Looking ahead

 

Spring is well established here, and we have been enjoying the weather immensely... Maggie and I are so happy that we chose to get a convertible car; it's like riding a motorcycle, in that you feel so much more connected with the natural world outside the cabin.  Here's her commute through the Bois de La Cambre to get to her french class.

We have been driving together pretty much every day for the last week or so, going to her physiotherapy appointments.  I didn't write about it when it happened, but on the last day of her school ski trip in Switzerland this past winter, she injured her right knee, and after a course of preliminary physio it became clear that she would need surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament to restabilize it.

That happened a week ago, and she's already noticing a major difference in how secure her knee is feeling.  The daily physiotherapy will be a couple of months long, and she'll be off work for much of that time, but she's very happy to have had it done.  We are taking the opportunity to have lunch together more often, and with the weather it's nice to be outside on the terrace.

Yesterday was a day off for all four of us though, because of the religious festival of the Ascension.  Duncan is back at school today but Malcolm is having a pont; this is the day in between a Tuesday or Thursday holiday and the weekend.  As our American cousins usually take off the Friday following Thanksgiving Thursday so as to make a four-day weekend, so the Belgians take a "bridge day" to make a longer holiday, whenever they can.

The British "Mothering Sunday" already happened, but in Belgium as in Canada this weekend is also La fête des Mères, so that will mean more spoiling of Maggie by her sons, and to some lesser extent by her husband.  There are lots of flowers and chocolates in display windows everywhere, and yesterday we had an early Mother's Day cake/flan, with a sable crust, and an unbelievable cream filling with fresh fruit for dessert, after our afternoon meal.

I sang through all of Carmina Burana - some parts more than once - with Peter yesterday evening, and it was fantastic to let fly with it!  The first time I performed it in 2011 was a little stressful so I am very happy to explore it a second time, and I was surprised how free it felt, despite the many challenges involved.  There are two more rehearsals with choir, orchestra, and conductor coming up on Sunday and then on Wednesday, in advance of the concert on Friday.

It is exciting to sing for the first time in the BOZAR... I was there again last weekend for a concert:

• Giya Kancheli, Morning Prayers
• Robert Schumann, Concerto pour piano et orchestre, op. 54
• Franz Schubert, Symphonie n° 8, "Inachevée", D 759 (achevée par Anton Safronov)

The Schubert in particular was very interesting; as Schubert died during its composition (hence the informal title, "Unfinished"), we know the first two movements very well, but apart from his preliminary sketches, there have been a number of attempts to complete the last two movements over the years.  This most recent version was published by the Russian composer Safronov in 2007, and was reasonably successful to my ear.

The Kancheli "Morning Prayers" piece was interesting from my point of view, as it illustrated how great the BOZAR is as a concert hall... the piece was modern, with lots of winds, recorded sections, and atmospheric colours, but it also had a very difficult part for bass flute.  Many of the notes in the solo part were at the absolute rock bottom of the flute register, sustained for long phrases, but the sound of the low flute carried perfectly in the hall.  It is encouraging to be able to hear a lower woodwind in its extreme low register, even with the orchestra; psychologically I am gratified to know that even with Orff's large orchestration in the Carmina Burana, the textures will lighten up when I have to sing, and I don't need to push to be heard.  It's enough just to sing richly and everything will be fine.

I've also received the poster for the Brahms in Antwerp, later on in May, here it is!

Speaking of Schubert, Peter and I are discussing a reprise of our Brussels recital in the Chapelle de Boondael.  We were very happy to do Die Schöne Müllerin there at the invitation of the commune d'Ixelles last spring, and on the topic of "unfinished" Schubert, we are thinking seriously about making the Schwanengesang or "Swan Song" cycle part of our next concert.  It is not a real cycle, in that it was posthumously assembled for publication by Schubert's brother, and unlike Müllerin or Winterreise it includes texts from three different poets, but it is much admired by Schubertians for its dramatic range.  I've only sung one of its fourteen lieder before, the famous Ständchen or serenade, Leise flehen meine Lieder durch die Nacht zu dir; In den stillen Hain hernieder, Liebchen, komm zu mir!

Here's a link to Dietrich Fischer Dieskau in 1958, with Gerald Moore on the piano.   I am looking forward to many of the pieces in it, including the very creepy Der Doppelgänger, the thirteenth (!) song in the cycle... oooOOOOoooo!  But more on that later...