Of Other Lumber Products

Attended a concert of the Chulalongkorn University Clarinet Ensemble yesterday evening. It's rather beautiful the way the clarinet seems to have a strong natural resonance and after-the-note sound, with short, soft notes carrying away through the hall. While having reservations on some arrangements of string works for clarinet (which is rather hypocritical considering the Brahms viola sonatas are stolen from the clarinet and in some sections tranpositionally abused) the natural tendencies - and even the limitations - of the wind instrument have provided some real insight into rethinking the way we play some long-time string favourites.

Comparitive instrumentalization, it's music's future, I swear.

Decided against buying a CD of Beethoven's first symphony which I'll be playing with the Thailand Philharmonic, in favour of a recording Mendelssohn's string octet, which is lesser-known but highly recommended by those who have heard it. Not bad. And Harmonia Mundi seems to me to taken the clarity of Philips and some of the resonance of Sony and EMI. Not bad. Maybe I should give the Schubert octet another shot, and the Debussy trio too.

Time to explore Bangkok a little more. Scheduled a lesson with Asst. Prof. Col. Choochart Pitaksakorn; it'll be refreshing, and it gives me a little push on the Weber, which despite some weirdly produced string articulatory writing, has a really beautiful core. The harp demands some attention. Plus looks like I may just have 10 days extra leave as the school closes for renovations at the end of September. Great news for someone who misses Penang more than he's willing to admit.