Goodbye, blogger! I'm moving on to the world of the self-hosted...my website is finished and it includes a new blog at this address: http://www.mattbeckmann.net/blog.
Hello, new website: http://www.mattbeckmann.net
Now is the time that you update your RSS feed, because i'm not going to do that for you. Don't be shy, you're going to like my new home.
And with that, The Kansas In Him is no more.
All anyone is talking about or thinking about this morning is last night's final episode of LOST. I am one of those people. Everything good and bad has been said, and there looks to be an equal divide among critics and fans.
Oh, and for those of you (alyssa) who haven't seen the final episode or even any of the sixth season, i'm going to do the impossible - review the end of LOST without spoilers. Read on, ye weary souls.
I'm just as divided as the critics and fans. My gutteral reaction to the two and a half hour bonanza finale is that, based on pure emotion, it delivered. The final episode had by far the most sincere emotion of the whole season, and, sadly, that was met with an overwhelming amount of cliche. At times I felt like I was putting the words in their mouths--they brought the noise, but phoned in the dialogue. For me the real problem with The End was not the episode itself, it was the sixth season as a whole. They didn't explain everything, and you got the feeling that in the last hour, extended a few weeks ago to add 30 minutes, was an attempt to make up for all of the wasted episodes in season six. I understand the intentional ambiguity, and I appreciate that it is an integral part of the show, but building the tension up so high and then pandering for whole episodes at a time was a great disappointment.
There's not much else I can say without spoilers. I'm still affected by "The End," so that's it.
Now I understand why Peter and Brendan (not to mention Matt, Alison and sir James Bauman) kept me up all those nights in college.
We all have friends that we wish we talked to more. Friends we think about all the time, who are genuinely an important part of our lives. But we never talk to them. After a seemingly arbitrary, yet tangible amount of time, you cross the threshold of "hi, how are you?" to "damn, I haven't talked to you in FOREVER!"
Once you pass that point, there's no going back. The longer you wait to call, the more awkward it gets, the less you actually have to talk about. You can't just pick up where you left off six months ago, and you can't fill them in on every detail. It's a cruel cycle. So what do you do? Give the most important events and whatever else you can, while trying not to have a 2 hour phone conversation. Then you vow to talk more often. Then you don't talk for another six months. Trust me, i'm good at this.
Right now, the blog is no different. I want to write in it, but I am in a state of paralysis; I haven't written in so long, I don't know how to start again. I guess I should follow the same protocol as before.
Oh Hi, internet! Thanks for calling. It's been too long. Yes, I know, i'm not the best at keeping in touch, but I promise i'll be better. Sorry, I can't really talk now. Can I call you tomorrow? Great. See you then.
So i'm watching the men's 5000M relay. That is a crazy sport. I especially like that instead of a baton, you push your teammate's butt to get them going. It's just one big melee of men in foam helmets and unitards and butt-shoving. In High School I struggled with the inherent contradiction of being a musician and a quasi-jock. My music friends thought sports and my jock friends were stupid, and my jock friends thought that music was dumb and my music friends were nerdy. In a way, everyone was right, and I was always wrong.
I was thinking about this this afternoon as I stopped practicing to watch the USA/Finland hockey game (which was, praise Jesus, on television). Now as i'm watching speed skating, another thought came to me: what if, instead of Apolo Ohno and J. R. Celski, we had Luigi Nono and Giacinto Scelsi? I bet they would have a hard time going around in a circle 43 times. On the other hand, I bet their version of Summon the Heroes would be AWESOME.
Yep, that's all. Another failed reconciliation of sports and music.
Friends, commence eye rolling.
