Category Archives: Music-Dance-Film

Best of 2014

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It’s that time again: this is the eighth January in a row in which I post a discussion of the books I read and the movies I saw in the past year and also attempt some kind of evaluation of these works.

In 2014, I read 52 books and saw 16 movies. To my surprise, I broke last year’s record number of books read.  As I did in 2013, I read twice as much fiction as non-fiction, 34 to 18. Fiction genres ranged from the standard novel to sci-fi/fantasy to mystery/thriller to short story collections.  The non-fiction books included history, linguistics, biography/memoir, environmental science, and textile arts.  Here’s another type of categorization:  Classics – 6, Modern Novels – 13, Historical Fiction – 5, Journalism and Social History – 9, Biography and Autobiography – 5, Language and Art – 2,  Fantasy and Sci-Fi – 6, Mystery – 6.

By contrast, the number of movies I watched was way below my previous seven-year average of 49, but the reason is clear: I spent a lot of time watching downloaded TV shows.  This was not binge-watching because I watched only an episode or two per viewing session, but this is what I did instead of going out to Redbox and renting DVDs.  The movies I watched included the genres of biopic, comedy, adventure, animated musical, and domestic drama.

As in the past few years, I could not pick a top five or six titles as Best of, even though that’s what these posts are supposed to be about, so this year I’m again doing something a bit different for both books and movies.  For movies, because there were so few, I picked my all-around favorite, which was Frozen (conventional choice, but what can I say — I don’t have outré tastes).

For books, I decided I would make up oddball categories and pick a “Best” title for each, and since I read so many more books, I’m not limiting myself to five or six.  Here they are, in alphabetical order by title of book:

Classic Which I Didn’t Mind Re-Reading – 1984
Tome Worthy of All the Hype – 2666
Book Which Is Just Plain Weird – American Gods
Novel With Distasteful Protagonist But Also Quite Funny – Confederacy of Dunces
Memoir by Contemporary Privileged Female – Eat Pray Love
Memoir of Surviving Terrible Childhood – Glass Castle
Psychological Thriller – Gone Girl
Fantasy For People Who Don’t Read Fantasy – Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Memoir by Debauched Male- Kitchen Confidential
Nonfiction for Word Nerds – Language Visible
First Novel Which Is Better Than One Might Expect – No One Thinks of Greenland
Unknown Novel by Famous Author – Post-Office Girl

Click here for the complete lists.  Enjoy, and I welcome your comments.

A Season of Song

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As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t care for the December holiday season; it is definitely NOT the most wonderful time of the year.  As far as I’m concerned, its only redeeming features are the lights and the music.  This year I quite reveled in the music.  In fact, I attended five events where music featured prominently, and surprise: I’m going to blog about these.

Long-time blog readers may have noticed that I don’t often post about musical or theatrical performances, though I do attend my fair share, as evidenced in the “Calendar” entries.  The reason, of course, is that I’m not a trained critic and don’t feel qualified to pronounce judgment on the artistic merit of these endeavors.  Nor do I want to acquiesce in the ridiculous practice of simply “liking” something, so I try not to do that either.  Just the facts, ma’am.  Here they are.

Sun 7 Dec 2014, 3:00 pm-5:15 pm

Holiday Choral Concert • Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s West Side Story Choral Suite • Worcester State University Alumni Singers and Chorale • Directed by Dr Christie Nigro • Our Lady of the Angels Church • Worcester

Commentary:  I first attended a performance by this chorale some years ago, in a neighboring church, and I’ve looked forward to their concerts ever since.  They generally put on two shows a year, one in December and one in the spring.  The group also tours internationally, which I’m guessing is rather prestigious for a college choir.  This concert didn’t disappoint, though the West Side Story Suite after the intermission was less successful.  Perhaps the acoustics were bad for speaking, because when the singers, who were not miked,  spoke their lines, I could barely understand the words; fortunately, I knew the story line.

Sat 13 Dec 2014, 7:30-8:30 pm

Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors • Barre Players • Directed by Sandy Pickens • Musical Direction by Julie Rawson • Barre Players Theater • Barre

Commentary:  I remember a performance of this one-act opera from my childhood on Kauai — there’s no chorus except for the shepherds, so I don’t think I sang in it, though I remember some of the principals.  On the web, I learned that the piece has an interesting back story: it was commissioned for NBC television, with a libretto in English written by the composer.  The production ended up being a rush job, but the first performance on 24 December 1951 was a resounding success.  The composer instructed that Amahl was to be sung by a boy soprano; the child in this production was quite good, but I kept wondering if a girl could have done as well.  The mother was excellent, as were the three kings.

Sat 20 Dec 2014, 7:30-9:15 pm

Make We Merry Winter Solstice Concert • Band of Voices • Nan AK Gibbons, Collaborative Artistic Director • Meredith Gibbons, Accompanist • Barre Town Hall • Barre

Commentary:  Band of Voices is a community choir of about twenty voices, fairly evenly divided among sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses.  I really enjoyed the program they put together, with many medieval and some modern pieces, with content both sacred and secular.  Interestingly, some of the arrangements included a cello or a guitar to accompany the singers.  The audience was invited to participate in a few numbers, including the responses in Children Go Where I Send Thee; we also sang Dona Nobis Pacem as a round.  I think the audience favorite was O Holy Night, sung by a soloist; I was afraid this elderly soprano wouldn’t be able to reach the high notes, but she pulled it off admirably.

Sun 21 Dec 2014, 4:00-5:15 pm

Holiday Concert • Quaboag Choral Society • Eric von Bleicken, Artistic Director • Eva Brown, Accompanist • Sturbridge Federated Church • Sturbridge

Commentary:  Mr. von Bleicken is a multi-talented professional musician and has been directing this group of about 40 singers for eight years.  I thought this group’s winter holiday concert was quite polished.  The printed program included extensive notes on all of the pieces, all of which I found fascinating.  The concert included a mixture of popular and less well-known pieces, in a variety of musical styles, as well as readings.  Toward the end of the concert, the audience was invited to join in a carol sing-a-long.  The last number was Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah oratorio, which debuted in Dublin on 13 April 1742.

Wed 24 Dec 2014, 7:00-8:15 pm

Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols • Reverend Lisa Durkee Abbott, Pastor • Ginny Bailey, Music Director • First Congregational Church, UCC • West Brookfield

Commentary:  Music is important to the life of this congregation, and I do enjoy this aspect of the church services.  Tonight, both the brass instrument choir and the full choir performed.   Pastor Lisa’s meditation on Mary’s decision to accept the truth about her baby was interesting, but I’m not sure it related to the gospel passage (John 1:1-14), which in any case she forgot to read.  At the end, they turned the lights off, and we all sang carols by candlelight.  I’m always afraid of an accident in these situations, but the church didn’t burn down, and we all wished each other blessings of the season as we departed to our homes this Christmas Eve.