Mark Alburger, 2009

Music, Pictures, Words

2010-01-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

Daily Blog
markalburger2011.blogspot.com (2010-2011)
markalburger2010.blogspot.com (2010)
markalburger2009.blogspot.com (2009)
markalburger2008.blogspot.com (2008)
markalburger.blogspot.com (2008)
myspace.com/markalburger (2007)

Video
youtube.com/user/DrMarkAlburger

Past and Upcoming Events
markalburgerevents.blogspot.com

Complete Works (In Progress, Always)
markalburgerworks.blogspot.com

Music History (Textbook)
markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com

21st-Century Music (Online Versions of the Monthly Journal)
21st-centurymusic.com (Archive)
21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com (In Progress, Always)

Performing Groups
sfcco.org
(San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra)
goathall.org
(San Francisco Cabaret Opera / Goat Hall Productions)

Facebook
facebook.com/profile.php?id=546460824

December 31 - Envoi

2009-12-31T23:30:00.000-08:00

Bassoon parts of Pini di Surriento and Salome Suite generated, The Gospel According to St. Matthew: L. The Last Judgement / The Annointment orchestrated, Journals mailed, up and out with Harriet down the 680 corridor,

past Mt. Diablo's

foothills,

towards Sunol's Maguire Peaks,

delivering a transcript to LaVerne's in Fremont, near Mission and Monument, then farther

south through greater San Jose to

Route 152 beyond Gilroy

up

Pacheco

Canyon

to

the

Pass then

down

past

the setting sun of

San Luis Reservoir

into the

Central Valley, continuing to

lower latitudes near Vasquez Rocks to the

Harris Ranch for dinner

and overnight. Happy New...

December 30 - Beyond the Mountains

2009-12-30T23:59:00.000-08:00

Harriet again out (this time on a job), and the clarinet parts happen for Pini di Surriento and Salome Suite as well as the orchestration of San Timoteo Canyontata: I and Gospel Matthew: XLVIII. Sleepers, Awake!

Big trip is merely to the post office for stamps then back, with Harriet's return, a classic holiday dinner, and instrumentalizing Gospel Matthew: XLIX. The Three Servants.

December 29 - Morning and an Evening

2009-12-29T23:48:00.000-08:00

Harriet's visiting Sharon in San Francisco, while the oboe parts for Pini di Surriento and Salome Suite and orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XLVI. The Great Commandment are produced. Blitz to Berkely to up the January 2010 (plus October 2005 back) issue(s) of 21st-Century Music, dropping off Sex and the Bible score and CD to William and disk to Nanette, both in Oakland.

Diablo Valley Tritone Orchestra recording is next -- specifically

Pini di Surriento:

IV. Torna a Via Appia

and

The Gospel According to St. Matthew:

XLIV. The Temple

XLV. The Tenants in the Vineyard

Then home, rendezvousing with Harriet, composing Psalm 147, and orchestrating Gospel Matthew: XLVII. Jerusalem (Lauda Jerusalem).

December 28 - Everything in Black and White

2009-12-28T23:56:00.000-08:00

Begin score preparation and produce the flute parts for Pini di Surriento and Salome Suite, plus orchestrate The Gospel According to St. Matthew:

XLV. The Tenants in the Vineyard.

December 27 - Darkness Into Light

2009-12-27T23:11:00.000-08:00

Over

the

Sulfur

Springs

Mountains

to

rendezvous with Crystal and Christina and Harriet for lunch at The Dead Fish (near the Carquinez Bridge) in Crocket. An enlightening, joyous, and lovely time -- and too soon we must depart

further south for another holiday get-together with

Eliza and company at Chamber Arts in Berkeley. Another whirlwind day, and home to complete the orchestration of

The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XLIV. The Temple (through page 16).

December 26 - Up a Tree

2009-12-26T23:15:00.000-08:00

Over the course of a catch-up day orchestrate pages 10-12 of The Gospel According to St. Matthew:

LXIV. The Temple.

December 25 - Christmas High

2009-12-25T23:06:00.000-08:00

Up relatively early for a walk

down and

up Merced River Canyon between the

mists of the rising

sun and

Indian Flat.

After gift -openings and -shop purchases,

Harriet and I meander off to El

Portal and beyond to the

Arch Rock entrance of

Yosemite where a roughly

two thousand foot elevational change and

granite make for

striking

differences,

welcomed in by

El Capitan and

Bridalveil Falls (or "Fall" depending on the map source).

Up Valley, with all the classic sights including Sentinel Rock,

Yosemite Falls, and

Half Dome, to the

never-see-sun-in-winter Curry Ice Rink, past

deer,

snowmen, and

Stoneman Meadow unto the

the head of Tenaya Canyon at the Stables and back, with

more views.

Lunch at the

Ahwahnee

Bar is followed by a stroll around to

the Dining Room (with its Kandinsky-alluding

Maitre'd -- in response to an "abstract" question) and the

Great Hall's

duo pianos,

nookish fireplace, and

Mural,

Solarium,

and Winter Club Rooms.

After a second brisk Ahwahnee Meadows walk to recollect the car, we reverse course past

El Capitan,

Cathedral Spires and

Rocks, and

Bridalveil to the

El Portal and

Big Oak Flat Roads, with one more

Valley View before the deep snows of

Crane Flat, as the miles unfold parallel to

Tuolumne Canyon and Jawbone Ridge.

At Priest Station, the

elevation and

sun give out, orb and car plummeting opposite the

Old Grade.

Light and slope fade

near the cliffs of

Yosemite

Junction,

with the multiply-setting-Little-Prince sol finally giving it up

for the evening.

