Day 78: Kellyburn Braes ROCKS!

HaydnCD78Today’s CD of Scottish Songs for William Napier (V of, hopefully, V) got off to a rousing start with tenor Jamie MacDougall belting out a bold and lively version of “My goddess woman” (Track 1). It’s a brash ode to a lass the protagonist deems, well, a goddess.

Track 2 (“Bid me not forget”) is given to soprano Lorna Anderson. And it’s not among my favorites.

Track 3 (“Ae fond kiss”) is another MacDougall song. Not a catchy melody. Music forgettable.

Track 4 (“Kelly-burn braes”) is a Huh? song. The melody is familiar. I’ve heard this before. But the lyrics…what do they mean? For that answer, I once again turn to the wonderful web site The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive created and maintained by Emily Ezust.

Here are the lyrics to this fetching, instantly FAVORITE, song: Continue reading

Day 77: Disappointment

HaydnCD77The songs on today’s CD – Scottish Songs for William Napier IV – are all okay. None jump out at me.

However, it’s entirely possible that I’m hearing these songs differently because I’m in an emotional funk.

Last night, I discovered that a major film company aired a movie last week with the exact same title and subject matter as a script I had written three years previously. Of course, it’s possible that the uncanny similarities are a coincidence. But now I don’t know what to do. Write off the script as a loss? Re-title it and try again? Pursue legal action?

No matter how I slice it, this turn of events has affected my listening experience this morning, which is an interesting observation. I’ll have to revisit this CD some day, under different emotional circumstances, to see if it sounds better to me.

I did note something regarding today’s folk songs: tenor Jamie MacDougall’s performances out-shined those of soprano Lorna Anderson. For the past few CDs it’s been the other way around. Something about their voices in the selections today flipped that for me.

Haydn CD 77 features Continue reading

Day 15: Rocky Start

HaydnCD15I was all settled into my usual table at Panera, ready to watch the sun rise, when I discovered I couldn’t play anything. iTunes wouldn’t play. I couldn’t stream from the ‘Net. Hmm.

I pushed (and re-pushed) buttons. I Googled “Why won’t my MacBook Pro play music or stream audio files?”

Alas. To no avail.

So I shut everything down and restarted my computer.

It worked. Whew.

I am now being serenaded by the dulcet sounds of a Franz Joseph Haydn composition. Symphony No. 52 in C Minor, one of the last of Haydn’s Sturm und Drang-era symphonies. This one was Continue reading