beep boop

cxxxvii. cleaving, julie powell
i loved all the technical stuff about learning to butcher. the moping and the affair and so much personal exposure, not so much.

cxxxviii. the perfectionist - life and death in haute cuisine, rudolph cheminski
this was one of the more detailed and slightly boring books i have read in the category of restaurant non-fiction, perhaps because it wasn't written first hand by someone actually cooking. much more interview/reporting style.

cxxxix. vanity fair, william makepeace thackeray
the first half was hilarious! a sarcastic comedy and farce. then i struggled through the second half and can say that i have read it.

xviv. dame kiri te kanawa, chatswood concourse Apr 14
do performers make a habit of leaving the stage after groups of songs, ostensibly for a drinks break? i've never seen it and it was a little strange. dame kiri still has fantastic high notes and reasonably tight vibrato, i have come to the conclusion i don't care much for canteloube's songs of the auvergne. there was a lot of coughing and almost choking from the audience, often at the worst moments too, ugh. overall great performance from a legend, though.
this is also a new venue that i had not been to before, the design is very similar to angel place city recital hall. however the side boxes come out a bit too far so seats on the balcony at the ends of the rows have quite a restricted view of the stage which was not advised during ticket purchase. acoustics good.

the queen of v

xviii. 31st march 2012 anne sophie mutter with the sydney symphony and vladimir ashkenazy - beethoven violin concerto and shostakovich symphony no 5

did i even mention last time that lisa batiashvili's performance was the first time i'd seen ashkenazy conduct? anyway he should do it more ho ho ho.

what is there to say about anne sophie mutter playing beethoven! i am so glad to have seen her first australian performance. clear gold sound, never dominated by the orchestra, apparent from the very first note. appropriate freedom of tempo and complete mastery of mood. i guess that happens when you play a piece for 35 years. having seen her play in 3D i can now fully appreciate that the slightly raised elbow is in the service of sinuous bow to string contact that is virtually continuous. the chord flourishes are like whips. the shoulder cloth only comes out for the cadenzas. the dresses are john galliano. the encore was bach partita no 2 sarabande.

shostakovich was pretty great esp mvts 2 and 4, and the timpanist was pounding it like no tomorrow at the end, pretty great.