Magic

Is there anything more magical and beautiful than an almost full moon's rays on a snow-covered landscape? Perfect lighting, blue and black, misty highlights, artful shadows. Sigh. The spectacle hints at the depths of nature, and the perfectness of it all; oh joy in it's beauty. Debussy comes to mind. Perhaps I will record Clair de Lune soon.

Temps in the teens tonight. The crisp chilliness adds to the sensual delight of the out-of-doors. One desires to witness an apparition--a wolf perhaps, a fox, or a moose. Spirits of these woods. Speaking of which, I spotted my third in a week just the other day. As I was on my way into Plymouth on Thanksgiving day I encountered 2 moose: One very large, and one younger lolling about Halls Brook Road. Saw another one Tuesday. My goodness! What a thrill to see them in person. I had to slow down quite a lot so as not to hit the larger one and I did fear it would try to attack my car, but no, it just wanted to cross the road I guess. Oh how majestic they are.

Changing the subject, last night was my first experience rehearsing in a string orchestra. As you know, I'm pretty new to cello--it was 4 years ago in November that I started at the ripe young age of 54. So my sight reading ability is not up to reading much beyond basics. I had prepared for the night by downloading the sheet music from the Petrucci Music Library (IMSLP)--can you believe such a glorious resource exists!!--and had started to go over bowings and fingerings with my teacher. We focused most of our attention on the Schubert (Symphony #5), and wouldn't you know, last night we spent the entire rehearsal on Brahms! (Variations on a Theme by Haydn) I did my best. Which is to say that the movements in Bb major were somewhat doable, but the minor movements (5 flats) gave me an opportunity to listen and follow along, playing a few bits here and there. They will require some practice time alone.

It was very enjoyable. I'm glad I broke the ice. It had me a little nervous coming into it--had an anxiety dream about it over the weekend, but it's a nice group and I think I'll be able to learn a lot from participating.

Such beautiful music. Worth looking up if you're not familiar with these two pieces.