Summer Afternoon

[akirlu]

A string ensemble is playing the Mendelssohn wedding recessional somewhere outside my open window. Earlier it was the Wagner processional, and before that, while the bankers were out chattering away out on the court, on their afternoon cookie break, the strings played Pachelbel's Canon in G. The Canon is my favorite, but there's something majestic about the Wagner that I hadn't noticed in a long time, buried in familiarity and over use.

Raitt hall is currently encased entirely in bright white plastic, and in the late afternoon the glare is sharp off all that glossy whiteness. The bursts of sand-blasting remind me of the distant roar of hot air balloons when they flame on. But longer. When I walked off to grab a sandwich earlier, there was a woman sitting in the crook of a cherry tree, singing something tribal-sounding. Down the walk, a mixed group of disabled and temporarily able youths were disporting about the lawns. One girl was juggling the wheels from her chair while lying on her back in the grass. Another carried on a conversation with a lad who was hopping one legged beside her chair as she rolled down the path. Still others were striking poses that looked like ballet positions, sans barre while others sat and watched, or chatted.

Campus life. Sometimes it feels a bit like being in a Fellini film.

Comments

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

If you're interested in Wagner played by six players, may I recommend the Uri Caine ensemble, who mostly play it straight but get a little frisky on the Walkuerenritt. (While googling for that link -- which includes audio samples -- I noticed that he's also taken on Mahler. Woo.)

[profundo-rosso.livejournal.com]

Hi. Apologies for the off-topic interjection.

Please note that I shall shortly be moving to stevegreen.

Hope to see you there!

-- Steve