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I had a plan for what I was going to do on Wednesday, which was the day I was taking off from the durance vile of journal editing this week, but it was derailed midmorning when I fortunately was still at home to get an e-mail - he didn't have a phone with him - from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ron_drummond, who was actually in San Jose - a fact of note since these days he's usually in upstate NY - and had the day free. So we spent a jolly afternoon, first with lunch at the Thai restaurant that vgqn first alerted to me to, which he'd already discovered on his own, then touring the King Library downtown for its hidden public art installations, then around the scenery of the Stanford campus, and finally dinner at one of the North Fair Oaks taquerias.
"Too bad it isn't tomorrow evening you're free," I'd told Ron, "because if it were I'd have you as my guest for the San Francisco Symphony concert I'm reviewing." "Oh, but I am," he replied, as it turned out he was transferring abode to the City that afternoon. What an elegant concatenation of logistics. So I drove him up and dinner and a concert followed.
And the concert? The thread of this program was "Early Beethoven," and some of it was very early. When I first saw the season schedule, I was dismayed at the appearance of the snappily-titled Cantata on the Death of the Emperor Joseph II, because it's really not any good. Beethoven was only 19 when he produced this, his first major composition, on commission, and while Mozart had been writing mature masterpieces at 18, Beethoven wasn't Mozart.
And then my editors sent me to review it! Well, I said what I could for the thing, and had more praise for a performance of the Second Symphony which they're recording for what will make a terrific CD. But best of all was a tiny little sonatina for mandolin and fortepiano. Here's a little-known fact for you: Beethoven invented bluegrass. Here, have a listen:
( Why we were here, and what else I did )
ron_drummond, who was actually in San Jose - a fact of note since these days he's usually in upstate NY - and had the day free. So we spent a jolly afternoon, first with lunch at the Thai restaurant that vgqn first alerted to me to, which he'd already discovered on his own, then touring the King Library downtown for its hidden public art installations, then around the scenery of the Stanford campus, and finally dinner at one of the North Fair Oaks taquerias."Too bad it isn't tomorrow evening you're free," I'd told Ron, "because if it were I'd have you as my guest for the San Francisco Symphony concert I'm reviewing." "Oh, but I am," he replied, as it turned out he was transferring abode to the City that afternoon. What an elegant concatenation of logistics. So I drove him up and dinner and a concert followed.
And the concert? The thread of this program was "Early Beethoven," and some of it was very early. When I first saw the season schedule, I was dismayed at the appearance of the snappily-titled Cantata on the Death of the Emperor Joseph II, because it's really not any good. Beethoven was only 19 when he produced this, his first major composition, on commission, and while Mozart had been writing mature masterpieces at 18, Beethoven wasn't Mozart.
And then my editors sent me to review it! Well, I said what I could for the thing, and had more praise for a performance of the Second Symphony which they're recording for what will make a terrific CD. But best of all was a tiny little sonatina for mandolin and fortepiano. Here's a little-known fact for you: Beethoven invented bluegrass. Here, have a listen:
( Why we were here, and what else I did )
