news | TTG ...for holding us together

What a year 2011 was...  one of the best years of my life.

But what happened New Years Day, 2012 was incomprehensibly wonderful...

Thanks to Gravity assembled to rehearse for our upcoming performance at the Portsmouth Music Hall on January 27th... and although it has been nearly 12 years since we last played together - in many ways it was like not a day had passed.  

  

At first I was just totally impressed with how easy it was to get started... then I became filled with admiration for each of the guys individually.. and our entire 21 year history flashed before me in the space of the first song we played.. 'Phenomenon of Flight'.   After sharing a few more funny stories and good memories we launched easily into 'Eating the Moon'.. and I was overcome with emotion. 

It's hard to put into words how much I love these guys and how much I've missed them.

For now, all I can think about is practice tomorrow night.. and hearing the sound of my little girl's voice humming Eating The Moon.. : )

journal | happy birthday Ludwig

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. 

Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors. 

  

The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, "Thus far and no farther." 

Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes. 

What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.  

To play without passion is inexcusable!

It seemed unthinkable for me to leave the world forever before I had produced all that I felt called upon to produce" 

I love a tree more than a man

Then let us all do what is right, strive with all our might toward the unattainable, develop as fully as we can the gifts God has given us, and never stop learning

My misfortune is doubly painful to me because it will result in my being misunderstood. For me there can be no recreation in the company of others, no intelligent conversation, no exchange of information with peers; only the most pressing needs can make me venture into society. I am obliged to live like an outcast.

I shall seize fate by the throat.

A great poet is the most precious jewel of a nation.

news | great session yesterday with New England String Quartet

  

i had the honor of producing a session with the New England String Quartet yesterday..

  

they were absolutely delightful to work with, and fantastic players!  we recorded a piece by Michael Cunningham (string quartet no.5) in less than four hours.  Tom Stephenson (engineer) and i work well together and the session was smooth sailing, although the view through the back glass was one of a blustery, wet day...

  

news | Andy completes Vercoe sessions with PARMA

i had a wonderful day yesterday recording with composer Elizabeth Vercoe. 

She wrote a wonderful five part piece for piano and flute called 'Kleemation' (pronounced 'claymation' - based

on drawings by Paul Klee).  

Particularly moving was a section called 'more will be marching soon'..  an emotionally devastating, anti-war offering that just leaves me feeling heavy and overwhelmed.. we only did one 'real' take of that section..  

other parts are more playful and invoke the ocean, relationships and even word-play.. 

stay tuned for more on this one...

blog | timelines...

i gave a presentation on the great composers yesterday at 317 main st.

coming off several non-stop weeks, i had to 'wing it'.. i had spoken with the guys coordinating all the workshops that were being given, and they asked me if there was 'anything i could talk about for an hour..?'

'well..' i said, 'i suppose i could give a talk about great composers and play a few things on violin..'

'great!!'

done deal.

i decided to start back as far as i could (3500 BC) and work though a timeline up to the present, giving some relative (though not necessarily musical) highlights along the way.  what else was going on in the world when Beethoven was composing? was Haydn's seclusion a blessing or a curse?  how is it that while the violin was undergoing it's peak in perfection of design and was reaching it's ultimate form in italy in 1690's (not to mention players like Vivaldi), we were burning 'witches' (i.e. innocent teenagers) at the stake right here in new england?

the whole thing makes for quite an extraordinary perspective on history, and i've decided to try and turn it into a full blown interactive lecture series.

umm..  

in all my spare time..