Haven't gotten around to blogging in the last week, so I apologize to all those who've been checking in on me.

Just wanted to say a word about a couple of recent concerts Lenise and I were able to attend. The first was actually before Christmas, but it wasn't a Christmas concert. It was an organ recital by David Arcus, the court organist at Duke chapel. He played a Bach piece (an new one to me), a very late work of Cesar Franck with a very dramatic ending, and his own "organ symphony". If this last piece were fresher in my mind I would say more about it. I'll just note that towards the end there was a single repeated note on a very buzzy reedy pipe setting that sounded, if anything, like a fire alarm. This was followed by a slow and peaceful ending. In his program notes Mr Arcus stated that the work was finished up around Sept 9th or 10th, and that the ending had seemed even more appropriate afterwards.

The second concert was this past Sunday afternoon. We went to the NC museum of Art in Raleigh to here the McIver ensemble playing Faure`'s piano quartet #1 and Brahms piano quartet in G minor (you know, the one with the rondo alla zingaresa). Lenise was a bit bored with the Faure`, though I found it quite lovely. We both rather enjoyed the Brahms, with I consider my very favorite chamber piece.

One word about the concert settings. The chapel at Duke University, as I learned, was thoroughly prepared for the installation of its Flentrop organ. All of the porous surfaces were treated to create more of a gothic cathedral acoustic. This process took the reverb time from 2 seconds to 7. Though the seating is a bit uncomfortable, it is a wonderful place to hear music. On the other hand, the theater at the museum has a ceiling made of deeply recessed concrete squares, effectively dozens of sound traps above. The walls have curtains on them, the floor is carpeted and the seats are padded. While it is certainly more comfortable, it is just completely dead acousticaly speaking. We sat in the third row, about 15-20 feet from the musicians, and in some places we still has trouble hearing them. Oh well.