Flight Experience with Premier Flight Academy

I became "old" this past May 14th -- turning 30 to be precise -- and to celebrate, Rachel gave me the gift of a flight experience with Premier Flight Academy. I've been so busy with actual travel that we weren't able to schedule it until this afternoon [In the past four weeks I've been in Ann Arbor, Boston, New York, Minneapolis (and Rochester) Minnesota, Anaheim and Los Angeles, California.

As it would turn out today was a beautiful day for flying and our host, Jake, a certified flight instructor at Premier Flight Academy (at Burke Lakefront Airport just east of downtown Cleveland) was a great host talking us through the pre-flight walk-around, checklists and takeoff sequence. Once we got into the air it was a beautifully smooth flight as he demonstrated the flight controls and brought Rachel and I into 30- and 45-degree banks (in fact, the only bump on our flight was when we crossed our own wake). I was offered the controls but too chicken to grab hold.

My seat while in-air

The entire flight was beautifully smooth -- I suppose I had expected things to be a bit bumpier, but it was not really any different than riding down the freeway. Jeff answered every question we posed -- satisfying some of my long-standing curiosities.

On the way back in we got some excellent views of downtown, before landing on runway 6L -- one of the smoothest I can remember recently & chatted about getting a private pilot's license. It is oh so tempting....

Lincoln

Ben Folds and the Contemporary Youth Orchestra (#FoldsCYO)

Zak and Sarah (arr. Iain Grandage)

Smoke (arr. Michael Pigneguy)

Jesusland (arr. Michael Pigneguy)

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Ohio Premiere; orchestrated by Joachim Horsley and Ben Folds)

Landed (arr. Paul Buckmaster)

Fred Jones Part 2 (arr. Iain Grandage)

Steven's Last Night (arr. Graeme Lyall)

Effington (arr. Paul Buckmaster)

Cologne (arr. Jim Gray)

Annie Waits (are. James Ledger)

+Rock This Hall (aka Rock This B**ch) 

The Luckiest (arr. Paul Buckmaster)

Not the Same (arr. Paul Buckmaster)

Brick (arr. Paul Buck master)

One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces (arr. Iain Grandage)

Narcolepsy (are. James Ledger)

Plus encores. 

All songs by Ben Folds

Liza Grossman,  conductor; Ben Folds, piano. 

Last time I attended a CYO show the headliner was someone I had never heard of (Jon Anderson) and it was thoroughly enjoyable -- so when I heard this season was featuring a an artist I not only had heard of, but liked, I knew I had to buy tickets. So after a day in the office (my first in the past two weeks and my last for this week, but that's another story) Rachel and I headed to Severance Hall and once again I found myself perched in the front of Box 3. 

The first three pieces on the program were good, but not quite great -- I think the orchestra and Mr. Folds were struggling to find the right balance and the result was a little muddy (Rachel thoughtTh that Mr. Folds voice hadn't quite warmed up). The fourth piece on the program, a concerto for piano and orchestra was well delivered and interesting but its length seemed a little ouof place for a program otherwise overflowing with shorter pieces. 

The program turned a bend and really picked up steam starting with Landed with a shimmering piano introduction and excellent balance. Likewise, both Fred Jones Part 2 (about a newspaperman being forced out at the beginning of the traditional journalism downturn - a "waltz, as all sad songs about someone loosing their job should be:") and Steven's Last Night (a big-band-swing-feeling piece written for a recording engineer who was leaving town -- but had had another going away party a week prior) were beautiful works of collaborative art -- and Mr, Folds's introduction to the pieces was particularly entertaining. 

After intermission the program resumed with what has become my favorite Ben Folds piece -- Effington --- and the glorious opening phrase tonight voiced by three CYO members ("If there's a God, he's laughing at us and our football team" -- which could be Cleveland's anthem right there) and the on-stage improvisation of the piece in Normal, Illinois (Effington was a actually a misrecollection of Effingham) 

Continuing in the thread of on-stage composition, Cologne was also initially improvised on stage -- with Mr. Folds under the weather and with doctor-prescribed codeine (to which he commented that falling off stage head-first with a five foot drop and performing with a concussion was more enjoyable than the codeine-affected performance) and is also a favorite piece of mine. I was initially apprehensive that the live performance wouldn't live up to my "favorite" version (the "Piano Orchestra" version, putting aside the creepy German music video) -- but those fears were quickly assuaged with a rich and full bodied performance. 

