travel

This July I will be traveling in Germany. I will start in Berlin and then spend a few days at a choral music festival in Wernigerode, an incredily well preserved town in the Harz Mountains known particularly for a beautiful castle perched high on a mountaintop. I will then return to Berlin, but can't stay for long because I must be back in NYC to rehearse for a premiere later that month. I am excited to go. It has been a very long time since I have traveled to Europe. Berlin in particular sounds like a wonderful place for me. I have imagined myself becoming utterly charmed by the art scene there and becoming an ex-pat, although my significant obligations and ties here would make that hard to do on any kind of permanent basis. I do hope to find some opportunities for performing and composing over there; the European scene is wonderfully diverse, and public appreciation for non-pop music is high. So now I am planning; I've already booked my plane tickets. If anyone has any recommendations for a good affordable hotel in Berlin please let me know. Thanks!

beautiful patsy

beautiful patsy
Originally uploaded by madabandon.

Patsy grows ever more regal and elegant. She reminds me so much of Pomona. But Pomona acted silly sometimes. Patsy is never anything but refined and lady-like.

pale green eyes

pale green eyes
Originally uploaded by madabandon.

My lady Patsy

My Friend the Pony

My Friend the Pony
Originally uploaded by madabandon.

yellow flowers

yellow flowers
Originally uploaded by madabandon.

two beauties

two beauties
Originally uploaded by madabandon.

happy new year, belatedly

Green is far and away my favorite color, so I offer this green photograph as my greetings for the new year. So far so good. Things go along, days go by; I am busy almost all the time without a lot of time, lately, to reflect. I am finding that my mood is captive to my dreams, so I have been making a special effort to spend time upon waking reviewing the strange twists and plots of my usually colorful dreams. Mine are rarely all good or all bad, but seem to be a mixture of shades. I am happy to report that I feel content lately, with only some nagging physical complaints: a relentless sinus/respiratory problem that is resisting all my attempts to find relief.

happy holidays

Lost, continued

No, I am not lost. But I continue to lose small things. I lost my favorite eraser, which may not sound like a big deal (or any deal at all) but I am almost fetishistic about the materials I use to write music, and the eraser was one of them. I also lost a mechanical pencil that I also liked very much. I have realized that being absent-minded is harmful. The harm comes from the stress I go through when I endlessly search for the lost item. I must be mindful about each and every thing I do, so that when I find myself about to put the eraser in some obscure place I will stop myself.

lost

In the past two weeks I have lost a hat, a mechanical pencil that I loved, and my wallet. The latter was lost on Saturday, while rushing for the subway. I had many packages in my hands and was rushing to catch the R train that was pulling in to Canal Street. Somewhere in swiping my card, negotiating the revolving-door-style turnstile, and keep my packages from getting tangled up or dropped, I must have dropped the wallet. There was no money in it, only my drivers license, my bank card, and one credit card. The worst thing is that I did not discover it was missing until about six hours later, when I was on my way out the door to go out to dinner. Fortunately, no one had tried to use any of my cards, and I had them all canceled. But still, I hate losing things. Losing something makes me feel like I am not in control of myself.

oh well

I had made a little promise to myself. When I finished my last commission (the new piece is called A SPACE BETWEEN, and it's a rather large composition) I was going to give myself a break; I didn't have another commission lined up, and I would take the opportunity to work on some electronic and electroacoustic pieces that I could perform myself. But lo and behold, unbidden, a new commission comes along. This is a large project involving many composers, all of whom will set poems by Richard Wilbur. The works will be performed at the Monadnock Music Festival in New Hampshire next summer. I will be in august company. I couldn't say no. The musicians I will write for are superb, and this is a wonderful festival with a stellar reputation. So no hiatus, at least not yet.

green

Do you know what this is?

I had to...

Post this poem that I just heard on "The Writer's Almanac" on WNYC:

Ocean Drive

by Miriam Levine

Some of us rush from our houses while it's still light
to reach the green allée and the red-lit colonnade.
We press our noses deep into the opening frangipani
and when the Latin band begins we dance to the end of the song.

We dip our children into the ocean and drink
their salty smiles while two feet away a man lies
drunk in the grass. The sun will burn him again.
His shoes are gone and his clothes have dried to his body like a shroud.

In the end we all have to lie down.
If I'm lucky you'll touch my hand and I'll remember
all the good you have done me and your beauty—
no one was more beautiful, your wet black hair, your hands full of roses.

new

For Luigi Nono
oil, acrylic and ink 24"x48"
2008

This is my first new painting in years.