David Soyer, former cellist of the Guarneri String Quartet, passed away yesterday. He was 87. In 2001 he left the Guarneris after 37 years, and, as the group's only personnel change, was replaced by his protege Peter Wiley. It is hard to describe the impact that Mr. Soyer had on the music world as it is today; not only do cellists mourn, but all lovers of classical music share in the void left by his passing. As a teacher, he left an indelible impression on 45 years' worth of cellists at The Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and virtually all of the successful string quartets in existence today through his long association with the Marlboro Music Festival of Marlboro, VT. Follow the link to hear a 2009 performance at Marlboro of Schubert's Piano Trio No. 2, given by pianist Mitsuko Uchida, violinist Soovin Kim and Soyer. He was one of the last remaining direct links to the great cellists Emmanuel Feuermann and Pablo Casals.
His mark was different than that left by the late Rostropovich, and perhaps it was more important, more organic. Rostropovich inspired young cellists to stick out their chest, hold their head high, and play with the confidence that only he could muster. Mr. Soyer's influence came on a deeper level. There comes a point in every musician's life when they discover chamber music. It's less of a discovery than a revelation that the apex of our craft is the ability to communicate with other musicians, and the formation of a singular musical idea, when executed, is transcendent. This is what Mr. Soyer taught, showed, and lived. As young cellists makes this discovery, they eventually come upon Beethoven's sixteen String Quartets, and, thirty years later, the Guarneri's recording is still the gold standard. The powerful, deep sound of the quartet was built on Soyer's bass, and that sound influenced generations of quartets to come. There isn't a single cellist who has stepped onstage to play Op. 59 No. 1 that hasn't heard or emulated, consciously or not, Soyer's sound.
The only performance of his that I was lucky enough to attend was one of his last. Late in May 2009 he joined the Quartet for a performance of Schubert's String Quintet in C Major at the Met Museum, as the Quartet's last public performance in New York. I have seen the Guarneris before, and their Op. 127 was no different: powerful, communicative and sincere. But as the five of them took the stage for the second half, I knew something was different. I was one of one hundred or so extra patrons who were seated on the stage, and you could feel the energy, the assurance of the group as they sat down. I have never felt in a performance so strongly of the conviction and, above all, the communication of the five. As they finished and took their bows (of which there were many) you could sense from both the audience and the quartet that nobody wanted to leave; you missed them, and him, before the applause even stopped.
It's snowing hard here in Brooklyn. I like that.
I spent the last week in Miami Beach, playing with the New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy. It was sunny and 80 degrees just about every day, and I even went to the beach (more than once!). Also in Miami last week was the Super Bowl. Hard to say which had a greater impact on the economy of Miami Beach: me, eating out 3 meals a day, or the Super Bowl, hosting thousands of obnoxious Saints fans screaming "WHO DAT?!?!" every five minutes. I don't know who "dat" is, but I guess they didn't find out either, since they never stopped yelling.
The NWS program was Berlioz Op. 3 Overture to "les Franc-juges," John Adams Violin Concerto, and Stravinsky's ballet Petroushka. Conducting was Ludovic Morlot, a young little frenchman who reveled in the overt frenchiness of the program: bustling Petrouchka, and an entirely forgettable Berlioz Overture. Oh yeah, and that violin concerto.
The overture was at least fun to play; what it lacks in melodic content and his later feats of clever instrumentation it makes up for in it's honesty. Even though it's bad Berlioz, it's still Berlioz. Energetic, bouncy and full of life. One week was enough of that piece. Glad i'm not part of the unfortunate Opera Company who will undoubtedly uncover the manuscript and decide to stage the opera, realizing after the fact that some things are best left unsaid.
I'm not always a fan of John Adams' music, i'll freely admit. But the Violin Concerto wasn't so bad, and Jennifer Koh played the hell out of this piece. I enjoy Adams' forays into sliding harmonies and chromaticism much more than his rhythmic variation on one chord, and the concerto featured more of the former, much to my delight. It was nothing less than virtuosic, and I was very impressed with the orchestra's technical command and assurance (reduced strings gave me the luxury of listening, not playing, and spending a bit more time on the beach).