December 24 - Silent Day

2009-12-24T23:22:00.000-08:00

With family afar, Harriet and I set our sleigh for the Sierra, specifically the Merced River Canyon and Yosemite, for serenity and snow, over the Foothills, to

Cathey's Valley, up

Guadalupe

Ridge, under the

skies of Mariposa,

down towards

the Canyon, beyond

the Landslide

Bridges, past

Savage's

Trading Post to

El Portal and Cedar Lodge (the latter with Mt. Trumbull looming) for Christmas Eve dinner and gifts and visions.

December 23 - Temple of the World

2009-12-23T23:59:00.000-08:00

Finish orchestration through page 9 of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XLIV. The Temple, proof reconstructed October 2005 issue of 21st-Century Music, print that and current January 2010 issue, then head out to deliver Sex and the Bible score and CD to Beth, and drop off the two issues at Copy World -- so, a great pseudo-circle, initially through Jameson Canyon, past

the Wine

Guy,

Napa Eucalyptus

Row,

then up beyond suspicious smoke of Stags Leap,

the Yountville Hills,

towards the Mayacamas Mountains.

There's time for a brief walk on Dry Creek

Road, from the namesake

Bridge,

uphill with

views across the interior valley to the

highlands,

part of a series of strolls as close to the unfinished Bay Area Ridge Trail as possible (the terminous today above), beyond which it's

Trinity Road into

Sonoma Valley and lights out near

Sugarloaf Ridge and

Hood Mountain -- with Windsor and Berkeley and all the rest in darkness.

So, attempt to provide a little light with album covers through Op. 60 upon return.

December 22 - Book of Entries and Exits

2009-12-22T11:11:00.000-08:00

Finish the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: LXIII. The Triumphal Entry, proof the January 2010 issue of 21st-Century Music, and head out past the English Hills,

Vaca Mountains,

over the Sears Point lowlands, stretching towards

Tamalpais and

San Francisco

Bay, for first standard maintenance on the new vehicle, biding time at local Chevy's while doing a cover for

The Passion According to St. Matthew. Check the post box and make the jump to the DVC Lab to catch up with Tritone Orchestra recordings of

The Gospel According to St. Matthew

XXXIX. The Cross (Qui Vult Venire)

XL. The Transfiguration

XLI. Concerto for Confusion and Contention

XLII. The Rich Young Man

XLIII. The Triumphal Entry

plus

The Nativity According to St. Matthew

IX. An Angel of the Lord

Return and begin orchestrating Gospel Matt: LXIV. The Temple.

December 21 - The Long Walk

2009-12-21T23:41:00.000-08:00

A lot of work on the shortest-day-of-the-year solstice (even though, above, some are experiencing the longest), finishing up all the Music Lit and Theory grading, completing the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Op. 85: XLII. The Rich Young Man and beginning same for

XLIII. The Triumphal Entry (both informed by Arnold Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra: I), recording The Nativity, Op. 72: IX. And an Angel of the Lord, and creating album covers for Business As Usual (Op. 49), L.A. Stories (Op. 50), and Death Songs (51-54).

December 20 - The Dance

2009-12-20T23:28:00.000-08:00

Harriet off to meet with Meghan while videos are reorganized on the homefront, and more than half of the grades are calculated for the semester. We rendezvous at local Bistro for more Sex and the Bible plans, then home to begin the orchestration of

The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XLII. The Rich Young Man (first 8 pages).

December 19 - Cooperation and Consolation

2009-12-19T23:59:00.000-08:00

Home all day with Harriet, both of us working away, including 21st-Century Music work, beginning the February and finishing the January 2010 issues, plus reconstructing October 2005.

More nice emails lead to the orchestrated conclusion of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: LXI. Concerto for Confusion and Contention (17 pages total).

December 18 - Wonderful Make-Up

2009-12-18T23:17:00.000-08:00

Two more pages of orchestration for The Gospel According to St. Matthew: LXI. Concerto for Confusion and Contention, plus (by complete contrast) wonderful news on email, before heading out for the traditional end-of-semester reception of last minute work.

More wonderful news on email, plus a phone call from John Browning, lunch at local Mexican spot with more paper grading, more phone calls, yet more wonderful news, evening class final make-up quizzes and presentation, and yet four more pages of Gospel Matthew: Concerto (through page 10).

December 17 - Celestial Mechanics

2009-12-17T23:40:00.000-08:00

Last day of Theory -- finishing up exam, plus performances of final compositions -- but first we have to get there, with the fog creeping into

Lagoon Valley,

over the

South

Lagoon

Mountains, then

south on 680

past Long

Barn,

the slopes

of

Eden,

Hovel Hills,

and Horse Farm, to

the Mothball Fleet,

Benicia Bridge and

Mt.

Diablo.

Eveyone does and sounds great, with a finale live performance by Amanda and Joe watched over by

Logan, Lisa, Oren, Ryan,

Tim, Alex, Jeff, Ross, Taylor, Brian, Pamela, Spencer, Dan,

Chase, Sammy, Matt, Stuart, Charlie, Ian, Max, Curt, and

Bernie (Will having to leave a little early for work and Ben out of the camera's range). Home eventually with a couple more orchestrated pages (3 and 4) of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: LXI. Concerto for Confusion and Contention.

November 16 - Fate's Run

2009-12-16T23:19:00.000-08:00

Four months and some days have passed away since first we gathered for Theory. Many things we've done and now for fun the final run, beginning with Exam I, with musical exerpts drawn from Nirvana, Elton John, Mark Alburger (an excerpt from Antigone, from recent staging above), Howard Shore, and Radiohead -- with allusions to Richard Strauss and John Williams (the latter for final dictation... a first).

The Marin run follows, with another examination round of paper grading at Celia's, scheduling the new car for its first scheduled maintenance, and doing a second page of orchestration for The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XLI. Concerto for Confusion and Contention (after Duke Ellington's Concerto for Cootie)

December 15 - The End of History

2009-12-15T23:59:00.000-08:00

Put up the Michael McDonagh Philip Glass Kepler review on 21st-Century Music, begin the orchestration of

The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XLI. Concerto for Confusion and Contention, and grade quizzes for the evening class -- in preparation for our last sesson tonight, with Andres and Will doing special presentations, plus the final quiz.

