Remember When…

Over the past several days, I have been listening to old recordings that my brother had converted to DVD’s for me.  One of the things he loved to do was to hide a tape recorder in a Christmas Tree during Christmas morning or tuck one in a book shelf and press “record” without any of us knowing.  He has started to send me these recordings.  Some of them are of me, around the time that I was first discovering what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.  I’m reminded of how I have changed in many ways, and in many others; how I haven’t.  Wanting to be center stage has not been one of the things that has changed.  I have had the pleasure of hearing recordings of my late granny who was my biggest fan and to whom I would perform entire “concerts” while on her back porch.  I great motivator for me is remembering when I discovered how much I loved to sing, and to perform.  Tapping in to those memories of when the mind first sparked with the idea of what you wanted to do can bring you back to those moments for a short time and remind you again of those joys; using the past to keep you moving forward.

Top 10 Tuesday – Music and Christmas

Because I’m feeling generous and also Christmasy today, I have two Top 10 Lists!

Top 10 Favorite Classical Music Movements, excerpts, Recordings, etc.  No surprises here:

10.  Debussy Nocturnes – in general 

9.  Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 – NOT the choral movement but the Scherzo – 2nd movement.

8. Con te Partiro - Trumpet Solo – Chris Botti.

7. Nessun Dorma – ONLY the Pavarotti recording will do.  I cry EVERY single time I play this.

6. Gounod’s Faust.  There is so much beautiful music in this opera that it’s hard to distinguish what I like.  I’m bias as this was the first professional performance that I was in.

5. Debussy’s Clair de lune – I don’t know why but this piece just gets to me.  The entire piece feels like a resolution that is so complete that it reminds me of exhaling.

4. Orff’s Carmina Burana – what a shocker, right?  Who doesn’t love to sing this one?  I can sing it in my sleep at this point.

3.Dido and Aeneas – When I am Laid to Rest – Act 3.  I don’t particularly like Purcell.  But I must say that this is the most haunting and beautiful piece.  I am a sucker for explicit composition and the fact that the entire solo is accompanied with a descending line (as when being laid to rest, of course) wins me over.

2. Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 3 – Oh, how I love this entire piece.  I have a difficult time figuring out if I like the Allegro, the Intermezzo, or the Finale best.  I’m leaning towards the Intermezzo for its lush melody.  I also have a thing for minor key/major key shifting.

1.  Verdi’s Requiem – the entire work. – I mean, I like everything.  Vienna Philharmonic with Sutherland, Horne, Pavarotti, and Solti.  However, if you want to get really specific about this, I particularly love the Trumpets in the Tuba Mirum (#3).

Top 10 things I like about Christmas:

10.  Playing Vince Guaraldi’s Trio – A Charlie Brown Christmas, until my cubical neighbors want to jump out their window

9.  Decorating the tree while drinking Bailey’s Irish Cream

8.  Christmas Brunch

7.  Opening presents

6.  Watching Christmas Specials on TV

5. Seeing New York City at Christmas

4. Seeing old Ornaments from Christmas past.

3.  First opening your eyes on Christmas morning but not yet getting out of bed

2. Knowing that Ski Season has started

1.  Did I mention presents?