Santa Cruz Symphony at Santa Cruz Civic

[Drunk Monk]

Festival (not to be confused with Bob Weir’s horrid song of the same name).

Some prelude - I’ve been trying to titrate my Rx, mostly my nortriptylene because I hate being on so many meds. I reduced my daily nortrip to 6 days out of seven, but it hit me in the ass today. That intense shoulder pain, my post Covid hell that sent me to the ER and had me bedridden for several days flared - something I thought I conquered but no. So I wasn’t in a great mood for this concert. I dropped some painkillers from my stash before the show to make it through. Between that and constantly having to suck ricolas to stifle my metformin induced cough, I was far from comfortable.

Jose Granero: Matsuri Overture
There were percussionists set up on both sides of the orchestra armed with taiko drums which they barely played. Seemed like a lot of work to truck those bad boys out and only use them for a few beats, but symphony can be like that. It was a peppy piece, but felt a tad chinoiserie to me.
 
Schumann: Cello Concerto
A fine cello soloist and a lovely yet middling piece. I enjoyed the cello and strings overall, but it wasn’t overly moving.

Stravinsky: Petrushka
This is a ridiculous piece of music that kept going different places - so much so that I was engaged trying to guess what might happen next. It’s a ballet about a puppet who becomes real, but it reminded me of a dozen different soundtracks - soundtrack composers must just love to poach ideas from this work. I was reminded of Disney’s fairyland, John Wayne movies, and even the jaws theme at one point.  And then it just ends. Still very enjoyable.

I think this is my last in the series. There’s another - Bach - which I’m sad to miss but it falls on the same date at TCEC so I’m out. Stacy will find another date.

[Drunk Monk]

Went to the rehearsal last night. Sat in the front row. Walked there during the last of the sunset. Walked home as the rain began. It was very pleasant.

[Drunk Monk]

Another rehearsal night. Symphony Shakespeare is a coproduction with SC Shakes. They’re doing shakes themed pieces with shakes actors framing it with bits of dialog. Shakes & Symph - 2 of my fav things. Anna Cline’s Sound and Fury was from Macbeth so they did the Boil boil toil & trouble dialog. The went through the first movement straight. That was great. Then they started Mendelson’s Midsummer’s night dream but only got part of the way through before they took a break. I left then because I was hungry. Skipped Romeo & Juliet. 

I was seated at the stage left side last seat on the front row, right next to the percussion. And the xylophone was majorly featured, as well as some tubular bells. Twas a very pleasant Friday eve.

[Drunk Monk]

Mozart's Requiem

If you've seen Amadeus, you know the mythology behind Mozart's final work. We had planned to go to the rehearsal but they moved it from Friday to Thursday and neither of us could make it, so we splurged and got tix at the last minute, way up in the nosebleed seats on stage left. However, the Civic is a small venue so it was still good. The place was sold out tight. 

The fist set began with Björk's Overture to Dancer in the Dark - a three minute piece that did nothing for me, as much as I love her. Sounded more like a warm up. Then there was a piece by SCS's conductor, Daniel Stewart, Lux Perpetua. That was cool to see him conduct that and get into it. The piece didn't move me beyond that. Third was the final performance of the Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus's director Cheryl Andersen, who is retiring after a 35 year career with the college. That was awesome. The chorus was passionate, rising to the historic occasion. 

Requiem is epic from every angle. Four guest artists took on the singing solos, and the soprano, Savoy, simply dominated with her commanding voice. I have a soft spot for any choral symphonic arrangement - this, Beethoven's 9th, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. I love when 150 people unite their voices with an orchestra. And SCS did Requiem masterfully. It's amazing that such a modest town as ours has sucha powerhouse of classical music. 

Twas a fun night. It was a 5-10 min drive from home and we found parking within a block.

[King Bob]

There was only about one good song on the Dancer in the Dark soundtrack, a duet with Thom Yorke called "I've Seen It All."

[thatguy]

There must be some Bjork energy in the air...I just started to the Bjork: Sonic Symbolism podcast. Each episode delves into an album and she talks about the music, and where she was at the time. It's very interesting if you like the Song Exploder type podcasts and explains some of the reasons why Vespartine and Medulla are such departures. 

There's only slight mention of Dancer in the dark in passing...

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

There must be some Bjork energy in the air...

Dropping today...

björk : cornucopia

I saw bjork during my AFS/Warfiled years. It was her first US tour, right after Human Emotion dropped. She was incredible - a tiny woman with a massive voice - up there in my top concert experiences.