December 14 - Viewful

2009-12-14T23:59:00.000-08:00

Harriet out on a job while I write the below for Commuter Times (available later this week) and 21st-Century Music (21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com immediately and, by January 1, 21st-centurymusic.com and in print).

***

In interviewing Meredith Monk a while back, I asked her, "So what are you listening to?" Her response was, "Oh Mark, it's enough just to keep up with my own music!" And I must confess, I've been a bit out of the general loop this year, too.

But when Commuter Times Editor Doreen Burgin asked for "a year-end piece on the whole classical music picture in the Bay Area -- both some good things that happened this year and future happenings. You could include your programs" I leapt at the chance.

So what's an only somewhat-in-touch composer-critic to do?

Google, of course. And draw on personal experience. So here goes.

Pianist Sarah Cahill started the year off right with A Sweeter Music, commissioning 18 composers to write pieces on the themes of peace and war, ranging from Jerome Kitzke's "There Is a Field, through Frederic Rzewski's Peace Dances, Mamoru Fujieda's The Olive Branch Speaks, Larry Polansky's B'midba, Peter Garland's After the Wars, and Preben Antonsen's Dar al-Harb: House of War, Terry Riley's Be Kind to One Another (Rag)," to offerings by Yoko Ono and the Residents.

February saw the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra's Free For All (But For You, $15) offered at Old First Church, featuring improvisational and semi-improvisational works including those of John Beeman, Michael Cooke, Philip Freihofner, Gary Friedman, David Graves and Clare Twoy (the collaborative Fireproof Winds), Loren Jones, Lisa Scola Prosek, David Sprung, Davide Verota, Erling Wold, and my Sex and the Orchestra.

By March, the season was in full bloom, when the Bay-Area premiere of Michael Daugherty's rompish Jackie O finally and wonderfully occured, thanks to Paul Smith and College of Marin. The month also included the annual presentations of Charles Amirkhanian's Other Minds Festival, highlighted by the premiere of Ben Johnston’s The Tavern, plus Chinary Ung’s Spiral X: In Memoriam and works for cello octet by Mauricio Kagel and Arvo Pärt. Not to be outdone Michael Tilson Thomas cooked up an eclectic San Francisco Symphony mix (Gyorgy Ligeti’s Requiem, late-renaissance/early-baroque music by Giovanni Gabrieli, Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, and Franz Liszt’s Tasso), the Kronos Quartet presented a children's concert in Berkeley, Paul Dresher premiered his Schick Machine (for percussionist Steven Schick, directed by Rinde Eckert), and The Arditti String Quartet played at and with music by composers of Mills College, including Alvin Curran’s VSTO, Chris Brown’s Arcade, and Fred Frith’s Allegory.

If April slowed down in my mind, it was probably due to the revival of Henry Purcell's Dioclesian and San Francisco premiere of my Diocletian, with Harriet March Page and Goat Hall / San Francisco Cabaret Opera, at Noh Space.

Come what May, and activity was definitely heating up again, with the organization's Fresh Voices IX: Festival of New Operas and Songs. Three Evenings and One Afternoon in Hell: Or Is It Heaven?, in a cornucopia of music drama by Greg Bartholomew, Paul Siskind, Stefan Weisman, Nolan Stolz, Robinson McClellan, Jean Ahn, Gary Friedman, Cynthia Weyuker, Sheli Nan, Veronika Krausas (her award-winning Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth), David Heuser, Lan-chee Lam, Chris Pratorius, Edward Knight, and Warren Gooch, plus my Sex and Delilah.

June proved a month of revivals and premieres, with San Francisco Opera resucitating George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and SF Cabaret Opera doing the same for Gian Carlo Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief, plus bringing to life the dead of both Zachary Watkins's desolute No Exit and Peter Josheff's evocative Inferno. San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra presented relatedly Restless Dreams, including the premieres works by Cooke, Alan Crossman (a wild concerto for instrument-inventor composer Tom Nunn's Sonoglyph), Jones, Scola Prosek, Verotta, and the Wold / fognozzle sound-and-light spectacular In the Stomach of Fleas and my King David Suite.

After spring and early summer madness, July sounded a sad note in the death Michael Steinberg, long-time music critic, program annotator, essayist, educator, who worked tirelessly in the Bay-Area music scene in the 1980's.

August is always a great time for musical vacations, and amongst the greatest continues to be Santa Cruz's Cabrillo Music Festival, which trumpeted the music of Osvaldo Golijov and Avner Dorman, and pounded away with the grace of percussionist Evelyn Glennie.

Before one could recover, the new season was upon us, as San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera both provided their signature opening galas, the former with an eclectic all-most-all-20th-century program (Franz Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No. 1, Maurice Ravel's La Valse, Richard Rodgers's Carousel Waltz, and Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3), and the latter with a very traditional Giuseppe Verdi Il Trovatore.

The Opera continued in October with a stunning revival of Richard Strauss's Salome at the War Memorial, which led to another Goat Hall Productions premiere, that of British-Netherlandish composer Patrick Dailly's Solidarity (with singing versions of Lech Wallesa, Pope John-Paul II, and Ronald Reagan live and onstage) at Flux 53 Theatre in Oakland. The Julliard String Quartet was also showcased, in Mario Davidovsky's Quartet No. 5, at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre.

The SF Chamber Orchestra refused to go quietly into that good night of post-Halloween November by conjuring up a Haunted House Science Fiction Quiz Show, cooing and howling in spells by Cooke, Freihofner, Scola Prosek, Gerhard Samuel (...night and trees), Wold, and present company's Elijah Ghost, at Oakland's Chapel of the Chimes. Other ghosts reigned with the Shangai Orchestra at Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall, with Qigang Chen's Iris dévoileé.

