thirteen ways

Judging from several blog postings over the last month, the 2008/09 edition of thirteen ways could well be subtitled “8bb warts and all.” This entry is no exception….

Albert Imperato at our NY-based publicists, 21C Media Group, sent me a “20 questions” form for 8bb folks to fill out for a special feature on the Playbill Arts website. This Q&A will also appear at its own blogspot address. Three classical musicians have been featured so far: pianist David Greilsammer and composers Ricky Ian Gordon and Jake Heggie.

Below, the questions and our answers (in “score order”):

20 QUESTIONS WITH…EIGHTH BLACKBIRD

1. A few works of classical music that you adore: 

TIM: Gosh. Current obsessions: Sibelius symphonies and tone poems; Bach cantatas and passions; Mozart operas; Bruckner symphonies

MICHAEL: Mahler Fifth Symphony; Beethoven Sixth Symphony; Rite of Spring

MATT: Shostakovich Fifth Symphony; Mahler Sixth Symphony; Bach Sonata in C Major for solo violin

NICK: Rite of Spring; any Mahler symphony; Mendelssohn chamber music, John Adams A Flowering Tree

MATTHEW: “Goldberg” Variations. It’s possible that I adore the piece as a direct result of Glenn Gould’s performance on his 1955 recording. See #2.

LISA: Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467; Bartok, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste

 

2.  Classical music recordings that you treasure:

TIM: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Handel Arias. There is no close second.

MICHAEL: Harold Wright and the Boston Chamber Players: Mozart and Brahms quintets

MATT: Emerson Quartet playing Bartok

NICK: Sibelius Second Symphony (Bernard Haitink, Concertgebouw); Emerson Quartet playing Bartok String Quartets; Kronos Caravan; Randall Avers Vistas

MATTHEW: “Goldberg” Variations (Glenn Gould, 1955)

LISA: Barber piano sonata (Vladimir Horowitz); “Goldberg” Variations (Glenn Gould, both early and late recordings)

 

3.  Favorite non-classical musicians and/or recordings:

TIM: Andrew Bird, Beirut, New Pornographers, Neutral Milk Hotel

MICHAEL: Sara Evans, Julie Andrews

MATT: Eddie from Ohio, Looking Out the Fishbowl

NICK: Q-Tip, James Brown, Nelly, Curtis Mayfield, Snoop Dogg, Tribe Called Quest, Missy Elliott, Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald, Brad Mehldau, Chick Corea, Luciana Souza, Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers

MATTHEW: I’ve thought about this for three days, and it’s way too overwhelming a question. Do you have any idea how much music there is out there?

LISA: Elliott Smith, self-titled album; Peter Gabriel, us; Radiohead, KidA; The Beatles, White Album

 

4.  Music that makes you cry – any genre:

TIM: Mahler and Bruckner slow movements; anything by Beirut or Andrew Bird

MICHAEL: Gustavo Santaolalla: Brokeback Mountain soundtrack

MATT: Gustavo Santaolalla: Brokeback Mountain soundtrack

NICK: Sibelius Second Symphony; Mahler Second Symphony; Mahler Sixth Symphony, some Brazilian tunes

MATTHEW: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Helplessly Hoping

LISA: Peter Gabriel, The washing of the water; The Beatles, Blackbird

 

5.  Definitely underrated work(s) or composer (s):

TIM: Any and all new classical music.

MICHAEL: Leoš Janáček

MATT: Stephen Hartke

NICK: Arnold Schoenberg (esp. Pierrot Lunaire), Felix Mendelssohn, Aaron Kernis, Stephen Hartke

MATTHEW: Stephen Hartke

LISA: Almost all living composers are underrated. 

 

6.  Possibly overrated work(s) or composer (s):

TIM: Rimsky-Korsakov, Sheherazade

MICHAEL: Schumann. Definitely Schumann.

MATT: Bruckner

NICK: Orff, Grofe, Schumann

MATTHEW: Beethoven Ninth Symphony (a remarkable work of genius, but shouldn’t be heard EVERY holiday season…c’mon already!)

LISA: Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)

 

7.  Live music performance (s) you attended – any genre – that you’ll never forget: 

TIM: Philip Glass Satyagraha at the Met, 2008. I cried like a baby.

MICHAEL: I have forgotten.

MATT: Minnesota Orchestra, Sibelius Sixth Symphony, June 2008

NICK: Andor Toth Sr. (violin) and Andor Toth Jr. (cello) in a duo recital at Oberlin, OH, in the mid-1990s

MATTHEW: Ella Fitzgerald in an outdoor amphitheater. It started raining, so she improvised a transition into Singing in the rain and her combo followed her lead; then it rained harder. It was pure magic.

LISA: Bob Dylan in the tiny main piazza in Lucca, Italy, July 1998; Bob Spano conducting the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, October 1992

 

8.  A few relatively recent films you love:

TIM: No Country for Old Men; Man on Wire; Persepolis

MICHAEL: “Films”? I watch “movies.” I LOVE sci-fi: The Matrix (only the first one); 2001: A Space Odyssey

MATT: Brokeback Mountain; Wall-E; Michael Clayton

NICK: Persepolis; Letters from Iwo Jima; Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

MATTHEW: From the Earth to the Moon (produced by Tom Hanks). In our current political climate, it’s nice to be reminded that it’s possible for a government to accomplish something truly remarkable.

