven-up game.  To be followed by huckledebuck.

Some information about the 55th celebration - yes, hard to believe it was five years ago - can be found here, here and here.

Nicole FB post of POC photo (60th anniv, post 1 of 2)

Will post more about our MN-IA trip shortly.

In the meantime, I liked this (self-explanatory) item that Nicole posted to Facebook.

34 "likes" (and counting) at time of screen-grab.  Click photo to enlarge.

Arizona MusicFest coming up Feb 26 - Messa de Requiem (Giuseppe Verdi, 1874)

I joined the Arizona MusicFest chorus again this year - much enjoyed doing Beethoven's 9th symphony last year with this group (per discussion here), and didn't want to miss an opportunity to participate in a high-level performance of Verdi's Requiem.  PJr is also in the chorus this year.

Performance is February 26.  Already sold out (similar to last year); now they are rapidly selling tickets to the February 25 dress rehearsal (also similar to last year).

These are remarkably fine performance opportunities, I'm grateful for them.

Bob Moody's typically interesting promo video immediately below:



We (PJr, CPG, Nedda, me) also sang this requiem in 2008 (described here).  That was great fun; this go-round should be every bit as good.  At least.

Christmas loot

This turned out well!  My siblings have organized an annual Christmas gift exchange, going on for some years now.  PJ and I had the good fortune to be on the receiving end from Carol (and Jim) for Christmas 2011.

Well, so what if the stuff arrived at the end of January - it was worth the wait.  Photo (click to enlarge, per usual) shows most of the goods - Nome-roasted coffee and vanilla-oatmeal soap(!) from some MN operation, for starters.

And then the handmade stuff:  a Christmas ornament (featuring some sort of Nome beach-rock hanging from the bottom; a crocheted (I think) something-or-other type of wash cloth; and, finally, the pièce de résistance :  "I knew this place" - a hand-made book featuring a series of photos from EJ Gales's St. Joe hill-farm.  Most of the photos were taken in recent years by Carol or Jim; others photos date back to my childhood, or all the way back to EM Gales's childhood - yes, this is effective.  A vibrant farmhouse to a deteriorated relic (and now burnt down) over the course of, say, 100 years?  Many, many memories for me - "place" mattered.  This book required a lot of work - what a fine gift.

My only concern with the book relates to the cover - it is a fabric intended to evoke the farmer's favorite outfit, the "overall" - great idea perfectly suited to the theme - but if I handle the book too much (a genuine risk), will fingerprints start to show?

One more gift box still to come, we understand.

Definitely a great sibling-gift; I've received a number of fine ones; actually had started a post over at this soon-to-be-revived website on some old-school games etc. received at Christmas from CCG a year or two back.

40th street trailhead

Yesterday was an incredibly beautiful day here in Phoenix.  Certainly fine for hiking, per late afternoon photo below (looking N-NW, click to enlarge).

'bout 175,000 folks, give or take a few, took advantage of the fine day out at the Phoenix Open yesterday; record-breaking crowd; included POC.

how great is this . . .

The big day is not far off.  Though it seems like this big event just happened.

We received the invitation recently - looks quite excellent; key elements are posted below.  Plus I happen to know that the invite was both home-designed and home-printed.  So that's neat.  I particularly liked the jewels on the stylized N/P on the envelope (bottom photo) (even if they don't look very jewelly in the photo).

The wedding shower was today.  By all reports, it will be difficult for the wedding to be a nicer occasion than the shower.  But I have confidence in Saeed and Mina to arrange it just so (probably with some input from Nedda) . . . we are all looking forward to this.

unusual

Nandina does well in the desert - even if it's from east Asia and thrives in places like the Pacific northwest.  But I don't recall ever seeing our nandina plants with berries like this.  Plant is on west side of house.  I read that you shouldn't eat these berries, unless you're a bird.

PJ likes including these in our landscaping, for good reason.

SEG b'day, etc.

In the "we're all getting older better" category, I note that my brother Steve had a birthday today.  (Not a milestone birthday, but closing in on one.)

This reminded me of a minor incident from last November's trip up to Minneapolis.  Cecilia was hosting us all for dinner in New Brighton (in her usual effortless manner), and we were chatting about whatever getting-older siblings and their spouses talk about.  There some some passing usage of the word "decimate"; perhaps in a one-out-of-ten situation but I don't really recall the specifics.  Anyway, SEG - always well-read and so good with words - made some quiet allusion to the origins of the word "decimate."  Maybe I was wrong, but I'm pretty sure I observed that Nick and Julia both immediately reacted to their papa's little remark; I wasn't sure if they were chuckling or groaning; I am pretty sure they've endured (and probably profited from) this kind of word play quite often over the years.

