Last weekend Malcolm and Duncan were both here, and we started the weekend with a trip to Ghent.
We had a lunch out at a Lebanese restaurant called Beiruti that is close to the centre of town, and then had a little walk around before heading to the museum.
A tapestry from the period of Van Eyck
a detail of the Archangel Gabriel from the Ghent Altarpiece
The Ghent Altarpiece has been undergoing restoration at the Museum of Fine art in Ghent for the past several years. Bruce and I went to see both St. Bavo's Cathedral (where the altarpiece was first displayed), and the MSK Ghent last August during his visit, but now the museum has opened a huge exhibition on Van Eyck's "Optical Revolution", with some of the restored panels available for closer inspection, and other Van Eyck works.
The Annunciation Diptych, c. 1433-35 (Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid)
Van Eyck revolutionised painting in the early 15th century, and did pioneering work with oils in particular. It is breathtaking to view his work next to that of his contemporaries. Unfortunately the exhibition is only on until the end of April, but it is highly recommended viewing if you happen to be passing through Belgium before it closes. If not, the altarpiece is always on display in St. Bavo's to look at the next time you visit.
We had a big afternoon dinner, with roast leg of lamb, brussels sprouts simmered in cream, sherry-glazed walnut ginger carrots, mustard chili green beans, and olive oil roast potatoes. We had a great and I have the feeling that we will see them again soon.
Tonight is more socialising for us: we will go into Brussels to meet up with Regine and Jean-Luc (Valentin's parents) and Matthias and Karin (Fritz's parents) whom we haven't seen for over a year. We'll be trying out a new restaurant in our old neighbourhood of Watermael Boitsfort.
Yesterday was a bit of a busy day for me: I had four private singing students for the first time in one day... First there was a lunchtime lesson with "L", then I had a couple of hours off before the next three lessons happened in quick succession from 15:45 until 18:00, with "E", "M", and for the first time, "R". Here's what we are looking at:
- L (soprano) is doing the Pie Jesu from the Fauré Requiem and Ribbons down my back from Dolly!
- E (soprano) is doing two Italian art songs, Caro mio ben and Alma del core
- M (soprano) is doing Caro mio ben and Till there was you (from The Music Man)
- R (baritone) is doing the Italian art song Nina and the Schubert lied An die Musik
Then I went for a 4 km walk to downtown Waterloo, to visit a very nice fromagerie. The Hello Dolly! team gave Maggie a 25 EUR gift certificate for the shop, as a thank-you for volunteering on the play, and the certificate was due to expire at the end of the month, so I went and picked up a few varieties of our favourite cheeses: Duncan's personal favourite, abondance (from Haute-Savoie, made from unpasteurised milk produced by the Abondance breed of cattle), 18 month old Gruyère de Comté (also made from unpasteurized cow's milk in the Franche-Comté traditional province of eastern France) and some aged pecorino romano (sheep's milk cheese from Italy). This last was bought so that I could try and replicate my successful production of the pasta dish cacio e pepe ("cheese with pepper").
I have been a bit frustrated about this recipe; it is super simple, using olive oil, pepper, pecorino, and pasta, with some of the starchy pasta water reserved for thinning the sauce. I made it in Italy while olive picking with Christopher and Kiana, and made it successfully when I returned home, but since then I have not been able to succeed at getting the sauce right. I had suspected that maybe the quality of the cheese made a difference but last night it didn't work either, but turned clumpy. Catastrophe!
I did some more reading, and I think that I need to wait a bit before adding the cheese, so that things cool down a bit so that the cheese doesn't clump up. Here's a recipe in case you want to give it a try.
A couple of good things happened in the lessons. E was really excited about the Alma del core song, because in her words it is more "happy-sounding" than the slower Caro mio ben...
I was also happy to introduce M to Till there was you, which is for a real soprano, back before musical theatre changed and started to embrace the belting lower voices at the exclusion of the higher female singers. Here's the amazing Barbara Cook, from the original production.
Compare this kind of real, delicate, dramatic singing with the kind of auto-tuned garbage that you hear so much of these days. I hate to be a old grouch, but it's a challenge to get the young singers to try to produce this kind of amazing sound, because they have only bad singing in their ears as an example. M really connected with the romance of the song, which was great to see.
(* supplemental: Here's a great article about Barbara Cook, plus a video clip from the Bell Telephone Hour in 1960, with a medley of songs from the show. We vividly remember the show from when Bruce sang in it, at the Gaganoque Summer Festival, back in 2004 or so.)
R had his first lesson, but I've already heard that his father (who is an excellent pianist) was at the piano last night practicing the accompaniment, so that also bodes well. I am glad that there is family support for singing; it's a lot of fun to do music together...
Today it is bright and very clear, and should reach 8 degrees, so I am going to head out for a nice long run with Yoshi.
He's been very patient so far...
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