Finally, December's looking to go out with requisite bangs with Pacific Mozart Ensemble's performance of Pulitzer-Prize-Winning David Lang's The Little Match Girl Passion, and Pianist Marino Formenti resounding performance of Olivier Messiaen's massive, two-hour-long Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus (20 Looks of the Infant Jesus).

On sober notes, in the entire 2008-2009 performance season, The San Francisco Symphony -- the Bay Area's flagship instrumental ensemble -- played only 10 works by American composers, by only six composers (Leonard Bernstein's five featured works equaled the total by others), four of whom are living, two of whom who live in the Bay Area, one of whom is not the conductor of the ensemble, none of whom is not a graduate student. San Francisco Opera -- ditto for Bay-Area music drama -- presented not a single American composer, let alone one living or local.

What wonders what the second decade of the 21st Century will bring? Surely much more than Sex and the Bible, which premieres in March. But suffice it to say that there will be undoubtedly many musically earthy and spiritual joys to come!

***

Put another 100 addresses in the Mac program, plus finished the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XL. The Transfiguration (nine pages total).

December 13 - Transfigured Haze

2009-12-13T23:09:00.000-08:00

Up early thinking of

costuming for Sex and the Bible with Harriet, then off to

Berkeley for second rehearsal of same, returning to begin the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XL. The Transfiguration -- first five pages.

December 12 - They Are Finished

2009-12-12T23:53:00.000-08:00

Provisionally finish markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com with some 21st-Century Music additions, at least enough for Tuesday's Music Literature final quiz.

Also complete the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXIX. The Cross (Qui Vult Venire) (three pages, 12 staves total).

December 11 - Revolutionary Plans

2009-12-11T23:59:00.000-08:00

Up and out early

with Harriet

to Momi Toby's Revolution Cafe in San Francisco for a congenial meeting with publicist

David Hyry re Sex and the Bible: The Opera (Part I) and Goat Hall / Bay Area Contemporary Cabaret Opera's Season X Fresh Voices, dovetailing into a get-together with

Indre re her roles,

then returning through Marin for fifth-staff orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXIX. The Cross (Qui Vult Venire) and the transference of about 100 contacts into the new format, for a total of 300.

December 10 - Another Last

2009-12-10T23:44:00.000-08:00

Another away-from-home job, another orchestrated staff of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXIX. The Cross (Qui Vult Venire), another snowy Diablo passage (the fourth and probably last), and the last of day of intriguing student presentations (featuring Matt, Spencer, and Joe) and compositions before next week's finals.

Another post-bank run (after the DVC personel office, where the good ladies seem keen on Sex and the Bible - may they not be the last!) over the Franklin Canyon divide, and home for another instrumentalized Cross purpose, plus calling half the SF Chamber orchstra re the Valentine's Day rescheduling of a rehearsal. Not the last.

December 9 - State of Grace

2009-12-09T23:59:00.000-08:00

Harriet out on a job while much is orchestrated, including another staff of Gospel Matthew: XXXIX. The Cross (Qui Vult Venire), then the third day past a snowy Diablo to the College, for fine student presentations from Matt, Ryan, and Max. Snack bar paper grading is followed by recording in the lab of

The Gospel According to St. Matthew

XXXVII. The Rock (Tu Es Petrus) and

XXXVIII. The Prophecy and Denuciation (Get Thee Behind Me Satan)

After picking up more Sex and the Bible scores at Copy World, it's time for another Composer Soiree at Lisa's (with delightful and intriguing music by Loren Jones, David Graves, and Lisa Scola Prosek, plus Salome Suite) and the monthly

San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra Board Meeting with the aforesaid, plus Michael Cooke, Phil Freihofner, and Erling Wold (the latter above with Loren) -- then home through Marin with postal greetings.

December 8 - Winter Express with Palms

2009-12-08T23:59:00.000-08:00

Orchestrate the first system of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXIX. The Cross (Qui Vult Venire) towards the second day snows of Diablo and the Concord Range for more delightful student teaching, now from

Lisa and Amanda (here with Joe) on

Albert Hague's

You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch, for dictation/sight-singing --

C (melodic minor):

Me Fa Sol Do Me Sol Fa
Me Fa Sol Do La La Ti
Sol So Do Te Le Sol Le Fa
Fa Fa Te Le Sol Fa Sol
Me Re Do Do

-- and harmony, with nice passiing basses, two Gsus7's (one with a non-traditional resolution) and an evocation of a deceptive cadence temporarily to bVI.

Dan's also up with another nice piece (here with Stuart), then off,

on a continuing chilly day, to pick up a new memory card for the Fuji, and a return home to collect quizzes past the

Mothball Fleet,

Quarry,

Wooded Peak,

Chinese Wall, Dinosaur Ridge,

Twin Sisters, Rockville Hills,

Vaca Mountains,

Fairfield Pyramids,

Poverty Hills,

and Lagoon

Mountains.

Evening class (before which, a chat with David Chavez and Lo re composition in general and Gospel Matthew: Get Thee Behind Me, Satan in particular) backtracks a bit to Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, then fast forwards through John Adams, The Police, Mark Alburger, Tan Dun, Erling Wold,

to Ryan Ross of Panic at the Disco. Out late with Doug and Owen, then an even later lights out home.

December 7 - Sex and the Snow Shadows

2009-12-07T23:37:00.000-08:00

Write up some Sex and the Bible press material for Aaron at Theatre Bay Area's Call Board Magazine, as as he is interested in doing a "best picks" article for their Feburary issue.