In between Annie Waits and The Luckiest was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen or heard on stage -- best titled Rock this Hall or Rock This B--ch -- Mr Folds improvised a piece leveraging all 116 musicians on the stage, bringing in one section at a time and occasionally changing his mind. I'm sure that this will wind up on YouTube within days (if it's not already there).

The rest of the program was equally enjoyable, but I have an early flight tomorrow so I will leave my commentary here. It was, to say the least, an amazingly awesome show and I am blown away by the talent of the musicians, Ms. Grossman, and Mr. Folds. 

Lincoln

Heights Arts Close Encounters: Tro TaPASi - In Twos and Threes

Schubert: Arpeggione (Tanya Ell, cello; Patti Wolf, piano)
Brahms: G major Sonata (Isabel Trautwein, violin; Patti Wolf, piano)
Mendelssohn: Trio in C minor (Isabel Trautwein, violin; Tanya Ell, cello; Patti Wolf, piano)
At the home of Charlie Cowap and Rachel Rawson, Shaker Heights. 

While last night's season closing performance at the Cleveland Orchestra was delivered forcefully by a massive orchestra, today's season ending performance for Heights Arts' Close Encounters house concert series was no less impactful in an intimate setting with three extraordinarily talented musicians (two of whom --- Ms. Trautwein and Ms. Ell -- are also Cleveland Orchestra members)

All thiree pieces on the program were musically stunning and a pure delight to listen to, although they didn't evoke strong imagery in my mind, which makes describing it challenging -- for many of the movements I found myself just closing my eyes and enjoying the feeling of the notes -- particularly the cello through its end pin -- resonate up through my legs while simultaneously hitting my chest and ears. On the flip side, Ms. Trautwein's violin -- particularly in the third piece -- was less than a yard from my face and the precise dancing across the fingerboard provided a captivating visual.

The comment was made that Schubert's Arpeggione was composed not for the cello but for a "smaller instrument with more strings" -- however from the adept playing you would not have suspected (from Wikipedia it appears Arpeggione was the actual name of that instrument -- and it appears that instrument is essntially a "bowed guitar" -- and this piece had a very warm and tender air between Ms. Ell and Ms. Wolf

The second piece, featuring Ms. Trautwein and Ms. Wolf seemed a little bit more somber and delicate than the first. The third and final piece, Mendelssohn's Trio united all three musicians for a tour-de-force, and a wonderful end to what turned out to be one of my favorite Heights Arts programs.

Lincoln

The Cleveland Orchestra: Vladimir Jurowski Conducts Prokofiev's Cinderella

Stravinsky: Scherzo Fantastique, Op. 3
Britten: Violin Concerto, Op. 15 (Simone Lamsma, violin)
Prokofiev: Suite from Cinderella, Op. 87
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor.

Where has this season gone? I four d myself pondering as I watch it come to a close not far from where I heard of come to a start-- my favorite perch at the front of Box 3.

Tonights program certainly headed the advice to go out on a high note. Opening with Stravinsky's Scherzo Fantastique -- a 10-minute slightly ephemeral and fanciful appetizer perhaps especially notable for including three harps on the Severance stage.

The second piece was a bit less fanciful and quite a bit more dramatic with violinist Simone Lamsma turning in a performance that was beautifully breathtaking at times soaring over a monotonous four note drone of the orchestra and at others engaging in a subdued and intimate romantic dialog with the orchestra behind her. Equally stunning - the entire house sat in awed silence for what seemed like an eternity until maestro Jurowski completely released his tension. I cannot think of a more perfect performance in this hall this season.

Perhaps it was the terrific delivery of the first two pieces, or perhaps it was the length, but I didn't find Prokofiev's sixty minute (and fifty movement) Suite from Cinderella nearly as polished or engaging. There were points in the music where felt it the performance would have been strengthened if it had been accompanied by the visual of dance. 

Blossom, for Rachel and I, starts July 3rd. 

Lincoln

Strange looks in New York

So I'm spending the weekend in Manhattan after a couple days of training in New Jersey -- and I met a couple friends for dinner and drinks.

