Monthly Archives: May 2008

Mahler's 9th, part 2: Floating Motives

Posted on May 21, 2008 by Miss Music Nerd

NaBloPoMo Day 21! Yesterday I gave a bit of history and background about Mahler and his 9th (including the rather important role his music has played in my life! ). Today I have a few reflections on the piece, which … Continue reading →

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Mahler's 9th, Part 1: A Little Background [to the] Music

Posted on May 20, 2008 by Miss Music Nerd

NaBloPoMo Day 20! My first real date with McDoc (which, I told him, was not a date, just as our two previous dates had also not been, I said, because I was status-post-heartbreak, courtesy of Mr. Wrong-but-I-was-the-last-to-realize-it, and I “wasn’t … Continue reading →

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Thwarted!

Posted on May 19, 2008 by Miss Music Nerd

NaBloPoMo Day 19! Well, rats! :grr: I wanted to write my review of Mahler’s 9th today, and it occurred to me that it would be great if I could listen to a recording while following a score. So I bopped … Continue reading →

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Hard Thoughts: A Renaissance Woman's Dilemma (part 1)

Posted on May 18, 2008 by Miss Music Nerd

NaBloPoMo Day 18! This afternoon I attended the Detroit Symphony‘s performance of Gustav Mahler‘s Symphony no. 9. I’m going to write about it, you can bet your bottom dollar, but I haven’t quite peeled myself off the ceiling yet (I … Continue reading →

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Underground Music — Literally!

Posted on May 17, 2008 by Miss Music Nerd

NaBloPoMo Day 17! I lived in New York City for four years, back in the ’90s (that’s in the last century! ). I did a number of things there — worked as 1) a church organist, 2) a research assistant … Continue reading →

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Criticism: Possible Antidotes… and That's Enough for Now!

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Miss Music Nerd

“How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea?”

I came across this quote the other day in a post about musical responses to great tragedies: “Requiems,” by Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker.

Ross’ understanding of Shakespeare’s question (which, as he mentions, Wallace Stevens cited while writing about World War II) concerns the light-in-the-darkness function that musicians serve in the face of horrific events:

How, in other words, can artists respond to news that exceeds their most extravagant nightmares?”

Happily, we can, and do, respond in many ways… Continue reading →

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A Musical Interlude

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Miss Music Nerd

NaBloPoMo Day 15! The conclusion to my little series on criticism continues to brew, so I thought in the meantime I’d post some Actual Music. Have you ever heard the quote, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture”? I … Continue reading →

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Search Me! (A Bit of Organ Curiosity!)

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Miss Music Nerd

NaBloPoMo Day 14! Woo hoo! Miss Music Nerd officially passed the 5000-hit mark a coupla weeks ago, and is now closing in on 6000! So I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone who has stumbled upon my little … Continue reading →

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Criticism: It Sucks! (part the third)

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Miss Music Nerd

NaBloPoMo Day 13! I left off yesterday discussing my utopian vision for a better world. Or, at least my fervent hope that human interaction isn’t by definition doomed to devolve into nitpicking one-upmanship, and that we just might be capable … Continue reading →

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Criticism: It Sucks! (part 2)

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Miss Music Nerd

NaBloPoMo Day 12! When I was a fresh-faced, eager young grad student in the first term of my Ph.D. composition program, I took a seminar in the Critical Studies division of my university’s music department. (That’s an updated term for … Continue reading →

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