Dana's Blog--Week 2

 

September 15

Hard to imagine, but today is the first day of my third week here in New York.  The time is going too quickly.  My day began as it typically does with a time of practice at the First Presbyterian Church.  It is wonderful to have uninterrupted time to sharpen my skills,  both musically and technically.  Bill Entriken has asked me to play the prelude this week, so I'm cueing up one of my old favorites, the Prelude in B minor of Bach.  It's a tough choice, though, because the choir is singing "Holy is God the Lord" from Mendelssohn's ELIJAH this week.  It's a great favorite of mine, a piece that our choir sang last Palm Sunday and quickly became of favorite of our group, too. I'd like to conduct the piece again.

While at TKTS yesterday, I purchased a ticket for the Wednesday matinee performance of "The 39 Steps" (http://www.39stepsny.com/).  I was hoping for a British style comedy with snappy, smart dialogue. Instead, it was a Monty Python-esque, slapstick comedy.  The cast 3 men and 1 woman performed a remarkable, athletic tour-de-force that was entertaining but far from profound.  I ran from the theatre and straight to the subway to get to St. Thomas Church for Evensong and my time of quiet reflection at the end of the day. (http://www.saintthomaschurch.org/calendar/2010/09/15/)

 

September 14

Spent a good bit of the morning practicing today.  My wish would be that human endeavor could be consistent.  What went well on Monday went badly today and that which went badly on Monday went well today.  I'm feeling a little pressure because I'm the playing the prelude for Sunday's service, a major work by Bach. 

One of the shows which I had decided to see before I came to New York was Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music" (http://www.nightmusiconbroadway.com) starring Bernadette Peters and Elaine Strich.

A little research on TKTS (discounted tickets) told me that in addition to the Times Square location, there was also one at South Street Seaport which opened earlier and generally had  shorter lines.  So I set out for the maze of lower Manhattan streets (thank you iPhone for the map application) and shortly was rewarded with the sight of the ticket line.  I'm not a good line stander, but I was rewarded here by a front row ticket for the show.  The other interesting thing is that at this location you can also buy tickets for next-day matinee performances.  I had not been to South Street Seaport in any of my previous New York trips, the weather was perfect, so I spent a pleasant couple of hours just roaming around, enjoying the weather and the scenery.  I also ate and survived my first street vendor New York hotdog.

I went back to the apartment briefly to cleanup and then set out to St. Thomas Church for the 5:30 Evensonghttp://www.saintthomaschurch.org/worship/calendar/2010/09/14 

 

 

 

 

September 13

Today has been a day of inconvenience.  It took three stops on my way to practice this morning to find a book of stamps.  Oh well.  I got some practicing done (interrupted by phone calls) before walking to Old St. Patrick's Cathedral (http://www.oldcathedral.org/ ) to see its 19th century American organ.  The organist is a student of BIll Entriken, he gave us a great tour of this important American organ. But, speaking of inconvenience, I misunderstood Bill's walking instructions and zigged when I should have zagged making me late (inconvenience 3 for those of you who are counting.) I did penance by practicing more after lunch.

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/SOH/SOH038.htm

I had determined that Mondays would be my "domestic" day to clean up the apartment, change linens, etc.  Inconvenience 4 on the way!  I was scrubbing the bath tub, and the water wouldn't turn off.  I called the super and he tried to talk me through it, but the telephonic solution was only temporarily successful.  So everything is under control and I have time for dinner and can still get to a chamber music concert that had caught my attention. Right?  What could wrong, you ask? I had plenty of time to get to the concert, but found that the subway system would not cooperate.  The one connecting train that came through the station was so jammed with people that no one else could get on.  Another train did not appear in time to get to the concert.  I came home and pulled the covers over my head.  Enough.

