2am it is when i retire today.


Cycling trip - Mr Foo's house, Westmall, back home - crossing the PIE twice and following the MRT line. Rather long route so I took the street directory along with me - and had to consult it at regular intervals. The Clementi to Jurong East area really is a gigantic unknown to me - a place I've never seen before. At least I was sort of familiar with the Sunset Way region. Collected the Prokofiev cello sonata and Stravinsky violin concerto scores from Alan - going to try to understand them a little better. Not much success with the Prokofiev so far - I'm more optimistic about Stravinsky though. Prokofiev strikes me like an abstract art painting - you get a general sense of beauty from it, and you know it's good - now, the problem is, which way is the right way to hang it? And what on earth is that image on the canvas anyway?


Not the best analogy, and not the best terms to use, but I tried.


The night was spent slacking away and dotaing with -fun mode(which ironically was not fun at all.) ZZZ.


Borrowed a book and fully intend to read it. Somehow, I'm actually looking forward to NS, MDC, and more orchestral rehearsals. Life seems aimless as it is now - unless you're out on a bike having fun making deliveries, and scaring friends by popping up outside their houses. I just hope MDC has fun stuff to play (hoping i get in first of course) considering what's coming up for the next OMM concert.

WAGNER Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersingers von Nuremberg

What's this? Probably some small work very much like the Lohengrin act III prelude we just played for the last concert - and not too interesting. I'm not a fan of late Romantic music.

LALO Symphonie Espagnole, Op.21

Now this I might find interesting. I know the tune, now for the accompaniment perhaps? This might be a bit fun.

BRAHMS Symphony No.1 in C minor, Op.68
Ugh. Nothing but ugh. and it's likely to take up the entire second half. Throw me Stravinsky, throw me Kodaly, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Khachaturian, Debussy, Ravel, Golijov, Barber, even Hindemith whose music NOBODY wants to play- and I'll happily play it and tell you I understand the music much better than I do for anything in this symphony. Add to that the VERY bad impression that YO gave me when we sightread some of this - you can say it's YO's fault, but I don't like most other Brahms works so there must be something else. I spent that rehearsal unable to distinguish tonic from dominant, harmony notes from non-harmony notes, major from minor, unable to discern any coherent phrasing of the notes, and above all I was hopelessly LOST a good three-quarters of the time.


And where was the theme that everybody loves to hum? I remember it - sort of vaguely. I also remember the total cacophony that passed(or rather, did NOT pass) for accompaniment. Which didn't limit itself to the theme alone.


Suffice it to say that this symphony is one of my most hated works. Ever.


I am sorely tempted to post words of my rejoicing up on my MSN nick at the very high probability that I will miss this concert due to NS - and I would if not for the hordes of Brahms lovers who will start banging on my door crying murder.


Yes, I know. There is no bad composition, theoretically, as hypothesised by myself, in some small part of my mind. But the majority of it would definitely throw out violent objection upon hearing certain stuff - and all I can say is, well, I'm not perfect! Nobody is. There are noises which I hate so much that I can't bring myself to even try to appreciate them. (By the way, this does not apply to pop. I am neutral to most pop, hence I tell others I don't have an interest - but the assumption that I hate pop music is a flawed one.)