The surest form of flattery

All right, folks, I'm back, somewhat refreshed from vacation. (Although I always end up a bit stressed when I'm ostensibly relaxing, because I'm acutely aware of the work that's accumulating while I'm away - which was magnified a bit by extra concerts and guest conducting weeks that were added to my fall schedule very late in the summer...)

So, an interesting bit of news, as the Olympics were winding down in Beijing. I remember Breiner's arrangements from the Athens Games as well as the controversy surrounding his setting of the national anthem of the USA. I didn't mind the lack of bombast so much, although I confess I was a little confused by the serenity of the "rocket's red glare/bombs bursting in air" bit - I don't know if I exactly buy the notion of introspection at this point, although the harmonic progressions are a nice diversion. Here's a link to the "Breiner original" (press "play" to download the audio file - sorry for the awkward presentation...)

And for comparison, here's a link to the women's 4x400 medal ceremony from Beijing (it begins around 5:17 in the video - again, sorry for the inelegant linking, I could only find this on the NBC website). The crux of the controversy are the remarkable similarities in the Breiner (Athens) version and the arrangements played in Beijing, purportedly arranged by a Chinese composer specifically for the Beijing Games.

Breiner's version is not a conventional setting. In fact, I would say it's striking. I cannot fathom how a version so similar, both in unusual orchestration and altered harmonies, could have been written without prior knowledge of the original Breiner arrangements. The only question in my mind is, was this unconscious imitation or something a bit more nefarious?

And a final bit of music new from China.

Into the wild

Well, not really, I'm heading up to Maine and Vermont to festival hop with my husband (a rare pleasure, as we seldom get to travel together, and I've taken time off this summer to do just that). I'm not sure what internet connectivity will be like, so posting will be spotty for the next few weeks.

I leave you with this:



The opening ceremony of the Olympics was stunning, immensely impressive and cinematic in scope; but what really struck me was Lang Lang's presence in the middle of it all, a testament to the rise in popularity of Western classical music and to Lang Lang himself. A lot of food for thought there, that I'll hopefully get to before too long.

Hope everyone is enjoying some time off this summer!!

Decompression.

Well, Sarah has her definition of vacation, and I have mine. I've never been much for relaxing on a sunny beach, or for that matter, relaxing at all. Having a lot of free time tends to make me nervous, so when the orchestra takes a break, I tend to look around for something else to do. And the something else that I look forward to most is called Greenwood.

Now, I know how obnoxious it is when someone goes on and on about some summer camp you never went to, so I'll just say that I've been going to Greenwood every summer since I was ten years old. (Okay, I missed 2006, but that was the orchestra's fault - we were on a European festival tour.) It's a beautiful place, nestled on 75 wooded acres in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts, where the cell phone towers can't find you and the internet is a vague rumor.

yep, they're singing. spontaneously. for fun.

Like Apple Hill, my other New England summer haunt, Greenwood is not a place bent on turning out prodigies or drilling the fundamentals of instrumental music into a bunch of overstimulated 12-year-old heads. It's a place for kids to be themselves, to form lifelong bonds with other kids over a shared interest, and mostly, to be astounded by just how much they're capable of. When they come off stage to a roar of applause and shouting after performing at their first Saturday night concert, every kid has the same look. It's a look of surprise and exhilaration at what they've just done, of only-just-acknowledged exhaustion following a week of hard work, and mostly, of sheer pride that they are as good as they hoped they might be.

So this is where I'll be spending the next few weeks. Like I mentioned, the net hasn't exactly found Greenwood yet, and since the nearest town of any size is 40 minutes away, you probably won't be hearing from me more than once a week or so until the end of the month. But you can bet I'll have some excellent stories to tell when I get back...