Shibuya at night. Very Blade Runner. Click on he full-screen symbol, and also check out the sounds:
Christmas is serious business in Tokyo. Two cherry-pickers and 6 or 7 men per tree, carefully and precisely added Christmas lights to every branch. Two crews worked, one on each side of the street. At the rate they were going, it would be December before they would be done with all of the lighting, but it will look perfect, of course! I took the photo from a restaurant where we had dinner. Worst food of the trip, but the great noddle-shops around the corner were jam-packed and had throngs of people waiting in line. At least we had a great vantage point for observing the lighting crew from the second floor!
Sunday afternoon I went to the Meiji-Jingu Shinto shrine in Shibuya. It was a nice respite after walking in three different districts of modern Tokyo. A wedding was being performed and there were many people, and especially kids, in traditional dress. This is a fence that uses printed leaves to blend in better:
The Blue Note van/bus took us to Yokohama at 12:15. This time we elected to travel without an engineer and to our relief the crew at Motion Blue was fantastic – we all commented that we wished we could take them with us. Very capable, efficient and friendly. The club provided Jon with a keyboard amd Michael said the house-drumkit was excellent. The house-engineer didn’t appear to speak a lick of English but mixed FOH and our monitors and it sounded great. After soundcheck we left to grab a bite to eat and as we got ready to leave, the club’s manager joked with us “please come back”.
We performed at 18:30 and 21:30 and were very happy with our playing. Great grooves and very funky. Michael keeps getting better and better. The trio version of “Firelight” from The Scent of Light sounds great with Jon’s bass taking over the melody at the end of the first section. I asked him whether he turns up the volume knob or stomps on one of his boxes for that line, because it comes in nice and powerful, but he said he just plays a little harder and the bass does the rest. The quality of that Lakland bass and the dynamic range it produces are amazing! It was nice to see heads bobbing and bodies swaying in the audience. I kept my talking to a minimum, which you know is hard for me to do because I like to talk… The club is located near the water front and here are a couple of photos around sunset:
I woke up to my first morning in Tokyo a little after 03:30. By 06:00 I had already read (((The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte))), sat zazen for 40 minutes, experienced an earthquake, and washed my face to go out for a walk.
Lobby call was noon, and the Blue Note van left for Yokohama at 12:15.
Here are a few first photos, starting with the view from my room. President Obama was in Tokyo on Friday and Saturday and security around the hotel was intense.
Today: Rehearsal. Then I’ll finish packing for Japan.
Been listening to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Karajan conducting. 1977. I have read that some cynics claim he recorded the symphony at such brisk tempi because the record company needed to fit it on an LP. But an LP can’t deliver 66 minutes of music anyway and this recording was made 7 years before CDs were available. I just think the orchestra, in true Beethoven spirit, wanted to rock the house… and THIS DOES! I love the second movement. From wikipedia:
The second movement, a scherzo, is also in D minor, with the opening theme bearing a passing resemblance to the opening theme of the first movement, a pattern also found in the Hammerklavier piano sonata, written a few years earlier. It uses propulsive rhythms and a timpani solo.
It uses propulsive rhythms and a timpani solo. It’s rock and roll, two hundred years ago.
Jon writes:
I looked at the score and yes, the (((second))) movement is written as a very fast 3/4 (triple time). For me, it’s easier to hear it in a slower 4/4. You heard it that way too, right? (((Yes, I did)))
So, when the timpani sound like they are playing rock n roll backbeats- it is written as the downbeat of every second measure of three. Or- when the pulse sounds like Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let, Trip-a-let, (eighth note triplets in the slower 4/4) it is written 123, 123, 123, 123 (fast 3/4) The measure are flying by!
I don’t know what a Scherzi was supposed to sound like before this, but if LVB wanted to have the section effectively be in 4/4, he did it in such a way as to still technically be in 3/4… Hope this isn’t confusing- I’ll show you the score tomorrow.
From wikipedia:
Beethoven had been criticised before for failing to adhere to standard form for his compositions. He used this movement to answer his critics. Normally, Scherzi are written in triple time. Beethoven wrote this piece in triple time, but it is punctuated in a way that, when coupled with the speed of the metre, makes it sound as though it is in quadruple time.
Good old Ludwig Van… like I said – Rock & Roll!
One night last week:
That might make a nice large-scale painting. Some of the reflections already look like brush-strokes.