Unfortunately, thanks to the Port Authority and NJTransit, the usually easy AirTrain-to-NJTransit connection has been screwed up beyond all recognition and it took close to two and a half hours to get from EWR (aka Newark Airport) to New York Penn Station.

My original plan was to drop my bags at the hotel and then proceed to the designated drinking location -- however being already an hour late and waiting for a downtown C train that didn't seem to exist, I bit the bullet and both me and my luggage made it uptown (well... W. 72nd)

However, in that process my cell phone died -- containing both the name of the place we were meeting (decided just an hour or so before) as well as my firends contact info.

You wouldn't beleive the number of strange looks you get when you're on a subway with a USB cord sticking out of a bag and plugged into a phone. But using my laptop (in said bag) to charge my phone worked well enough for me to get a "I'm on my way" text out and then get me pointed in the right direction.

/sigh

May and June are turning into those "continuous travel" months where I don't have the time to stop and enjoy the smells.

I'm tired now...

Lincoln

Jane Glover conducts Bach, Beethoven, and Haydn

Bach: Sinfonia no. 2 in E-flat major, Wq183.2 (Imogen Cooper, piano)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15
Vanhal: Sinfonia in G minor, Bg1
Haydn: Symphony No. 103 ("Drum Roll")
Jane Glover, conductor.

Tonight's program began with a little bit of baroque in the form of C.P.E. Bach's sinfonia No. 2, a quick little appetizer piece at just over 15 minutes and a sound that I can only really describe as woody and solid.

Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 came second on the program with pianist Imogen Cooper tickling the keyboard. I have a difficult time describing, much less relating to music that doesn't evoke strong imagery and the first movement falls into that category. The second movement however evoked images of an elegant romance -- an intimate affair culminating in a candle lit bedroom with rose pedals for instance. The third movement took a lighter and more frolicking-down-a-garden-path-on-a-spring-day-with-your-loved-one feeling.

The third piece was by a composer who's name was new to me -- and given the fact that this is the first time the Cleveland Orchestra has performed this particular piece  from the 1760s, I suspect I am not alone. Though swiftly moving, it was a bit on the tingy-sound (I'm tempted to say baroque-ish, but this piece came slightly after the end of the traditional baroque period. Worth special note was a sweet violin solo and violin/duet.

Closing out the program was Haydn's Symphony No. 103 a;so named the "Drum Roll" for a, well, drum roll that appears twice in the first movement. The first movement begins dark, brightens up with a nice energy, and then the dark introduction is restated, much like the passing of day from dark through sunrise, daylight, sunset, and night. The second movement was delicate but necessarily firm. My mind wandered through much of the third and fourth movement snapped back to the music at the beginning of the fourth movement when a horn appears to be soliciting a response from the strings that never comes -- until it is repeated.

Lincoln

Cleveland Orchestra: Blomstedt: Conducts Dvorak and Tchaikovsky

Dvorak: Cello Concerto in B minor (op. 104) (Mark Kosower, cello)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 ("Pathetique") in B minor Op. 74
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor.

While exchanging greetings with an usher before tonights concert she observed, regarding the weather,  "with a day like today its hard not to be in a good mood". Indeed, however, with a concert like tonight's its impossible not to be in a good mood.

While, honestly, I've had a hard time getting truly excited about the past few concerts, I was utterly euphoric about Dvorak's Cello Concerto and Mr. Kossower's fine handling off the piece -- so much so that I had to physically restrain myself from applauding at the end of the first movement.

The first movement starts with the orchestra laying a bed that sounds not at all unlike an enchanted forest, while As the piece progresses, Mr. Kosower's cello takes on the feeling of an impassioned --very impassioned -- lover calling at his target, the orchestra's window. The second movement communicates more of a contemplation of a painful decision followed by a painfully lonely walk in no-longer enchanted woods. The third and final movement was a bit more of a folksy air of an approaching march followed by a triumphant ending -- and an immediate standing ovation.

Following intermission I found it hard to focus on Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 ("Pathetique") with the same level of intensity as the cello concerto, and had at best fleeting impressions -- the beginning was far more burnished and less romantic than the Dvorak -- the second movement was like a light spring day; the third was insistent and fairly happy, while the final movement was far more somber. I should also note that I have a tremendous sense of de ja vu -- I could swear that I've heard this piece in the very recent past, however, I do not have it noted.

Lincoln