November 24, 2006

In the last moments of consciousness...



... I publish this entry. It looks like we have finally made it to the end of the week. Phew! A heavy line to draw across the calendar I have stored in my head. The Christmas season kicked off today with the opening of the Christkindlmarkt on Hauptplatz. Maybe I'll check it out tomorrow. On the other hand, I really feel like a spontaneous day trip somewhere. I think I'll jump on the train and get out somewhere in Slovenia. Anything to break the neverending cycle that is day-to-day routine.

When it comes to fashion, Graz's inhabitants take pride in their progressiveness.

Turkish pop has been blasting on my iPod this week thanks to Melissa, who has been busy introducing me into the multifaceted genre. God knows what Sertab Erener's soulful lament is all about, but boy did it reflect my gloomy mood some days ago. Things got better on Wednesday, however, in the aftermath of our university's orchestra's concert in the Stephaniensaal. After the obligatory Schnitzl with Kartoffelsalat at Gösser, I followed some friends to their communal home on the other side of the river Mur - a district with the charming name of Gries. I returned home at noon the next day.

My impact has reached all the way to the Styrian wine industry.

Yesterday, I also visited a choir rehearsal conducted by my fabulous singing teacher. Not for the first time, I asked myself what is it that makes Schumann's a cappella music for choir somehow boring and meaningless? Today, I spent almost four hours in the solitude of a class in the university. Just me, an Erard concert grand and Yamaha grand piano, and a bunch of choir music. Next up in our choral conducting class will be two - shall we say uncomfortable? - works: Schnittke's requiem and Beethoven's ninth symphony. Schnittke's orchestration is perplexing at the least - unless you are a fan of combinations such as piano, organ, electrical guitar and tam tam. Not the easiest piece to study! As for Beethoven, well, some of his choral output is just horribly unsingable.

An architectural gem in Gries.

Airliner World's newest issue has finally arrived, and believe it or not, it includes an article about a plane journey from Singapore to Canada, with stops in UUS (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) and none other than PKC (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskyi), featuring a breathtaking picture of the Koryaksky and Avachinsky volcanoes just outside the town. Not surprisingly, I spent yesterday evening surfing websites of travel agencies arranging adventure tours in the wilderness of this remote part of the world. Tight budgets aren't very popular here - let's just say I'll have to stuff some more coins up the piggy bank's backside before you'll find me skidding down the Bogdanovich glacier.

2 Comments:

At 24 November, 2006 23:46, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Marie-Antoinette -style IS in now! So they have a good reason to be proud.

I just discovered you can get to Mongolia by train quite cheap.

 
At 24 November, 2006 23:52, Blogger Unknown said...

We did some parts of Schnittke's Requiem in choir conducting c. Interesting music!

 

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