Sondheim at Herbst Theater
Posted on Mar 11, 2008
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1 comment
Filed under: Broadway, Frank Rich, Musical Theater, San Francisco, Sondheim
This past Sunday was a date I’d been anticipating for months. As part of the City Arts and Lectures series here in San Francisco, Stephen Sondheim sat down with Frank Rich for a thoroughly spontaneous and entertaining hour-and-a-half discussion. Now, I’ve read and heard so many interviews and similar Sondheim talks over the years, so there was very...
Read MorePerusal Score Viewer (Maybe)
Posted on Feb 7, 2008
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3 comments
Filed under: Letter to Hungary, Online Goodies, Scores, Software
I discovered this service that converts any PDF into a slick browser-based document viewer, and immediately thought it might be a good way to present a score for cursory perusal. After playing around with it, I’m not so sure, but I’d love to know what others think. One of my complaints is that the icons are pretty inscrutable to those who...
Read MoreKodály Speaks
Posted on Jan 9, 2008
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2 comments
Filed under: Hungarian, Kodály, Magyar Vonatkozású, Teaching, Video
This may be of interest to very few regulars, but here it is for the future Kodály googler. More YouTube trolling has turned up this footage of Zoltán Kodály himself interviewed on Hungarian Television in 1953. It was around this time that the ideas about music education he had been putting out in his writings for decades were just starting to be put into...
Read MoreSondheim's Favorite: "Someone in a Tree"
Posted on Jan 4, 2008
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0 comments
Filed under: Broadway, Musical Theater, Pacific Overtures, Sondheim, Video
It is well known among Sondheim kooks such as myself that Stephen Sondheim’s favorite among his own songs is “Someone in a Tree” from the 1976 musical Pacific Overtures. I love this song too, but it’s never been clear to me exactly why it stands out in particular for Sondheim. Briefly, the song attempts to deal with a particular event...
Read MoreZoltán Kodály: “Esti Dal”
Posted on Jan 1, 2008
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0 comments
Filed under: Choral Music, Esti Dal, Hungarian, Kodály, Magyar Vonatkozású, translation, Video
Happy new year! I just found this and had to share. This is Kodály’s “Esti Dal” (Evening Song) performed by the King’s Singers. It is possibly my favorite piece of choral music. Here’s my own translation of the text: As I lay down for the night by the edge of the woods, I pull my blanket up to my chin. I put my hands...
Read MoreSweeney Fatigue
Posted on Dec 31, 2007
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5 comments
Filed under: Musical Theater, Sondheim, Sweeney Todd
Why am I so uninterested in the new Sweeney Todd movie? It’s as much a surprise to me as it is to anyone who knows me. I remember being excited about it about 15 years ago when there began to be noise about a Tim Burton adaptation, but in recent years I’ve lost interest. The original stage version of Sweeney Todd is a masterpiece, and I’ve...
Read MorePay Paul Hindemith One Million Dollars
Posted on Dec 30, 2007
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2 comments
Filed under: Antics, Funny, Hindemith, Junk Mail
About twenty years ago I responded to an offer for a free magazine subscription that had been made available for college students. It was probably Newsweek or something like that. Just for the hell of it, instead of my own name, I gave the name “Paul Hindemith” with my valid home address. It wasn’t long before I started receiving all kinds...
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