Haven't been out yet so it's not surprising that all I can see from my window is fogginess. Yet another day of upset to the routine although this is an ordinary monthly upset i.e. I have to attend at the pharmacy to collect my medicaments at 0900.
The 'Advent calendar' video from Neumz-- since there is no livestream from Saint-Eugène until the morrow and it is an Advent feria (although the Octave of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception, which is the office I'm saying until Vespers) I'll procede directly to this-- is Dr Alberto Díaz-Blanco presenting the antiphon Ecce quam bonum, which is sung at some point in Vespers later on; it doesn't appear in the Roman Vespers so must be of the Benedictine use in this instance.
Dr Diaz Blanco is perhaps not the most accomplished singer of the chant but he obviously lives in its world, which is a much higher encomium.
The Messiaen Quartet is performing a program of Lars Klit, Webern, Milhaud, Lili Boulanger, and Hindemith in Copenhagen at 1020 PT. At Wigmore Hall at 1100, there was scheduled to be a concert of the ensemble Tenebrae, although at this hour I see nothing about it-- maybe I confused things as so often happens and this aired in the 'early slot', the UK's lunch hour, at 0400 PT, or perhaps there was a cancellation. There is a stream from Budapest of Handel's Messiah, performed by the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir, at 1000 or 1100, which I may try to catch.
Have eaten a toasted bagel and drunk a second glass of tea. Now to Terce. I need to leave the house at about 0820.
There is a stream on Ö1 (the Austrian state broadcaster) of the performance of Hans Werner Henze's opera Das verratene Meer at the Hofoper in Vienna yesterday; it's based on Yukio Mishima's The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. Unfortunately, this is at 0930 or 1030 PT, I believe. There is a version sung in Japanese on Spotify, performed with the RAI Symphony Orchestra, ha; haven't looked at YouTube. Have a vague recollection of having enjoyed the Mishima novel, as well as a vague recollection of being not particularly impressed with whatever of Henze's I may have listened to.
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Back at last from my morning errands-- the pharmacists' neglected to have one of my medicaments counted out into the little plastic vial, tsk, so had to wait ten minutes for that to be done, and then I forget how scarily busy the supermarket is at these later hours: it seemed as if that stop took forever, as I had to negotiate around the throngs of old people taking even more time at their choices than I do.
I listened briefly to the Messiaen Quartet concert but am really more in the mood (perhaps the crowds pullulating through the store aisles had a stimulating effect...) for Henze, so have his opera on. There is, a surprise to me, a great deal more of the orchestra than I recalled or half-recalled (as I wrote supra, have never heard this opera and very little otherwise of Henze) i.e. it's not just angry percussion and shrieking violins accompanying the angry baritones and shrieking sopranos. Maybe I have Henze confused with someone else.
Almost stuck my head into the liquor store (being out at such a late hour, instead of my usual 0615, has potential advantages) to check out the price of Chartreuse (the fellow, opening up as I walked past on my way to Rite Aid, confirmed that he does stock it) but decided to remain in ignorance; it's bound to be thirty or forty bucks now and that's a book or two on down the line. Time for a pot of tea after second breakfast.
The Hofoper is streaming an opera each day through the 6th; Die Zauberflöte today. The question is, will it still be streaming when I'm done with the Henze. Hmm. The Opera Ball must be cancelled, too, tsk; perhaps postponed a week....
Ante Nonam. This lovely production of Die Zauberflöte at the Hofoper is a delight! I recall, not too awfully long ago, watching part of a Dutch or Flemish production that featured people with their physical and intellectual disabilities-- it must have been at la Monnaie, Romeo Castelluci ignoring what he wanted to "pour en explorer les émotions brutes et l’essence philosophique", sure, sure-- which I'm sure must have entertained someone.
No one has told them at the Hofoper that Monostatos's blackface is terribly offensive to someone.
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LDVM
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