Wow. It's been ages since I've posted here. I'm not dead. I've just found some very satisfying projects which have been my creative outlet. So to my reader, I'd like to apologize for my very long silence.
The classical music radio show -- "The Sunday Classics" -- I do on KPOV once a month takes a lot of time (listening, researching) and it's amazingly rewarding. Mrs Elliott watches TV programs in the evening, I listen to music. Both on headphones, both in the same room.
I have set myself a personal challenge: to warm up to Brahms.
People love Brahms. He's the third "B" of the "three Bs."
And yeah, the guy knew how to write his music. It's late romantic music, meaning it comes at the end of the Romantic period of classical music. Before musicians and music critics got fed up with the dead-end of the overly-upholstered shmaltz of the style.
I like Romantic music. Mozart was heading in that direction and his late (for a guy who dies in his early 30s) compositions are swell. Beethoven, who bridged the gap between the cerebral Classical period and ushered in the emotionality of the Romantic period, is one of my absolute faves.
But then here's this Johannes Brahms guy. I have not yet been able to warm up to him. His music feels . . . over the top, too assured. It does not sound like someone who is feeling his way forward, but like someone who knows what he needs to do to appear to be great.
I am really in the minority here. I am clearly missing something.
But I push on. His Concerto for Violin in D major is on the hi-fi right now. Gidon Kremer/Karajan/BSO, etc, and maybe I'll play it on the show.
MORE FUN FOR ME are the upcoming concerts by the Central Oregon Youth Orchestra and the Central Oregon Symphony later this month. I've been invited to to record those performances -- for personal use.
Rigging microphones, stringing cables, and recording. What more could an audio geek and lifetime classical music ask for????