 

September 12

Sunday morning, September 12 was the first morning that the choir of First Presbyterian Church returned from its summer recess.  The group, like our's, sings very well, works quickly (like our's) and like our's, enjoys each other while doing what they obviously love.  The choir, which does only Sunday morning rehearsals, came together at 9:30 for an hour rehearsal followed by a half-hour break (with bagels and cream cheese) before service.  Following the 11 a.m. service, many of the the choir joined the congregation at coffee fellowship followed by a rehearsal from 12:30 to 1:30.  The beautiful service, filled with wonderful organ playing, choral singing and congregational song, left me exhilarated and exhausted all at the same time.  I both sang with the choir and played the postlude.  The concentration required in an all-new situation was daunting.

Later in the afternoon, I found my way to the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on Park Avenue for the opening concert of its Sacred Music in a Sacred Space Concert Series (http://www.smssconcerts.org/ ).  The visually stunning and very large instrument somehow did not mange to fill the room with the sound that one would have expected.  However, individual colors from the instrument seemed much more successful than the total ensemble.  The Organist and Director of Music played the all-German program with the ease that one would expect of a fine performer "at home".

One of the choir members at First Pres, a retired engineer, was going on about his favorite restaurants around town, which he had categorized geographically on a spread-sheet program.  I asked him to bring me a copy next week, but he offered to e-mail it to me, and it arrived in the knick of time, just as I was leaving St. Ignatius.  His recommendation for New York pizza was a place just a few blocks from my apartment.  It didn't disappoint.

 

September 11

Saturday was devoted to Thomas Edison.  I took the train to Union, NJ, met up with the Entrikens who had planned an Edison outing.  While many of us know of his Menlo Park laboratory, less known is his lab and factory in West Orange which he opened later .  This facility has opened to the public within the last couple of years and is operated by the National Parks Service (http://www.nps.gov/edis/index.htm ).  This facility had sat empty for many years filled with genuine not replica materials.  A truly interesting stop!  We followed up this visit with a stop at Edison's home, just a short drive away and  like the labs, operated by the National Parks Service.

September 11 is an important day of remembrance for the citizens of New York City and New Jersey.  The area was filled with numerous observances.  We stopped at one in Essex County at Eagle Rock Reservation (Park). The park is situated on high ground with a panoramic view of New York City.  The citizens of Essex County have created a permanent memorial to all those citizens of New Jersey (700+) who died at the World Trade Center as well as a Wall of Remembrance which lists all the victims of that tragic day.  People came and went all day from this site, young and old, each quietly with a sense of respect and remembrance.  It was a special place to be.

 

September 10

Friday morning was devoted to a visit to one of the great organs in New York City, the instrument in the Riverside Church (http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/).  I remember as a kid listening to recordings of this instrument.  It probably had some role in  my career choice.  It was a remarkable sound with a range of dynamics and colors that seemed unending.  The occasion for the visit was the memorial service to Ernest Campbell  the 3rd Senior Pastor of Riverside Church and one of the pulpit giants of the second half of the 20th century.  I had met him years ago at the Montreat Conferences Worship and Music where he was the conference preacher.    We walked across the street after the service for a brief walk through Union Seminary which was in its day the leading trainer of church musicians in the country before the School of Music was closed and moved to Yale.  From there we went to Columbia University to see the fine instrument in St.  Paul's Chapel set (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/earl/chapel.html) in the center of the campus.  This relatively, small Italian Renaissance building has a high dome which increases the reverberation time in the room to cathedral dimensions.  We were fortunate enough to encounter the University organist who happpily demonstrated the instrument by playing excerpts from Marcel Dupre's "Variations on a Noel".

A quick subway trip back downtown took me to First Presbyterian where I spent a bit of practice time and then returned to the apartment for a bit of domestic duty before taking off again to attend the first concert of the New York Chamber Music Festival (http://www.newyorkchambermusicfestival.org/).  The opening program was devoted to the tango music of Astor Piazzolla, an Argentenian composer who took the form from dance hall to concert hall.  Among the performers were a winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition and a Grammy winner!