And going through this book very shortly after that trip, I saw that Crassus indeed had punished some cowardly Roman soldiers routed during the slave uprising led by Spartacus - via decimation:  "five hundred that were the beginners of the flight he divided into fifty tens, and one of each was to die by lot, thus reviving the ancient Roman punishment of decimation."

Anyway, I hope there was a fine birthday celebration in Mason City, and trust that it involved more than messing around with words (even though that activity is pretty enjoyable).

This morning's harvest

I always like it when the orange comes off the tree with some (but not too many) leaves.  This morning's harvest was near-perfect. 

(The only disquieting note is that the low-hanging fruit has indeed been taken, and it's getting to be a challenge to find reachable oranges.)

More 11419 trivia

I spend a lot (and I mean a lot) of time sitting at the desk in my quite-fine home office.  And have been reading a lot about the virtues of stand-up desks for all-day sit-downers.  I had a stand-up desk in my Briggs and Morgan office in St. Paul in 1984, but not since.  Below is a photo of my fine test-version of a stand-up-desk.  Functionality and cost are compelling, maybe I'll keep it.  I do think that m.o. would make EMG proud.

And I added a new (well, February 1938 vintage per Mike & Minnie Bormann) sitting chair to my office (per below).  It will stay up here pending redeployment of The Depot (hopefully later this year). 

I've also been seeing a lot about treadmill desks (info here about a version created by some Mayo nerd), but will stick with the stand-up version.  For now.

The Depot

We store lots of stuff around here.  Below is a view of what I call the "depot" - f/k/a our living room and dining room.  This area of the house has looked like this, more or less, since mid-2008.

Photo above was taken shortly before we sent off lots of this stuff.  So now we have more room for storing other stuff.

Holiday (quick) round-up

We wrapped up 2011 with a bunch of fun stuff.  Quite similar to prior years, actually.

Started holiday things with the POC + Nicole visit mentioned here, and the Christmas concert mentioned here. 

Zinc Bistro

Patricia and I did a little shopping on December 22, and then stopped for a surprise (and leisurely) lunch at Zinc Bistro.  Then wandered around the shops in that area for awhile, stopped back for coffee (French press, of course) at Zinc, then home.  Dinner at Vincent's that eve (OK food, very nice time).  A fine day.

Rokerij

Patrick and Kerry arrived for the holidays on December 22/23.  Christmas Eve dinner at Rokerij.  Christmas Day dinner at home - our cooking crew truly outdid themselves.  Card games, board games, movies, etc. throughout.  MB hosted for dinner December 27.  Checked out the PJr-Nedda wedding site on one of our outings (this was on December 28); followed by lunch at Fuego Bistro (out in the sun on the patio of course as this was a gorgeous day).  Followed by bocce ball at the park. 

New Year's Eve - much enjoyed the evening; the kids (if I can still use that term) went downtown shortly after dinner; we had friends over 'til midnight, some nice beers, etc.

Unfortunately this did have to end, as Patrick and Kerry made their returns on January 1/2.
 

i-team at wedding site

checking out wedding site

bocce ball at our underused park . . . I think we (K and me) won.

 2011 = very fine year.  Again.  

Concert/fun (December 19, 2011)

We have had the good fortune to have Laura Inman conducting the Choral Union at ASU for two-and-a-half years now; she invited us to attend the holiday performance of the professional chorus she sings with (Phoenix Chorale).  PJ, Chris, PJr, Nedda, me attended at Brophy Chapel.

This must be the best choir I've ever heard live (ok, it is a fairly short list); we've heard them twice now (first time being this delightful experience).  And the program (posted below) was just the mix of Christmas music that I would go for.  I think "Of the Father's Love Begotten" is about my favorite Christmas song (and it is so rarely performed); except for maybe "Lo, How a Rose" or Lauridsen's "O Magnum Mysterium"; and now perhaps also the Ola Gjeilo version of "O Magnum Mysterium".  All these were on the program(!), which was nice for me; along with other fine works, notably the arrangement of "Away in a Manger."  (The crowd definitely was captivated by the time the Gjeilo work came along, it was completely quiet, I needed to move a falling-asleep foot but was terrified to do so in case the creaky pew might have creaked.)