***

Archbishop Ussher thought that God's creation of Adam and Eve took place on October 28, 4004 BC, but contemporary theorists such as Thomas Cavalier Smith trace the origins of sexuality back more than 850 million years. So it is no surprise that matters of the spiritual and physical -- clear commonalities of ancient and modern human experience -- often collide.

That central religious text of Judaism and Christianity, the Tanakh or Old Testament of the Bible, is rife with tales of such collisions. Even in the first Book of Genesis, scarcely a page goes by without some racy story, from the Temptation in the Garden of Eden through the attempted rape of Joseph by Potiphar's Wife.

Indeed the stories often seem so contemporary that San Francisco Cabaret Opera composer-director Mark Alburger and Artistic Director Harriet March Page have retooled these Biblical scenarios into a contemporary Sin City of strip clubs and brothels, featuring Heavenly Emcees and a cast of familiar Satanic Lounge Lizards, suspicious Godfather Patriarchs, alluring Femmes Fatales, and Trailer Trash Hangers-On.

From the Stonewall Ashes of Sodom and Gomorrah through the Action Hero wife-swapping of Jacob, other allusions are brought into the mix, via Alburger's eclectic, postminimal, style-appropriating score and Page's creative vision in this premiere production at Flux 53 Theatre in Oakland (March 5-7, 12-14, and 19-21 -- Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 7pm) featuring sextets of a mostly-female, gender-bending cast, reflecting the iconography of millennia (from Ancient Pompei through porno).

The 80-minute Sex in the Bible: The Opera (Part I), derived from Alburger's 8-hour+ work-in-progress The Bible, includes excerpts from

The Creation Quartet for the Beginning of Time: Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel Babel Noah's Flood Abraham and Isaac (Lot in Life) Israel in Trouble Amazing Joseph

and features those verses-you-rarely-hear-in-synagogues-churches-and-mosques, including The Nakedness of Noah, Abraham passing off his wife as his sister to interested royal suitors (twice! - and Isaac doing the same, to boot), Lot's incestous liasons with his daughters, The Rape of Dinah, Onan's coitus interruptus, and Judah's accidental impregnation of his daughter-in-law-turned-prosititute.

Alburger's work is troped (after medieval musical practices) on F.J. Haydn's Creation; Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time; Igor Stravinsky's Babel, The Flood, and Abraham and Isaac; Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde; Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 15, Op. 28; G.F. Handel's Israel in Egypt; and Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

***

South towards

Martinez and

Diablo Valley to discover its namesake and the inner section of the Concord Range bespangled with more snow than previously seen in recent times.

Taylor and Bernie at the tutorial helm for Theory, followed by a number of fine compositions, then off to Berkeley, beyond the

frigid precipitate

extending at through the Las Trampas highlands, to have more copies of SATB printed up,

returning home through through the half light of Albany,

Pinole,

Refinery Hills and

Canyon,

the Carquinez Bridges,

Vallejo Cliffs,

St. John Mountain Ranch,

U.S. 40 Today Trees,

Sentinel Hill,

Wooded Canyon,

a squall around Twin Sisters, Napa Junction Quarry, and Rockville Hills,

plus Water Tank and

Three Tree

Ridge.

After the Lagoon Valley Santa and

more ominous clouds in the

Vaca Mountains, there's a run to Davis under the cover of darkness to consult Irving Berlin's Get Thee Behind Me, Satan, and then the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXVIII. The Prophecy and Rebuke (Get Thee Behind Me, Satan), with inspiration from Philip Glass's Akhnaten: Act II.

December 6 - Sex and the Cast

2009-12-06T23:31:00.000-08:00

Begin rehearsals for Sex and the Bible at Chamber Arts, we are

Mark Alburger
Kimberly Anderman
Adam Broner
Kristen Brown
Alison Collins
Elizabeth Finkler
Elizabeth Henry
Michelle Jasso
Nanette McGuiness
Maria Mikheynko
Theresa Nelson
Harriet March Page
Marilyn Pratt
Indre Viscontas

Also finish orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXVII. The Rock (Tu Es Petrus).

December 5 - Clean Up

2009-12-05T23:36:00.000-08:00

Home all day with Harriet -- cleaning out, re-arranging, final casting and continued promotion for Sex and the Bible: The Opera (Part I), plus make a mock-up of the set:

a stripper platform up back (represented by our notorious three boxes) and

three brothel beds downstage right, center, and left

(the former and latter as stairs, the middle as Dido's Bier).

Page three orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXVII. The Rock (Tu Es Petrus) as well.

December 4 - Friday Sex

2009-12-04T23:15:00.000-08:00

With Harriet out on a job, come up with a poster for Sex and the Bible: The Opera (Part I), continue casting, and begin promotion, plus a second page of orchestration for

The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXVII. The Rock (Tu Es Petrus).

December 3 - Pole Walter

2009-12-03T23:22:00.000-08:00

Another rapturous day bookended by orchestrated staves of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXVII. The Rock (Tu Es Petrus),

en plein air near

Eden,

Horse Farm, and

Stone Wind Canyon, for intriguing student teaching thanks to Tim (a fine original guitar compostion with compound intervals), Ben (adventurous harmonic dictation from John Lennon's Imagine), and Brian (impressive drum notation and performance), plus more boffo comps, then home past

The Quarry, advancing to

Chinese Wall, Dinosaur Ridge,

Twin Sisters,

the Vaca Mountains,

Suisun Marsh,

and the Lagoon Valley

Santa.

December 2 - The Fog of Peace

2009-12-02T23:55:00.000-08:00

Begin the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXVII. The Rock (Tu Es Petrus) on the sunny side of the stratus, then clamour past the clouds of

Long Barn and the Chinese Wall to DVC for more enlightening student teaching from Curt, Chase, and Logan (the latter with the Peter Tchaikovsky Nutcracker: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy) and engaging compositions, breaking for "Italian Wedding" soup and paper grading near

the late afternoon sun, recording Gospel Matthew:

XXXIV. The Caananite Woman

in the lab thereafter, and returning in the

moony twilight to orchestrate a second staff of Rock.

