Oh look, a video of Julian Lloyd Webber playing the finale from Haydn's C major concerto. I don't mean to diss the guy, but... I'm dissing him anyway. He sounds like he's on Ecstasy pills. And what's with the outfit?
I didn't think there existed a recording of this concerto worse than Jacqueline du Pré's. Now I really don't mean to diss her, but I'm dissing her anyway so bear with me here. Now Woodriver's gonna kill me for this, but that doesn't deter me from saying it. Jacqueline du Pré's life was beautiful. Her death was beautiful. Her playing was... not quite so beautiful. Aww, come on. Aren't I entitled to my own opinion?
It's 2.30am and I just quaffed a coffee without realizing what it was... So, with sleep out of the question, here's another rant to get the poison out of my system, and trust me I'm dying of emotional septicaemia these days.
How many people does our cello section have?
Just one. The rest of us don't exist, in VH's eyes. Everything is luscious marmalade jam. The world centres around it. It gives the earth its spin.
I never liked marmalade in the first place.
Today her playing spoke for itself. Definitely not up to all that pre-concert hype there. Zero emotions, zero dynamics. Kind of in tune. Well, in a way, it made me feel better, because I'm not worried about her - SHE DOES NOT STAND A GHOST OF A CHANCE AGAINST ME if she foolishly decides to enter the concerto competition.
But what's really galling is the fact that VH coddles her as though she's some kind of treasure. Well, maaaybe she is. No, she isn't. She can't count. And so, if he continues in his folly, he'll be left with one cellist in the section when - I mean if, and I pray it won't come to this - I hit the anti-Nazi button.
By coddling that girl, he is alienating the rest of us. Check out what he did today:
1. He announced that he would be doing the Dvořák Wind Serenade, and he needed a cellist.
'I need a wonderful cellist... and I've found one!'
Selected her on the spot, he did. Did not throw open the request to the floor - in which case I would have jumped at the opportunity, because I have played the piece before and I will definitely do a better job than her any day because I CAN COUNT MUAHAHAHAHA.
2. He made plans for a Brahms evening, saying he wants to do the Brahms violin concerto and double concerto. No prizes for guessing who he picked to play the cello for the double concerto.
All in one afternoon.
Come on! What the hell! Who does he think she is? Some kind of superwoman? Has he forgotten the rest of us? This is definitely serious.
On another note, the Beatles concert is really throwing a monkey wrench into my plans. I'd have talked to VH earlier about things, if not for this shit. EW is a nice guy, and he's innocent of all this nonsense. Plus, the British were one of the forces which defeated the Nazis.
This evening I had my first cello lesson since Germany. Finally showed my teacher the 3rd movement. Practised hard and did really well. =D And finally got my old case back. It feels REALLY light compared to that white sarcophagus.
Cabbed back to school after lesson to put away my cello (so I don't have to drag it home and back to school tomorrow), and ended up watching YouTube in the lab, then banged away on the cello for half an hour. Handel/Halvorsen Passacaglia. Anyway, I have a new favourite violist:
Pinchas Zukerman.
By far, the best recording of the Handel/Halvorsen Passacaglia on YouTube has to be Perlman/Zukerman. I can't find a good violin/cello recording. Cellists always take the string crossing passage too slow. Maybe Jerry and I should put ours up. Anyway, Passacaglia next week with Jerry! I jammed with Pamela for fun in the afternoon, and - freak - she made me realize how rusty I am with the damn piece. I NEED TO PRACTISE.
'My God, Wen-Bin! You practise too much! Try not to play so well, will you? You're an intelligent man, so talented, but you're a composer, not a cellist! You can't play so good, everyone will hate you otherwise!'
No one actually said this to me, but this is precisely the vibes he's giving me. =/