Then we met up at the "Vig Uptown" for some v. nice post-concert yakking (including LI and our Choral Union buddy, Bob), with refreshments.

Nice evening. PC Program 12 19 11

Nicole + POC in AZ (December 15-18)

 We enjoyed a quick holiday visit from Nicole and POC - they arrived Thursday evening (fortunately for them, in time for a wondrous chicken saltimbocca meal courtesy of PJ).  They brought some Christmas gifts along (and all in all the gift-giving process was more exciting than anticipated); some gifts were from their South African honeymoon, including a "cape of good hope" t-shirt for me (which is quite fine since I do like to think about that particular spot).

Friday evening they treated us (including Nedda and MB) to dinner at a place we've been wanting to try - Beckett's Table - this was a delightful experience.  Also the only point during the weekend during which we took photos.  Highlights included watching a hobo get disavowed by POC and chucked out the door; best-in-show meal = pork osso bucco; good AZ IPA; s'mores ("deconstructed") for dessert featuring bacon dipped in chocolate (as our spokesmodels display in photo).  Nice!


Saturday was a nice day - looked at South Africa photos and videos; visitors showed up for lunch (and the picture show); Saeed and Mina stopped over in early evening for an enjoyable session with drinks and snacks; then went to the annual Steiner Christmas party.

Sunday - NFL red zone; some errands; some zoning out; PJ came up with a delightful pork roast dish with a tomatillo or whatever sauce that needs to get into our regular rotation, it was so good it may take over my birthday menu.

Then an airport run, and we'll look forward to the next visit.

Choral Union - Mozart performance

ASU Choral Union performed Mozart's "Coronation Mass" at Gammage on December 4.

Mozart wrote this Mass at age 23; it was first performed in 1779.  Not at a coronation, however - I understand it doesn't really have any connection to a coronation but somehow picked up the nickname.

We had the opportunity to perform this three times (one described here) - quite unusual for our group.  That allowed us to be a little better polished than normal, which was nice. Got to know the work well enough where had the luxury to sit back while performing and notice, or feel, the lines moving around between the soloists, the orchestra and the various voice parts within the choir.  So that was fun, if ill-advised from a performance standpoint.




While listening, I kept noticing how much I liked the segment that appears at 1:20 - 1:27 in the video clip.  I think it's really effective - this is the soloists at work - the tenor moves into a minor-sounding mode, then the soprano takes it right back to major-sounding.  This segment recurs in the Agnus Dei.  Lots of nice segments throughout, however.

We have just the snippet of video posted here, as our intrepid videographer (thanks, PJ) seemed to have been interrupted in her task.  Oh well.

I agree that the movie screen on the right side of the picture looks odd, or at least oddly-placed - though I guess it was helpful to the audience that text was projected there.

Similar to my usual reaction:  extremely nice to be able to do a Mozart work like this, with a couple of one's children, wife in audience as always - a fine, fine thing.

Four-page program from 11/21/11 performance follows:

CU 11 21 11

Decision time

PJ (a very good cook-er) left for work this morning and left me in charge of storing these freshly-baked cranberry bread loaves.

The question is whether to freeze them for Nicole and POC next week, and/or Kerry and Patrick the following week?  Neither?  Both?  Just eat them?

Moon

OK, it would be hard to have a worse photo.  But the full moon the last couple nights has been wondrous as we see it hanging out in the east in the early evening - there's something about a winter moon, even here in the desert southwest.

Then PJ leaves early for work this morning, and calls back to report on an eclipse.  So I stepped out, looked W/SW, and there it was - well over half eclipsed (notwithstanding what the photo looks like); and vivid enough to make me want to remember it.

(That's a street light below, not the morning star.  I decided not to crop it out because (even in this lame photo) it gives a fair idea of relative size and brightness.)

Does this count (as decorating)?

Due to the recent somewhat disorganized state of our house (and perhaps a bit of laziness, at least on my part), we have refrained from putting up Christmas decorations for the last couple years.

However:  we do have excellent neighbors who, among other positive traits, decorate quite nicely for the several holidays.

And this year:  a very nice ornament appears, clearly on our property.  Making me grateful for the gratis-decoration.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas music . . . it's that time of year . . .

I think this medley is useful if one is looking for that Christmas "spirit" - it's from ASU Choral Union 2007 holiday concert (some photos here).  I like it, especially the "Lo, How a Rose" segment.  

But it's all quite nice, and a good way to get into the season.