Approaching even now; my spatiamentum earlier (a good time for the rosary) was interrupted by very few automobile headlights... and then I realized it is Saturday. A feria, and the fifth day within the Octave of the Immaculate Conception of the great Mother of God. Am listening to Heinrich Schütz's Weihnachthistorie SWV 435 arranged for... carillon; an event in the Actus Humanus Festival. The carillonist, carilloneur, carilloneuse, perhaps, is Małgorzata Fiebig and her instrument is located in the Old Town Hall of Gdansk (if the machina has done its translating properly). I knew I recognized her name-- I can, however, easily be done with the listening, as it happens; an hour is about half an hour too long-- but she is the Stadsbeiaardier of Utrecht in the Low Countries, and somewhere in these pages I scribbled about the municipal carillonists there, or perhaps that was simply an unrecorded adventure through the pages of the Internet. The name of Saint Martin sticks in my mind. Must turn on the oven; brownies and cornbread today.
There is a new presenter of the Neumz 'Advent calendar' today, Dr Hélène Derieux; she is based in Paris where she is, inter alia, magistra of the schola cantorum at Saint-Pierre-de-Montmartre. She is discussing Saint Lucia, virgin and martyr, today because the Third Sunday of Advent takes precedence tomorrow.
Post Tertiam. The cornbread, with roasted peppers (a 'bargain basement' concoction from months ago-- I figured I'd best use them up)-- is done, according to the alarm. Hmm.
The cornbread is delicious, which is a step or two above its usual quality (I use Jiffy mix). Am listening to (it had begun whilst I was fussing in the kitchen) Klassikaraadio's broadcast of a new Yuletide album's program made and performed by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra; a live performance from St John's Church in Tallinn. I guess since it is the eve of Gaudete Sunday it's far enough along in Advent to indulge Christmas music.
Margo Kölar's Pirita Mass is the contemporary work on the album, although its first version was composed in 2007. 'Margo' is evidently a man's name in Estonia: I have been misled before by Estonian names, ha. I cannot of course bring any examples to mind.
And I searched through here and don't see anything about the stadsbeiaardieren in Holland etc. I do recall that I became interested and looked about because I had been at the Stabat Mater website and somehow one thing led to another.
There are three more Mondays in the series 'composers and their difficult lives of faith' (something like that) on BBC Radio 4 presented by Sir James MacMillan: this week the program was devoted to Thomas Tallis and he and his guests are going to discuss Richard Wagner, Edward Elgar, and Leonard Bernstein over the remaining three programs. There's a notice at the Tablet ('the Bitter Pill') about the Tallis episode, although I've only read the first paragraphs because somehow the registration activation code which they sent is not working. I may try again. I may not. (The half hour programs remain available to listen to for a month, I believe.)
Once again I missed First Vespers of the Sunday at Saint-Eugène; one more chance for a Sunday First Vespers this Advent season, however. Am mildly peeved at my poor memory but, honestly, am not at all perturbed at having missed Paris's Vespers; my own Vespers-time is, after all, six or seven hours in the future.
The {OH!} Historical Orchestra is performing Arcangelo Corelli's Concerti grossi op 6 nos 1-6 at the Actus Humanus Festival in Gdansk, beginning more or less now.
Post Sextam. Had forgotten about the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra's 'Advent calendar', here. Today's musician, Alec Frank-Gemmill, a horn player, was silly-- his 'Christmas memories' seem to have do with television shows and (because he was one) boy sopranos, as at the service of lessons etc (it is a modern innovation from 1918 called 'A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols', tsk) at King's College, Cambridge which is broadcast annually. Browsing backward, the Dutch flutist Marjolein Vermeeren on the 9th is a frequent guest of the GSO streaming concerts presenter, Andreas Lindahl, Marley the dog on the 7th has something scintillating to say about Brahms, and the Portuguese Joel Vaz performs Silent Night on his 'hoboe' on the 6th.
It says something about the state of our culture that the French horn player mentioned that the thing he 'hates most' about 'Christmas' is the Queen's Speech (he's sure that 'if it were her Majesty's own work it would be grand but it's obviously the speechwriters, isn't it?') only to confess a couple of seconds later (after that parenthesis) that he's never listened to it.
~~~
LDVM
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