24 hours of holiday cheer

[lagilman]

Every December I swear I won't go into Manhattan until Those Damned Tourists leave. And every year I get coaxed out, against my better judgement...

I put a moritorium on my moritorium on holiday music Friday night, having been invited to hear the St. Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra perform Bach's Christmas Oratario at Carnegie Hall. It was a delight and a joy, even with the gentleman behind me attempting to cough to death on his own fluids, and the couple in front of us who seemed to think that they were at home and therefore allowed to whisper comments endlessly. I tuned them out, and lost myself in the music. And despite my partiality for tenors, the bass-baritone, a gentleman named Paul Houghtaling, impressed mightly, if only to wonder where he kept that Voice in such a relatively slender frame!

The Orchestra was magnificent (kudos especially to the trumpets and oboes), and the Chorus equally so, especially in the spectacular 'Ehre sei dir Gott.' For all the ills, historical and modern, that may be laid at Rome's doorstep, the arts thus inspired must also be considered. Just lovely... If you ever get the chance to hear them perform, take it.

After, midnight supper at Petrossian ("asking me if I'd like to come here is like asking a Muslim if he'd like to go to Mecca" = vodka snarf. Ooops.). Caviar and steak tartare, and several shots of chilled vodka, and I felt good will to pretty much the entire world (even our cab driver) by the time I collapsed into bed hours after the meerkat's usual bedtime.

Home this afternoon, despite some UnExcitement of which more later, and a quiet channukah dinner with C., opening a bottle of Very Fine Wine and talk of various things occuring in our various lives. A nice wind-down, and just what I needed.

At some point I will relapse into Bah Humbug. But for now, I'm still pretty mellow and fiiiiine....

And my lizard brain as already started churning on the next project. Back to work on the morrow.

Comments

[girasole.livejournal.com]

Ah, music. We heard two concerts from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center this week, and they reminded me once again that live music is necessary to my life. They also sent me to searching a recording of Arcangelo Corelli's Christmas Eve Concerto, but none of what samples I have heard on iTunes comes close to the brilliance and passion of what we heard.
Thank you for sharing this. It sounds like a glorious evening.

[greeneyedkzin.livejournal.com]

It's Pavlovian. Someone says music and the Kzin starts to lick her chops.

I'm going on the 18th to hear MESSIAH. Dinner before at Trattoria dell'Arte.

[greeneyedkzin.livejournal.com]

That sounds wonderful. Houghtaling is amazing.

Haven't been to Petrossian for more than a decade. It sounds as if it's only gotten better.

[lagilman]

It's still a paen to the fact that Art Deco can be understated, and the food over-the-top without overwhelming. There aren't many places I will order steak tartare without hesitation, but Petrossian is one of them.

And the music was even more amzing when you consider that they're not a cohesive unit -- I'm told that the orchestra generally has one rehearsal, and the soloists come in cold. You'd never know, to have heard them.

(David Randolph, their music director/conductor, deserves much much credit. May he have another hundred years!)

24 hours of holiday cheer

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

But you cannot possibly lump Bach into the category of "holiday music" - "eternal music", maybe. (And Handel's Messiah, likewise.)

I share the hatred for "Holiday music"; Jingle bells, I'm dreaming of a [expletive deleted], or a certain tenor who should have known better singing maudlin versions of "Christmas favourites". The Vienna Boys Choir probably goes onto the list, as well. There are even days when King's College choirboys come too damn close to the line. Holiday Musak in shops is enough to convince me that I really do not need to buy whatever it was until January. If at all. (And King Herod had the right idea about children, too...) But Bach, never.

And JSB, good Lutheran Protestant that he was, would probably be surprised at Rome getting any credit...

Re: 24 hours of holiday cheer

[lagilman]

But you cannot possibly lump Bach into the category of "holiday music"

To this Jew, anything written for Christmas, celebrating the birth of Christ, as this was, is "Holiday music."

I'll grant you Rome should not be credited, but they were traditionally the ones who had the most money to spread around to support the arts...

Re: 24 hours of holiday cheer

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

Point taken. Your definition of "holiday music" is logically consistent, whereas mine is utterly subjective - and thereby seriously flawed. But it still feels wrong to put JS Bach into the same category as an electronic rendition of 'Jingle Bells' (or worse)...

Re: 24 hours of holiday cheer

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

But, an electronic rendition of 'Jingle Bells' (or worse) is sooooo kitch that it comes around the bend from bad to BAD.