December 1 - Rock of Ages

2009-12-01T11:59:00.000-08:00

Phone calls here and there in the morning, plus do the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXVI. The Declaration. Harriet heads out on an emergency job; and I soon after for engaging teaching by Ian, Will, and Ross; lunch and paper grading at Elephant Bar; and

evening class

from Philip Glass through the Beatles and Pink Floyd to Howard Shore

(and more for next week);

followed by late-night local bistro with Doug and Owen.

November 30 - Questions of Temperament

2009-11-30T23:42:00.000-08:00

Another day of fine student teaching (Charlie -- J.S. Bach - Minuet in G -- and Pamela -- Beethoven - Symphony No. 9: IV. Ode to Joy harmonized),

returning Santa-ward and

Snowman-wise past all

the Lagoons to

flip-side views and

distant Vaca vistas,

to the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXV. The Demand for a Miracle (II).

November 29 - Another Beautiful Day

2009-11-29T23:24:00.000-08:00

Leaving

from

Roseburg,

south towards increasingly Californiesque

vistas of

evolving aridity, and

at last the fog clears for keeps

near

Ashland,

up

and

over Siskiyou Summit,

downslope toward Shasta,

crossing near

Hilt,

back

through

Yreka,

as California's (astoundingly merely)

fifth highest elevation grows

increasingly

grand,

then down the great staircase

past the Lake and

into the Central Valley between Snow and St. John Mountains to the west

and those mysterious desertic Sutter Buttes to the East --

deja vu to Dunigan

Hills,

Mt. Diablo, the Vaca Mountains, and home.

November 28 - Northwest Passage

2009-11-28T23:33:00.000-08:00

Time to leave fair

Walla Walla for

points south, beyond the Blue Mountains,

across I-84 towards Mt. Hood

up against the

Columbia

River

to

The

Dalles

and

Hood

River,

where the fog closes in against

the waterfalls,

then

south

through the Willamette

Valley, under the cover of darkness to

temporary

safe havens.

November 27 - Bright Friday

2009-11-27T23:55:00.000-08:00

Marek,

Harriet, Claire, and I head out via

Walla Walla Canyon, into

clearing skies, for

Richland to visit

Doug and Miriam, who are visiting

Miriam's mother during the long Thanksgiving weekend, followed by an

about face in the setting sun, with views of

Columbia Gorge and

lonely poles, before turning back up

the

Ravine,

past farms,

up

to the

Plateau, again with views

downslope and

across the plain

(with train)

to the environs of the Blue Mountains.

A quick stop in the

last light back at

Tisha's, and we are off again

to College Place to visit

Leonard and June, then back for a

family meeting, and a finishing up of Michael Dirda's Book by Book, begun yesterday. Some work on iTunes cataloging and late-night googling on the iPhone of weather conditions, and it's a shaky lights out.

November 26 - Happy Foggy

2009-11-26T23:15:00.000-08:00

Rain,

fog, and we are off, up the Columbia River Basin through trees and

rocks and

grassy slopes, the former beginning to give way near Hood River, the latter two absolutely dominating

beyond

The

Dalles,

unto

the

turn

off

I-5

to

lonely 730,

still often hugging the river, across from striated

cliffs,

near

the Twin Sisters,

over the Washington border,

up the Walla Walla Valley

to its

city, to rendezvous with Harriet's family, including

Tisha (showing off the potential store),

Marek (at the door of their lovely house),

Maricar,

Claire,

Jim,

Harriet, and

the cats.

We call Bette and George and Sorrel and Megan, and wish them, with Crystal and Kristina,

Happy Thanksgiving

to all!

November 25 - Slanting Northwest

2009-11-25T23:20:00.000-08:00

Out with Harriet by 11am into the blazing Central Valley, north, parallel to the ever-beckoning Coast Ranges,

in

and

out of the Dunigan Hills, with the mirage of

Sutter Buttes to the east,

as, eventually,

oppositely, Snow and St. John Mountains loom,

with Shasta a northerly distant dream,

until the Valley undulates and

narrows at Mountain Gate,

into the high country, where I-5 snakes past the

half-bathtub-of-a-reservoir that is the Lake,

North Gray Rocks,

Castle Crags,

and Shastina's mate.

Beyond Black Butte, the mountains recede from the high

Valley, past

sunny-

desertic

hillocks,

forlorn cows (real and sculpted -- but which?),

the heroic setting and

modest bustle of Yreka,

up the Anderson Grade,

down into

Klamath Canyon,

to mount the (eventually) snow-clad Siskiyous.

Lights out in Oregon's Rogue River fog, and the miles unfold to a Troutdale overnight by the Columbia River.

November 24 - Two Towers

2009-11-24T23:59:00.000-08:00

Finish The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXIV. The Canaanite Woman, plus a bit of 21st-Century Music work before blasting past Mt. Diablo and

Christmas Cabanas to the College for second day of student teaching, with Alex presenting Yankee Doodle for dictation, which we board harmonize on the spot (before more delectable classroom compositions).

Elephant Bar lunch and pachydermish paper grading; evening class, rather astoundingly, from Alan Hovaness to Philip Glass (we are back in the classroom, rather than spacious choral room, due to a concert, and neither the blog audio nor video fast-forward/rewind are operative); then return to the local scene, mailing out the run of the December 2009 issue of 21st-Century Music before

lights out.

