Empress : Kaiserin

Fell in love with Barber

It's not that age brings childhood back again,
Age merely shows what children we remain.

A quote from Goethe's Faust that caught my attention.

I had a huge time gap between Sharon's rehearsal and the school choir I was going to coach later this afternoon. So I spent my time in the library. Was supposed to look for The Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare that Pandora urged me to read, but it wasn't available. (Hey Pandora, Shakespeare wrote a play King Edward III!! XD;;;) The next book I tried to locate was Dante's The Divine Comedy, but you know how lousy the library was? I found Purgatory (Book II) and Paradise (Book III), but no Hell (Book I)!! Now that's over-doing it. Empress is not happy. I can't even continue my Divine Comedy reading from where I left off. Bleh.

And that's the problem. I wondered why I settled for Goethe's Faust. Also in poetry form, like The Divine Comedy, only much more interesting - because it was written in the Romantic Period, duh. Read a little of it in the library, but I still decided to borrow it in the end. I didn't bring any books with me today and I was trying to kill the boredom during long bus/train trips. In the end I dozed off in the train, and only managed to read the rest of the first chapter on the short bus ride home.

Don't think I'm going to finish Faust before CNY. As promised, I got a huge stack of pieces to learn up for Sharon's recital. But she gave me another option. If I find the pieces unmanagable, either because of the difficulty of the pieces or shortage of time, I'm always free to reject this assignment, and she'll pass the music on to another lady pianist whom, I guess, is waiting for Sharon's call... I dunno... I have a feeling this pianist is someone I know. Maybe not of accquaintance, but just someone I saw during some concert.

And she's good.

I know there's always rivalry in work. But I'm not worried about that - mainly. I can't deceive myself saying I don't really care if I'm less skilled to play for Sharon. Because the pieces are really not easy. And I'm sure that lady pianist can manage them better than me. Here's the case - if I accept the assignment and pull through the programme, I most definitely will improve. But that's rather selfish of me. If I can't manage the pieces well (also due to my busy schecule; Sharon's concert is in March), I might affect Sharon, her recital, as well as her reputation. Sigh... This is one dilemma... :(

Sharon's pieces are mostly managable - except Barber's. Oooh, yes, his are scary. Sharon is intending to sing three of Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs. And the piano part is o_O. As I said, if I can play the piano part well I'll improve on more than just my technique. (And the concert stress will force me to presevere through...) Yet sight-reading through the accompaniment made me fell in love with Barber's harmonies... Wow, there's only one word for it - lush. Don't ask me why, but it sounded so Joe Hisaishi and Sakamoto Ryuichi, yet the music does have its distinct flavour. The mentioned two composers must have been influenced by Barber. Half-way through my sight-reading I was reminded of Hisaishi's music for Spirited Away, because at one section it sounded really like it for a brief period of time before switching to another obscure key. The counting is also hell - because there's no time signatures in the first place! Yet, I think Barber's Hermit Songs are fun, fun, fun. Oh, by the way, this is the first time I ever came across his music. ^^

posted by empress @ 3:53 PM