abduction from the seraglio

Tonight, I went with my friend Maya (visiting from the Hyderabad office) to see an organ recital in honor of the anniversary of the first performance of Handel's 'Messiah'. The recital was held in Christ Church Cathedral (see below). The organist was clearly v. talented, and the music was lovely in a church setting--but it was also clear that the organist much preferred Bach, because he only played one Handel piece despite Handel being the supposed theme. He also only got ~40 minutes--apparently, since Christ Church is now supported solely by tourism dollars/euros, they don't like to pay staff to keep the doors open for free concerts. Or perhaps I should be more charitable and assume they had some sort of evening services going on. Anyway, because of the length of the concert, the organist cut one of the two Handel pieces. Despite that, the music was really lovely--I used to listen to lots of Bach fugues when I was younger and less enthralled by pop culture, so I felt like I was getting back to my roots.

Listening to classical always makes me wish that I still played the flute; I gave it up years ago, but despite the fact that my mouth was the wrong shape for flute, which made it difficult for me to hold the correct embouchure (aka the tight, closed-up position that allows you to direct a steady stream of air across the flute opening), I always enjoyed playing it. My band director in high school was really quite good; we won all of the marching band competitions, except for one, that we entered while I was in high school, and we typically performed very well at the conference-wide concert band competitions as well. Some of my favorite pieces from the good ol' days included 'Flores de Espana' (which had a nice Spanish flair), 'Trail of Tears' (which involved haunting wind instruments combined with some fun chanting of Cherokee words which we probably were incapable of pronouncing), and a duet of Pachelbel's 'Canon' that I played with Elaina. Oh, and the Olympic theme arrangement, of course. Anyway, if I ever become Secretary of State, maybe I'll take up flute again--I saw an article in the New York Times the other day about Condoleezza Rice's piano skills in her chamber group, and it was rather inspiring.

Anyway, the concert was cool, and afterwards we went to a pub (naturally) and had a pint of Guinness with the three other people who went to the concert with us. Then, Maya and I ditched the other three and had a tasty dinner near the pub; I was extremely glad that we took a cab home, since I was much too full for the twenty-minute walk. After reaching home, I downloaded the pictures you see below, and I also downloaded Mozart's overture to 'The Abduction from the Seraglio', which has been on repeat ever since. I may have to get back into classical music, since I'm rather sick of everything else I have. I know, it's blasphemy to say that I no longer want to listen to Gavin Rossdale--he'll always be near and dear to my heart, but I think I need a break from him. Mozart seems like an adequate (albeit calmer) substitute.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do this weekend, but I have four days off, so hopefully I can accomplish a lot. Actually, most stores and things will be closed during Easter, and everything will be closed on Good Friday--but I would imagine that some of the more touristy things will be open Saturday and Monday, so perhaps I'll do one of those Dublin bus tours. Now, though, I'm super tired, so it's time for bed!