November 23 - Green Whirl

2009-11-23T23:25:00.000-08:00

Page 3 of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXIV. The Canaanite Woman orchestrated, plus beginning of the January 2010 issue of 21st-Century Music -- then out the door past the

South

Lagoons and

Fairfield Water Tank Hill for the first day of student teaching, with Oren and Stewart at bat for a nice bit from Beirut (plus engaging original compositions from the class at large), then to

Berkeley to pick up the December 2009 issue of 21st-Century Music, and home via

the Pinole Hills,

Hercules Straightaway,

Refinery Savanna and

Canyon,

the Carquinez Bridges,

Vallejo Cliffs,

American Canyon,

St. John Mine Mountain Ranch,

Sentinel Hill,

the Sulfur Springs Mountains, and the

illumined,

moony

Vaca

Valley

Quik

Stop. Back to the

gym with

Harriet and

company, then page 4 of Canaanite.

November 22 - Skies All Around

2009-11-22T23:59:00.000-08:00

Sure enough, we dodged the climatic bullets of inclement weather (re yesterdays beauteous progression through the Sierra), as the new day turns out to be less than meterologically stellar. As such, a bit of catch-up, another orchestrated page of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXIV. The Canaanite Woman (O Jesu Fili David), and a

transfigured trip to

UC Davis Library to receive orchestrational advice re upcoming XXXV. The Transfiguration from Richard Strauss's Death and....,

returning in the solemn surreality of a

service station ($2.75/gallon).

November 21 - Going to the Sky

2009-11-21T23:55:00.000-08:00

The social visit has become a viewing and a wake, and we head on this gloriously-clear-day-between-storms over the Sierra past Yuba Gap -- the Central Valley fog having started in Dixon and fled

by the Foothills

approaching Auburn.

The late fall colors

and early early snow

are stunning

up close and

afar all the way to

Truckee for

brunch

at

Coffee And with

views south and

west past

other familiar locales.

Back on the road,

through Truckee Meadows and

down

the

steep-walled,

precipitous

Canyon,

we are soon amongst the desertic, dusted domes near Verdi ("Vurd-eye," the composer notwithstanding), and on to

Reno and

Sparks

where

Megan and Dawn await,

then off, back to Reno's

Mountain

View

Cemetery (map above has west at top), specifically the

Masonic /

Final Wishes

Chapel.

We are all briefed as to the viewing, and there is

Mike at rest (a big man with a big heart, that suddenly gave out on him prematurely at 50),

overlooking the prospect of downtown Reno and the distant eastern mountains.

Mike's brother Roger and his wife are there, as well as their

son, daughter-in-law, and

granddaughter (Samuel Becket - Waiting for Godot: "Astride...");

Mike's son (called Mikey by some) and his wife;

Dawn,

Harriet, and

Megan.

The wake is back at Megan's, then we head, after dropping Dawn off near

Mike's notorious truck, into that good night, back over the Sierra, with only a bit of fog on a fuzzy, moonlit, bonny night that may presage more storms to come.

November 20 - Round Dance

2009-11-20T23:49:00.000-08:00

Print up the December 2009 issue of 21st-Century Music (21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com, 21st-centurymusic.com, and in print), drop off same at Copyworld in Berkeley, deliver a Sex and the Bible score and CD to Suzanna and another to Indre -- respectively in Brisbane and San Francisco.

Home over the Golden Gate to begin the orchestration of

The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXIV. The Canaanite Woman (O Jesu Fili David).

November 19 - Walking Afar

2009-11-19T23:08:00.000-08:00

Arrive home to the stunningly sad news from Harriet that Megan's husband Mike has died, all of a sudden, of a heart attack, at 50. Surreally, we have been planning a visit to Reno to see them this Saturday, and now that visit will be a wake, and the viewing has been independently yet serendipidously scheduled for 2pm, within an hour of our planned arrival.

Beyond, it's another semetrical day, this one with the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXIII. Walk On Water; plus Quiz 14 for the Theoreticians (a summing up of the semester's work, with excerpts from Philip Glass's Satyagraha and Akhnaten, and Sting's King of Pain); the overland-and-water to Marin and paper grading and postbox; and again to

safe harbors, meditating on the brevity of a breviary.

November 18 - Hilltop Revelations

2009-11-18T23:10:00.000-08:00

Early and late, finish the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXII. The Five [Four[ Thousand.

Between, give the last official Theory dictation and board harmony of the semester: Elton John's The Circle of Life from The Lion King, with (appropriately) wild tones, a striking rising minor seventh resolving Palestrianianly and Bernsteinianly downward, and a combo authentic/plagal cadence conclusion.

November 17 - Seeing, Hearing, and Raising

2009-11-17T23:59:00.000-08:00

Begin the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXXII. The Five Thousand, give a dictation (followed by board harmony) on Sting's King of Pain from Synchronicity, and

head to

Elephant Bar

to grade papers

until the waning sun

clouds to the west.

Return Diablo Valley College (where Vocal Jazz is just wrapping up) to the evening class,

with music from Paul Hindemith (1896-1963) to Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000) (including vernacular and world music excerpts, and

looking ahead to next week's quiz... itself about a week ahead of where we're likely to be) then back

at large

with Doug

(and our usual waitress) and

Owen before oblivion.

November 16 - Farewell to the Future

2009-11-16T23:56:00.000-08:00

8:30am and the tow truck arrives an hour early. It's time to donate the 2002 Echo -- faithful but ailing, in all of its 313,000 miles -- to Capital Public Radio, specifically to support their classical programming.

Adieu to a fine car,

then (after incorporating Salome's Dance from John and Salome into The Gospel According to St. Matthew) off to DVC in the new vehicle for a double dictation on Philip Glass's Satyagraha (4 bars of the opening -- all contrary-motion chords for the purpose of this exercise) and Akhnaten (6 bars of the Love Duet -- all common-tone harmony).

Home thereafter, past the Chinese Wall, more incorporation with Ah Marvellous becoming XXX. Herod's Response in Gospel Matthew, then the gym with Harriet and yet a third melding with John Salome's "Bring Me the Head" as XXXI. The Head of John the Baptist).