Petrouchka is one of my favorite pieces, and during rehearsals, it was hard not to draw parallels with Stravinsky's St. Petersburg and Miami Beach during super bowl week. Every morning when I left the hotel I thought I was stepping out into the shrovetide fair...Miami had everything. The charlatan, the coachmen, the gypsies and rake vendor, a ballerina, the moor, and my favorite, the peasant with bear. You can read it first here: my debut as a director will be to assemble characters straight from Miami Beach and stage an updated version of Petrouchka, with Kim Kardashian as the Ballerina, Reggie Bush as Petrouchka, and a special guest appearance of Sean Combs/Puff Daddy/P-Diddy/Diddy as the Moor.
Peter Gelb, if you're reading this, i'm available.
I had a great time visiting some old friends and making some new ones. It's no secret that NWS is so successful, and I was grateful to get a little taste of that. I don't think I could stomach an entire year down there with the endless summer, but it's great for a week. And it'll be even better with a new hall, courtesy of Frank Gehry and, to a lesser degree, my big brother, acoustical consultant of the STAR(chitect)s.
Here's a few highlights from my week down there.
I looked long and hard for Chris Berman, but all I found was Scott VanPelt and Warren Sapp. Oh well.
Barack Obama has been POTUS for one year and one day. Hooray!!!!!!
It's been a rocky year, and i've tried to stay optimistic about it all, which is becoming harder and harder.
Through all this, especially with the results of the MA Senate race of this week, a lot of big questions have come up unanswered.
The reasons why I am still largely in support of BO are many:
- We have a President who does not endorse torture as a National policy
- Our President and his administration has a great respect for science and intellect
- Our President makes thoughtful decisions, about real problems, often in the face of political suicide
- The international opinion of the USA has shot through the roof
- Failed stimulus or not, he stalled a second Great Depression, which, in case you forgot, was brought on by the previous administration.
That's mostly what i've been feeling the last year, with a few bumps and bruises.
What i've been feeling in the last few days, on the other hand, is quite different.
I've known all along that deep down Obama is a pragmatist, not a progressive, and that has helped me stay afloat when he's become more centrist and relentlessly pragmatic while alienating the progressive base that got angry at the establishment and elected him.
Now he's the establishment that is making everyone, especially progressives, crazy. David Brooks, the smartest conservative alive, has an excellent column on Obama's first year and how his administration's hubris is killing him softly. I've been having an especially hard time staying positive this week, amidst the MA Senate debacle, the Supreme Court's heinous campaign-finance ruling and the reality that the house democrats just might let health care reform slip through its fingers.
I have long thought, with most democrats, that the purpose of government is to elect intelligent officials to carry out legislation and do what's best for the country. Since its introduction, both the House and Senate versions of the health care overhaul have been criticized and largely rejected by the american public. Being the liberal elitist that I am, I haven't been too concerned by this, thinking, "well, the government knows what's best for the country. That's why we have government." With Scott Brown winning Ted Kennedy's Senate seat on the platform of stopping health care legislation and being a Red Sox fan, i'm not so sure about my previous inclinations.
Yes, we need health care legislation. And badly. I honestly can't understand why so many republicans and conservative members of our nation are so vehemently opposed to a bill that is largely centrist and will in real, tangible ways help the welfare of the entire country. If they're so opposed to health care that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will put the legacy of Ted Kennedy in the hands of hapless house dems with no good option, there must be something i'm missing. It's truly perplexing, but at the moment I know that deep down we MUST pass a health care bill, however flawed and politically suicidal. For what it's worth, the Democratic power in Congress and the White House is eroding quickly. We won't get another shot like this in a generation.
Many liberals have alluded to the fact that Obama's promise of transparency hasn't come through. He made back room deals with the devil (Big Pharm) and even some front-room deals with weasels in the senate (Ben Nelson). I understand that this is, regrettably, how our government works. I don't really know all that much about The Supreme Court's new ruling to overturn campaign finance laws, but I do know that it's bad. I'm terrified of the influence that big corporations will be able to wield, given the disgusting amount of pull they already have. I can only imagine the horrific commercials this November: "Vote for the CIGNA/AETNA Health Insurance Endowed Senate Seat, created exclusively for Joe Lieberman."
Sigh.....
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