Helmut Lachenmann concert

Last night epilimnion and I went to a concert of music by Helmut Lachenmann, a German composer who uses instruments in unorthodox ways often inspired by the aesthetics of electronic music.
I liked the first piece on the program best, String Quartet No. 3 "Grido". Lachenmann used an impressive range of extended techniques to produce a wide variety of amazing sounds, from the most delicate harmonic tones to rough and guttural growls. The players bowed behind the bridge, on the fingerboard, and even on the body of their instruments. It was often just as interesting to watch as it was to listen to. Despite the large number of different sounds and techniques employed, the piece maintained perfect coherence and a natural flow, never seeming random and chaotic or like a laundry list of extended techniques.
The second piece, Allegro Sostenuto, was not quite as good. Perhaps part of it was that this work is for clarinet, piano, and cello, and I wasn't as convinced by the application of Lachenmann's compositional techniques to the first two instruments. I would have liked to see the piano part make more use of playing directly on the strings or the body of the instrument. I'd like to hear more of Lachenmann's work for wind instruments and piano, though.

Book Review

The Age of Innocence
by Edith Wharton

My reaction to the society depicted in The Age of Innocence is that wealth is wasted on the rich. all of the main characters have enough wealth that they don't need to work for a living and can instead enjoy a very luxurious lifestyle without ever having to worry about money. Yet, despite the freedom that their wealth and leisure could give them, they instead live a confined life of rigid convention. And I'm not talking about being promiscuous or doing outrageous things. In this world, it's not considered proper to visit foreign acquaintances when traveling abroad. It's not quite proper to go beyond dilletantism in intellectual or artistic pursuits. People's behavior and activities must stay within a strictly defined physical and mental space.
This book is so wonderful - sad and beautiful, tinged with a golden glow of warm nostalgia and remembered passions. It's the story of Newland Archer, a member of New York high society in the 1870s. He marries May Welland, a woman who is truly lovely inside and out but a thoroughly conventional product of her society upbringing. Newland falls passionately in love with May's cousin Ellen Olenska, an unorthodox and independent woman. What really makes this situation so poignant is that all three of the characters involved are sympathetic , likable, and honorable. None of them are villains, none of them earned their suffering.

Spring, and other stuff

Finally, we've gotten some truly beautiful weather around here. Yesterday was pleasant and mild, but today was sunny and quite warm. Other Kenjari and I went for a walk around the reservoir after dinner, and it was such a treat to be able to go outside for pleasure and not just because we were going somewhere else. We also opened up some of the windows and let fresh air into our apartment. It's amazing how doing that made the place seem bigger.
I have a crush on Richard Thompson (the musician). Something about his singing voice and stage presence, I think. If I found myself in his company, I would flirt with him as if my life depended on it.
No further news on grad schools, but I didn't get into any of the three summer festivals I applied to. Oh well. I'll have more than enough to keep me busy this summer anyway.