Another Handel Post

I'm sorry. I'm too busy to be inspired to write creative blog posts.

But had an amazeballs lesson with Paul today. No one knows what brought it about. But he gave me a rep suggestion (which he never does, so I took note).

Gentle Morpheus from Alceste. And then he said "Of course, you'd sound better than Emma on this" and I didn't know what to say...

I wonder if anyone else enjoys these beautiful slow Handel arias as much as I do.

Pity

I'm sooooooooo sick. Last week was Thanksgiving, and maybe I'll blog about that sometime. But the reason I brought it up was that I spent it with Frank, and on the last day of our visit he started to feel a little sick. And sure enough, the next day I was sick, and he was better. And now I'm still sick.

Unfortunately it's nothing dramatic so people can't pity me too much. It's just a flu or a bad cold or something. But what really sucks is I have no TIME to be sick, no time to lie in bed and enjoy the perks of trying to get better.

I have two concerts this week, one of which I have a pretty hefty solo part... and unfortunately it's soemthing I've been rehearsing without any kind of understudy, so if I'm not able to sing it (the voice is gone today, btw) some one will have to sight read it (Andy?). I feel bad, like there's all this pressure on me to be able to sing. I don't like that.

And because I have no money and a two bedroom apartment and heating bills to pay, I have to find time to fit odd-jobs in to my schedule. So this week I'm dressing the Nutcracker. It's a fairly easy job for minimum wage payments, so that's cool. But it is NOT fun to show up to work every night until 10-ish, running around and lacing ballerinas into corsets with a runny nose and fever. It kind of kills the inherent magic of the Nutcracker.

So, balls.

Really?

I LOVE Dame Janet Baker (don't we all, especially terrorizing us in Handelian pants roles?), but I just heard her singing Trois Poémes de Stéfane Mallarmé (which I loooove), and she sounds totally like balls. It's really bad. And it ruined the dream a little bit, you know? Maybe I was just spoiled by Anne Sofie's version, and I we all know I would make love to her in a second (sorry Frank).

Speaking of love (making), here is my recent obsession, this clip by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Such a crafted sound, such passionate singing. It blows my mind. And really, there's nothing better than slow Handel arias.

I'm a nerd.

By the way, we are doing B minor next week (the 11th, 13th, and 14th) with Pro Arte. I'm very scared. That's a lot of B minor, and everyones' larynxes are freaking out. (Can larynx be pluralized? Well, I just did. Boo yah)

Timely Turnips

Frank visited again this past weekend, and it was amazing. Crazy amazing. Crazeballs, even? But the real point of this post is the turnips we harvested from my garden on Saturday. Here's me pulling one of the little babies from the cold soil, courtesy of Frank:I don't know about you, but I've never really eaten a turnip before. But these puppies are so beautiful, I just HAD to cook them up.
And tonight I came up with this recipe:

Turnip Green and Lentil Soup

-Turnips (roots and greens, I used four little ones. But the more the merrier).

-1 potato, chopped

-1 onion, chopped

-1 apple, chopped (I used a gala, but whatever)

-apple cider vinegar

-stock (either chicken or vegetable, whatever is on hand)

-lentils, cooked

-brown sugar

1) Separate the turnip roots from the greens. Coarsely chop the greens, and cut the roots into large chunks.

2) Saute the onions until golden, then add the chopped greens. Cook until greens are soft and wilted--season well.

3) Add turnips and potatoes and a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Cook approx. five minutes.

4) Add apples, and season with the usual suspects, along with a tablespoon or two of brown sugar.

5) Add as much broth as you desire. This doesn't make a lot of soup. Not to insult your intelligence, but add more broth if you want the soup to be brothier... Cook until the potatoes are fully cooked. Add the cooked lentils in at the end.

This soup is crazeballs! Like Frank!

I'm in the paper! Sweet!

(Herald Times, Oct 20, Peter Jacobi):

For its debut concert of the new music season, the IU Baroque Orchestra on Sunday afternoon rushed St. Cecilia’s Day by a month. The patron saint of musicians isn’t supposed to be honored until Nov. 22. But who cares when the result of the decision is an opportunity to hear portions of Handel’s “Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day?”
...
The concert’s opening was strong, that being the Overture to the St. Cecilia Ode, with its mellifluous lyricism and invigorating counterpoint. Ritchie also chose two arias from the Ode, settings from John Dryden’s “A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day,” for which the orchestra was joined by a pair of soloists: a sweetly toned tenor, Ben Geier, to sing “When nature underneath a heap of jarring atoms lay,” and Lindsey Lang, a resolute young lady with a secure and rangy soprano voice, to contribute a lengthier, more demanding “What Passions cannot Music raise and quell!” The two arias, indeed, seemed to raise the passions.
...
Instrumentalists distinguishing themselves were oboist Christopher Morgan; Everett Burns and Sarah Williams on horn; and an unidentified harpsichordist. Was the woman on keyboard Hsuan Chang or Dawn Kalis or Maho Sone? Whoever: She played with notable refinement, as did cellist Inha Kim earlier, in lovely collaboration with soprano Lang during that solo from “Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day.”

Brad

These past two weeks... I don't even know where to begin... Or if I even want to talk about it...
So today I'm giving Brad Mehldau complete reign over my mood. So far he's totally what I'm needing right now. I'm also needing to find where I left my wallet and ID because this is getting ridiculous.

Shane Returns!

Good news, everybody! Shane is back on YouTube!!

He was my favorite internet sensation back in 2005, only to disappear for several years and reemerge, just as clueless as ever! You might remember him from such classics as "How to sing a C an Octave above a high C" and "Away in a Manger" where he creatively (unknowingly) replaces "Jesus" with "Jahushua."

I love him so much. So, SO much.