Scenes of Almost-Winter

As I write this we’re about eleven days or so from the start of winter. I live in the Buffalo area, though, and winter is starting to show itself, like an impatient performer eager to take the stage. In fact, around here the last third of autumn really tends to be indistinguishable from autumn. We’re not blanketed with a snowpack that will last months just yet, but it’s coming. Meantime, here is a set of wintry images from Western New York. The first photo is from November 3; the last from yesterday.

Stream on a cold fall morning #ChestnutRidge #wny #orchardpark #autumn #fall #nature #hiking #trees #stream #runningwater

First snow! #winter #snow #nature #wny #Buffalo #the716

Adventurers in black and white #blackandwhite #Cane #dogsofinstagram #greyhound #greyhoundsofinstagram #KnoxFarm #eastaurora #wny #autumn #nature #hiking #trees #overalls #dungarees #biboveralls #vintage #oldnavy #oldnavyoveralls #denimoveralls #overallsa

November in Western New York #snow #wny

Winter sunrise (but it's still autumn) #sunrise #sky

Awaiting sunrise #coldmornings

The roads are closed to vehicles now. #ChestnutRidge #wny #orchardpark #autumn #fall #nature #hiking #trees

Wintry scene behind my house #snow #nature #almostwinter

Morning sky #sun #clouds #sky #sunrise

The Dee-oh-gee is interested in something #Cane #dogsofinstagram #greyhound #greyhoundsofinstagram #ChestnutRidge #wny #orchardpark #hiking #trees #nature

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Your Daily Dose of Christmas

OK, so after a really busy day of errands and whatnot yesterday I suddenly remembered about 11:00pm that I hadn’t posted a Daily Dose, so I went with a comedy number by Johnny Carson that I use every year. But that’s far from the only comedic take on The Twelve Days of Christmas! Nope, not at all. In fact, it’s probably more common to hear comedic takes on that old carol than to hear the thing actually performed straight. Cases in point:

This one here is particularly neat if you’re a music history buff:

And what about twelve days after Christmas?


And if you must hear “12 Days” performed perfectly nicely with no comedy attached, here you go:

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Your Daily Dose of Christmas

Even now it comes as a surprise to a lot of people that the trumpet isn’t just an instrument for blazing fanfares and astonishing brass coluratura fireworks. The trumpet can be a deeply lyrical instrument as well, as is heard in this short selection by the amazing Tine Thing Helseth. Here is Ms. Helseth with “In the Bleak Midwinter”.

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Tone Poem Tuesday

So this week we conclude our trip through Dvorak’s trio of tone poems that he called “Nature, Life, and Love” with the Othello Overture. There was some definite Shakespearean inspiration for Dvorak here, but it’s not wise to try to find exact correspondences in the music to the drama. The overture is definitely more stormy and takes a darker tone than the previous two installments in this trio of overtures. For a work whose alternate title indicates that what is being explored is love, it certainly seems that Dvorak has a view of love that doesn’t exclude that emotion’s more introspective and combative elements.

Here is Dvorak’s Othello Overture.

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Your Daily Dose of Christmas

One of the great sopranos left us just a couple of months ago: Jessye Norman, who died September 30 at 74 years of age. Norman was not only an amazing singer with the kind of voice that could fill a cathedral, but she was also extremely versatile, refusing to be typecast or limited in the roles she was able to perform or music she was able to sing. (She was even quoted at one point as saying “Pigeonholes are for pigeons.” Norman had impeccable dramatic control of her voice at all times, and she sang with a stunning clarity that was always something amazing to hear.

This song was actually written for Jessye Norman, by composer Donald Fraser. I haven’t been able to find a whole lot of information about it, but Fraser might have written it while at a party at which Norman was guest of honor. The song’s title is “This Christmastide”, but it is also apparently known as “Jessye’s Carol”. Enjoy!

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