J. S. Bach. Now there was a guy who could answer his phone with a tonal or a real answer, if you know what I mean (Sign #12). I just went to a performance by a local composition faculty member of the complete Book I of Das wohltemperirte Clavier ("The Wool-Tempered Clavier," of course, correcting the usual translation of "Wohl" as "Well" - try tempering your clavier with a sheep sometime, it's quite nice). On the one hand, what an achievement: that's 48 pieces, 2 hours' worth of difficult contrapuntal music. Unfortunately, on the other hand, I think the best word for the performance was "unsteady." When he'd miss a note, he'd actually start to rush, only making things worse, and his very finger-y technique meant that even when the fingers moved correctly, they didn't always get the key all the way down to speak. (It also raised the perennial questions of "updating" Bach, with occasional doubled bass lines, pedal points, and changes of tempo, but I'll leave that aside - I'm willing to accept a fair amount of Busonization if it's done well.) Still, an enjoyable concert, and it's definitely interesting to hear the works as a whole.
Another recent concert was really spectacular, by the early music group I mentioned below titled Liber Unusualis. It was another long concert, but absolutely gorgeous. Most of the repertoire was 14th century, with a lot of De Vitry and Machaut, though there was a fair amount of early Du Fay and Anonymous.
Upcoming highlights include a concert tomorrow by virtually all of the Early Music Institute faculty, a performance of Bruckner's Symphony no. 5 (now there's a contrast) on Wednesday, and then some Schoenberg (don't worry - just Verklarte Nacht) the following Wednesday.
I guess I'm pretty lucky....