Miscellanea

• Norman Lebrecht points out that the program for today's Presidential Inauguration is pretty light on classical music. And by "pretty light" I mean there doesn't seem to be any. Unless the choirs do some. But hey, there is James Taylor and Beyoncé. Four years ago there was Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero and Anthony McGill... At this rate in 2016 the musical artists will be Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Oh, wait, I think Lady Gaga is performing at one of the Inaugural Balls.

Sigh...

• I was in the recording studio yesterday with the performers who just premiered my Songs from the Poets on Saturday. The studio owner stuck his head in when we were finished and said "I wish pop songs were still as interesting as your songs..."
• We had a pretty good session and in a week or so I will start putting up the results after a little judicious editing. I'll talk about the songs then. But for now I will just tell you the names of the poets: Robert Graves, Li Po (also known as Li Bai), Philip Larkin, Anna Akhmatova, John Donne and Victor Hugo.
• I don't think this is how they teach it in conducting school. Joseph Olefirowicz shows us how to conduct Candide:

• Which reminds me of a funny story about a conductor. I forget who it was, but one conductor forgot to zip his fly before walking onstage. He was about to give the downbeat when the principal cellist alerted him to the problem. So, not wanting to be seen zipping up his fly by the entire orchestra, he turned 180 degrees. Forgetting that now the entire audience could see him zipping up his fly...

• Let's end with some music. I haven't heard this lovely piece in a long time.