Annamaria on Monday
All we MIE bloggers, from time to time, run into situations when the available time is consumed with what we might call "real life. This is one of those times for me. Distractions have consumed the time I would otherwise have devoted to sharing thoughts of a some more or less amusing or informative nature. One of those distractions was completely wonderful.
Thanks to an invitation from fellow music lovers in Philadelphia, I had an opportunity to attend a concert performance of the Verdi Requiem. It is a brilliant, enormously powerful piece of music that I have long enoyed in recordings, but that i had never heard in its entirety in a live performance. Conducted by Ricardo Muti, it was splendid. So much so that it took me a couple of hours into the night for me to fall asleep.
Here is a taste of the music, not by the great Philadelphia Orchestra, but one available on YouTube, by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
The other distraction was of a far less welcome nature. It came to my attention the following morning, Sunday morning while listening to the news, that Mr. Trump would be holding a political rally at Madison Square Garden at 5PM. Thing was, i was schedule to take a train home from Philly arriving at 7PM. My train would be arriving into a the teeth of a maelstrom of ProTroump and Anti-Trump activists. My friends and I altered our plans. I would be robbed of a walk in the local arboretum with them and instead take an earlier train in the hopes of avoiding getting struck in the crowds.
As it turned out, as I exited Penn Station at 1:30 PM, 8th Avenue was at a complete halt, with bumper to bumper cars five abreast. Every possible spot was chockablock with people and to the east, all ways were blocked with barriers. The police lieutenant guarding one told me that the Secret Service had closed off the movement in that direction.
It's good to know the ropes. I found my way around it all and arrived at home in time throw this report together. A big regret is that I did not take more pictures. But readers, I am sure, know what a traffic jam looks like.
I really wish I had conservedf more energy to make this post more lively.
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I have only listened to excerpts of this Requiem on the radio; the one I know well is Berlioz's, not Verdi's. A new project--listen to the whole thing! I'm SO glad you didn't get caught between the rage of the pro supporters and the anti demonstrators; that would have been truly scary.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kim. I have only a passing acquaintance with the Berlioz. An omission I will rectify right away. Another way of praying I am not listening to the dearh knell of my sacred document, the American Constitution.
DeleteGood you got hope safely.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michael. If need be, I could have walked. It’s a little under two miles. Not a whole lot for a dyed in the wool New Yorker. A the way I went skirted any crowds.
DeleteVerdi's Requiem is one of my favourite pieces of music. It is a true celebration of life. I was fortunate to hear it in its entirety played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Krannert Center in Urbana-Champaign.
ReplyDeleteThat must have been splendid, Stan. I went to a memorial for Andre Kostelanetz years ago, at which Luciano Pavarotti sang the Ingemisco. That was wonderful, but what I now know is that when you hear the whole thing, live, it’s a completely different experience. Wow!
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