November 15 - Sex and the Auditions

2009-11-15T23:20:00.000-08:00

Print up the piano-vocal scores to Sex and the Bible: The Opera (Part I) at Copy World in Berkeley, and the bill is on the order of three times cheaper than it would have been at the Enterprise Formerly Known as Kinko's, which, ever since its change of ownership has been plummeting downhill, so, now that they've officially divested themselves of their honored name, that's it...

Before this over the hills, far away from St. John Mine Mountain, and during, there's

a pilgrimage to the Cheese Steak Shop while the 12 books (one for each of the sons of Jacob) are being bound, then off to Chamber Arts for

San Francisco Cabaret

Opera auditions, and, co-incidentally we have (for awhile) exactly 12 singers (though counting Harriet, myself, a latecomer, and those who are interested but can't attend today, there are more -- also great to have Jerry Kuderna as our accompanist du jour). Do the dance, song, and speil re the opera (through Lot's Daughters' seductions), and head back (now knowing exactly how far the new car can go when the gauge hits blinking "e") to orchestrate page 3 of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXVIII. The Parables and touch base with Bette and George.

November 14 - Amazing Trouble

2009-11-14T23:57:00.000-08:00

All day at home, print out Sex and the Bible: 6. Israel in Trouble and

7. Amazing Joseph, burn CD's for tomorrow's get-together, and orchestrate page 3 of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXVIII. The Parables.

November 13 - Piering Into the Future

2009-11-13T23:58:00.000-08:00

Print out Sex and the Bible: The Opera: 4. Babel and 5. Abraham and Isaac (totally unaware that it's a Friday the 13th until it's pretty much over), then head to San Francisco with Harriet for Tina Osinski and company presenting a rock opera at Pier 39 Theater, prefaced by the burlesque troop

Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, all of which could be relevant to upcoming proceedings. Late night at a seafood place overlooking

San Francisco and the

Bay, then home to orchestrated page 2 of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXVIII. The Parables.

November 12 - All in a Day's

2009-11-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

Begin the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXVIII. The Parables,

before Quiz 13 (Figured Bass) for the Theoreticians,

with way-later musical examples drawn from Philip Glass, Roger Waters (Pink Floyd), and John Williams.

Home thereafter,

after errands,

and songbirds on the rooftops,

printing out Sex and the Bible: 2. Quartet for the Beginning of Time: Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel,

breaking for a stint at the gym with Harriet and company,

and back to print out 3. Noah's Flood.

November 11 - Yes, And Veterans Day

2009-11-11T23:48:00.000-08:00

Finish the orchestration of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXVII. The Sower, before a Theory of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story: Cool, scheduling student teaching, and a delightful harp presentation by Amanda Kim. More paper grading, now at the Student Union, then record

The Gospel According to St. Matthew

XXVII. The Sower

with apologies to Jan Sibelius's Symphony No. 2: II and Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt: I. San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra board meeting follows, then late-night printing of Sex and the Bible: 1. The Creation: VII. Let Us Make Man.

November 10 - Never Forgetting

2009-11-10T23:59:00.000-08:00

Provisional finish of the December 2009 issue of 21st-Century Music (21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com and soon at 21st-centurymusic.com and in print), with an article on Iannis Xenakis; Theory class is a double dictation on Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach: Bed (four measures) and Roger Waters's Shine On You Crazy Diamond: III -- with discussion on figured bass and keyboard-solfege from John Williams's Star Wars: The Force. Light lunch at

Elephant Bar, grading papers; purchase a 12' audio cable for the Macbook connection to the stereo in the lecture hall; then evenng

Literature class (in spread-out quiz mode above) from the Charles Ives Three Places in New England through Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. After

further

instructions, out with Doug and Owen to the ever-popular new local bistro, then home late to orchestrate page 13 of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXVII. The Sower.

November 9 - Food for Thought

2009-11-09T23:21:00.000-08:00

Finish the publication-preparation and visual libretto for Sex and the Bible: The Opera (Part I), with 7. Amazing Joseph: VII. Take My Youngest Son, VIII. I Am Joseph, and IX. Now I Can Die, discovering that Jacob's blessings actually make a bit of pictorial ABA possible.

Wander up to the gym with Harriet, and, metaphorically and in reality, spend most of the time on the treadmill, which, with the iPod iPhone and the

lightboard, is downright amusing. Orchestrate through page 12 of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXVII. The Sower upon return.

November 8 - Fun and Games

2009-11-08T23:10:00.000-08:00

All day at home with Harriet, engaged in the simple and not-so-simple affairs of life, including page 10 of The Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXVII. The Sower orchestrated, plus publication-preparation and visual libretto to Sex and the Bible: 7. Amazing Joseph: III. Now the Ishmaelites (Potiphar's Wife) and

V. Pharaoh Had a Dream.

November 7 - Adventurous Listening

2009-11-07T23:43:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra Haunted House Science Fiction Quiz Show turns out to be quite a concert, enthusiastically received by a capacity crowd at Oakland's Chapel of the chimes, including

Phil Freihofner - It's Only the Wind
Loren Jones - The Secret Garden
Gerhard Samuel - night and trees
Lisa Scola Prosek - Roma
Davide Verotta - Death Will Come and Have Your Eyes
Erling Wold - Sweet Encumbrance
Mark Alburger - Elijah Ghost
Michael Cooke - Open Ended

There's time fore for orchestration of Page 9 Gospel According to St. Matthew: XXVII. The Sower, printing up the program at Kinko's, and a libation with Harriet at the Tiki Bar at the corner of Pleasant Valley and Piedmont, then aft to greet well-wishers and return to the publication-preparation and visual libretto for

Sex and the Bible: 7. Amazing Joseph: II. Meanwhile Judah Left Home.