LISA: No Country for Old Men; Ne le dit a personne; The Lives of Others; Talk to Her

 

9.  A few films you consider classics: 

TIM: The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover; Psycho; Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf

MICHAEL: 2001: A Space Odyssey

MATT: Babe; The American President; Aliens

NICK: Pulp Fiction; Amadeus; The Godfather; It’s a Wonderful Life, Princess Bride; The Wizard of Oz

MATTHEW: Almost Famous (too recent to be a classic?); Raiders of the Lost Ark

LISA: To Kill A Mockingbird; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

 

10.  A few books that are important to you (and why):

TIM: Galapogus, Kurt Vonnegut (it works like my mind does); Radical Chic, Tom Wolfe (journalism gone wild)

MICHAEL: The Singularity is Near, Ray Kurzweil (It’s terrifying and exciting. Kurzweil has been a fairly accurate predictor of the future of humans and technology which fascinates me.)

MATT: Consider the Lobster (loved the McCain and 9/11 essays); The Time Traveler’s Wife (identified with the characters so deeply)

NICK: Jitterbug Perfume (Tom Robbins’ use of language convinced me in my teens that a book could be funny, titillating, and masterful all at the same time); Lolita (also for the language. Arguably the best novel in English, and written by a guy for whom it was his second language. Unbelievable.)

MATTHEW: When I Grow Up I Want To Be Me, Sandra Magsamen (read this to your daughter and you’ll understand)

LISA: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer; Upon the Head of a Goat, Aranka Siegel; The History of Love, Nicole Krauss

 

11.  Thing(s) about yourself that you’re most proud of: 

TIM: My curiosity and my job

MICHAEL: I own my own home and don’t own a car.

MATT: Dependability

NICK: My marriage and my career

MATTHEW: My kids

LISA: my chutzpah; my forthrightness

 

12.  Thing(s) about yourself that you’re embarrassed by:

TIM: The fact that I am very disorganized.

MICHAEL: I don’t read for pleasure.

MATT: tendency to obsess, inability to dance

NICK: My indecisiveness, my occasional shyness and/or mousyness, and that I don’t have as much energy as I’d like

MATTHEW: I turn up the volume when I hear a song by Avril Lavigne.

LISA: Hmmmmm…there’s not much that embarrasses me…

 

13.  Three things you can’t live without:

TIM: Bach, love, NPR

MICHAEL: My computer, beer, ear plugs.

MATT: Schedules, ice cream, Spore

NICK: My wife, my career, and beer

MATTHEW: [Earnest:] My wife (yes, I realize that’s only one thing); [Funny, but true:] My truck, sleeping pills, meat.

LISA: My family; music; good food

 

14.  “When I want to get away from it all I…”

TIM: …grab my iPod and go for a long jog.

MICHAEL: …lock the door and play World of Warcraft and/or watch HGTV.

MATT: …play video games.

NICK: …take a trip with my wife, to Thailand, Japan, Puerto Rico, or anywhere that isn’t the US.

MATTHEW: …don’t check email.

LISA: …shut off my cell phone, stop wearing my watch and go immerse myself in nature. 

 

15.  “People are surprised to find out that I…”

TIM: …watched two whole seasons of The Bachelor

MICHAEL: …like camping.

MATT: …play video games

NICK: …am actually LESS messy than my wife

MATTHEW: …ever check email

LISA: …have climbed to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

 

16.  “My favorite cities are…”

TIM: …Melbourne, New York, London, Chicago.

MICHAEL: …Chicago, Portland, Vancouver.

MATT: …New York, San Francisco, Chicago.

NICK: …Madrid, Florence, Paris, Amsterdam, Seattle, Chicago, sometimes New York.

MATTHEW: …Passage Key, FL (its not so much a

city as it is a secret…)

LISA: …Florence, Italy; New York, NY.

 

17.  “I have a secret crush on…”

TIM: …Juliane Banse, soprano.

MICHAEL: …a New York-based double reed player.  Shh, don’t tell him.

MATT: …Rene Russo.

NICK: …Padma Lakshmi, the host of “Top Chef” on Bravo.

MATTHEW: …Anne Boleyn, as portrayed by Natalie Dormer in The Tudors. (This is really much more about my passion for historical fiction than it is about Ms. Dormer. No, really, I’m serious…)

LISA: …an old fling from high school. 

 

18.  “My most obvious guilty pleasure is…”

TIM: …buying CDs. Lots of CDs.

MICHAEL: …World of Warcraft.

MATT: …mint chip ice cream.

NICK: …watching The World Series of Poker on ESPN.

MATTHEW: …Rice Krispie Squares.

LISA: …a lovely pedicure.

 

19.  “I’d really love to meet…”

TIM: …Ron Elving and Ken Rudin.

MICHAEL: …Ian McCartt.

MATT: …Roger Federer.

NICK: …Gautama Buddha, Jesus, Gustav Mahler, Salman Rushdie, Tom Robbins.

MATTHEW: …Lynn Davis.

LISA: …Rafael Nadal.

 

20.  “I never understood why…”

TIM: …classical music became “old people music.”

MICHAEL: …things that taste so good need to be so bad for you.

MATT: …people say they’re going to do things and then don’t

NICK: …people voted for George Bush, especially the second time.

MATTHEW: …it’s possible to arrive somewhere before you departed when traveling internationally. Time zones are not rational. Just thinking about it makes my brain hurt.

LISA:  …any half-way intelligent person could ever believe in Creationism.