More BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE

Posted on Apr 21, 2008 | 1 comment
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In the course of researching (read: obsessing over) Bartók’s one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle, I came across a Hungarian film adaptation of the piece on YouTube. It’s annoyingly divided into fourteen segments, but anyone familiar with the piece or interested should take a look. Here’s the segment containing my favorite part, known to...

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Berkeley BLUEBEARD

Posted on Apr 20, 2008 | 0 comments
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I’d like to alert Bay Area readers to the upcoming performances by Berkeley Opera of my two favorite one-acts, Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. These two composers are not particularly known for their dramatic works, but each work reveals the composer’s complete mastery of music for the...

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Zoltán Kodály: “Esti Dal”

Posted on Jan 1, 2008 | 0 comments
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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...

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So, Like, What's With the Seven Doors?

Posted on Dec 18, 2007 | 0 comments
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BLUEBEARD Well, we’re here. This is my castle. JUDIT This is your castle? Kinda creepy. BLUEBEARD Yeah. You sure you want to come in here? JUDIT Yeah. BLUEBEARD Well, okay then. JUDIT So, like, what’s with the seven doors? BLUEBEARD You don't want to know. JUDIT Open them up. BLUEBEARD Um, I don't think...

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Watching America

Posted on Dec 11, 2005 | 1 comment
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OK. This is way off-topic, but I haven’t posted for a while, and this is pretty interesting. Watching America is web site that digests articles from the world press that take a point of view, one way or the other, specifically on American issues. Articles are taken directly from the foreign-language source and translated by volunteers. So, in other...

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