Hip Hop Discussions at Cornell

Recently, Cornell University presented a series of lectures on Hip Hop culture in America. The audio or video lectures can be downloaded on iTunes through the Cornellcast podcast, or they can be viewed on the Cornellcast website. Some how, I don't think James Webster and Neal Zaslaw were at the lectures. Just a wild guess.

Free Weight Fantastique

I recently found a video on YouTube, go figure, of a performance that took place at one of my alma maters, the Whalen School of Music at Ithaca College. It must be a composition recital judging from the creative use of material and presentation. The work uses themes from Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique in a theatrical way that could only be concieved by someone attending Ithaca College. Featured in the video as the wieghtlifter is Mark Radice, professor of musicology at Ithaca College, and soomeone who nurtutred my interest in musicology. The reason why Radice was chosen, if not composed in mind, for this performance is because he regularly works out and supposedly was the winner of Mr. New York one year. During my time at Ithaca, Radice stood 5' 5.5" and weighed 195 lbs., virtually all muscle. Enjoy.

Weighing in on Bale

According to several of my friends, I supposedly have a man-crush on Christian Bale. I wouldn't call it a man-crush, I just think he is an amazing actor who choose very demanding roles and commits himself fully to the characters he plays. Though I would say that this statement does not necessarily apply to The Dark Knight where he was minimized, and in a post on my previous blog I stated my trepidation about him working with McG on Terminator Salvation. Other than these recent decisions, I believe he is able to complete connect a character to the viewer as view can. I am assuming eveyone has heard about his on-set rant at Director of Photography, Shane Hurlbut. Judging from Mr. Hurlbut's experience, Mr Bale may be correct in calling him out for his lack of experience on the set. Then again it may have been a long day on the set. I would post a complete version of Bale's rant on my blog, but I assume everyone has heard all of it or enough of it by now to get the idea. So, I know present some precedence to his rant, and one spoof.

First, the spoof. Here is Michael Cera adding some light-hearted humor to the situation.

Next is Billo, Bill O'Reilly, doing what he does best, rant, raving, andd flipping out over nothing.

The last example eerily parallels Bale's rant. This is Chris Berman, masterful commentator and reporter for Espn, ranting about his unprofessional staff while he is trying to do his job, present sports news. Note the comments about the unprofessionalism of people moving in the background and how distracting this is, the same complaint Bale launch against Hurlbut.

Netrebko Goes Mad

Last weekend I saw the Met simulcast of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor starring the now commonplace pairing of Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon. Netrebko sung the role of Lucia early in her career with the Kirov opera, which is probably why she did as fabulous a job as she did with the role (that and the fact that she is hot and talented). I am not much of a fan of bel canto opera, but Lucia may be one of them I can stand. There are several tings that urk me about bel canto: more diva than character, more recital than drama, and the stalling and stuttering of the text. Nevertheless, Netrebko did a fine job, and obviously held my attention. When it came to the mad scene, she was adorned in a white costume with white hair to make the splattered blood more prominent. To boot, the Met used the glass harmonica, an invention of Benjamin Franklin, there's American ingenuity for you, for the scene. Even though Donizetti was unable to use the glass harmonica in time for the premiere of the opera and had to re-score the scene for flutes, many companies honor his creative intentions. Here is a clip of the mad scene using the glass harmonica, which certainly adds a mystique to the drama.

Digital Archival Research

This is a follow up to my post concerning the Wranitzky website. In that post I mentioned how the webmaster has graciously agreed to send me his scorings of Wranitzky's symphonies, resulting in fewer libraries I will need to visit and easily obtaining the music of one of my composers. Well, he passed along a note to me reporting that the Royal Library in Denmark has made their archives of Wranitzky's published symphonies available online, and for free download in PDF format! These are the actual printed parts you would see in the library or would receive as microfilm if you purchased them. As I said about the Wranitzky website, perhaps this is the next great thing to come in musicological research.

Kansas Bound

I received notification yesterday that my abstract was accepted for a 19th-century music conference taking place 16 July-18 July at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. This will mark the furthest West I have traveled. I was surprised and relieved to find out about my selection, but now the stress rolls in over preparing my subject matter. The submission was a bit odd in that the abstract was limited to 250 words, and the deadline for submission, for a July conference, was early January. This means a clear and concise abstract was highly desirable, yet you also had to leave some wiggle room in case things develop unexpectedly during the research phase. My topic is on the definition, or lack thereof, of the grande Symphony in the early nineteenth century. My friend and colleague, Der Frauenverkauefer, to use his alias from the previous blog, was also accepted to the conference. We presented at a conference in Texas a few years ago, and it is good to know I will be traveling and rooming with someone I already know. I will provide more details as they become available (I do not even know who the keynote speaker is yet).

Yuri Bashmet All Strung Out

At a recent concert, renowned violist Yuri Bashmet experienced an unfortunate event with his 1758 viola. I guess the tension was too much to bear. Enjoy!