I Love APM

Hot on the heels of SymphonyCast's nationwide broadcast of my performance of Shostakovich's Tahiti Trot with the Houston Symphony in January, Performance Today just announced that they will broadcast our performance of selections from The Gadfly on tomorrow's show.  To learn when your local station will air this program, please click HERE, or listen online anytime between April 22 and 28 by clicking HERE.

Short Notice

Stepping in for Thomas Dausgaard at the Houston Symphony tonight. Would love to have you there if you're in town! 8 p.m. @ Jones Hall.

Nielsen: Saul and David: Prelude to Act II

Adams: Violin Concerto (Leila Josefowicz, violin)

Brahms: Symphony No. 1

The World in a Phrase

Just finished James Geary's wonderful survey of aphorisms, The World in a Phrase, and thought I'd share a handful of my favorites. Enjoy!

* * * * * * * * * *

Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded. But once mastered, no one can help you as much.

-Buddha

I am not concerned that I have no place; I am concerned how I may fit myself for one. I am not concerned that I am not known; I seek to be worthy to be known.

-Confucius

Acquire knowledge. It enables its possessor to distinguish right from wrong; it lights the way to heaven; it is our friend in the desert, our society in solitude, our companion when friendless; it guides us to happiness; it sustains us in misery; it is an ornament among friends, and an armor against enemies.

-Muhammad

Nothing is sufficient for the man to whom the sufficient is too little.

-Epicurus

Go around with your middle finger up, and people will say you're crazy; go around with your pinky up, and they'll cultivate your acquaintance.

-Diogenes

Every man is worth exactly as much as the worth of what he has set his heart upon.

-Seneca

Avoid outshining your superiors. All victories breed hate, and that over your superior is foolish or fatal. So make any advice given to them appear like a recollection of something they have only forgotten rather than as a guide to something they cannot find.

-Gracián

- To refuse to accept praise is to want to be praised twice over.

- Pity is often feeling our own sufferings in those of others, a shrewd precaution against misfortunes that may befall us...a gift we bestow on ourselves in advance.

-La Rochefoucauld

The poet must not cross an interval with a step when he can cross it with a leap.

-Joubert

It is impossible to carry the torch of truth through a crowd without singeing someone's beard.

-Lichtenberg

Hope is the confusion of the desire for a thing with its probability.

-Schopenhauer

One repays a teacher badly if one always remains nothing but a pupil.

-Nietzsche

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

-Thoreau

I have often been forced to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that there was no place else to go.

-Lincoln

An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.

-Chateaubriand

- The loss of a thing affects us until we have lost it altogether.

- The fear of separation is all that unites.

-Porchia

Honor thy error as a hidden intention.

-Peter Schmidt and Brian Eno

- Optimists and pessimists differ only on the date of the end of the world.

- "Definition" and "finis" have the same Latin root.

- No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.

-S.J. Lec

The difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

-Gerald Burrill

Ex libris

So, how to explain away one's blog-linquency!  Well...

Exhibit A: The joy of tweeting. (If you're unfamiliar, see the sidebar at right, or just hop on over to my Twitter page.) Now, wait a minute, I know, I know, I felt the same way, too. But listen: it's actually much more enjoyable than I had imagined before I dove in about a month ago. There's something very appealing about the challenge of using only 140 characters to attempt to share a part of yourself--sort of like an online, instantaneous, Smith Magazine-esque encapsulation of yourself. Anyhow, now that Facebook has officially gone down the tubes, Twitter is here to stay, at least for me.

(Please know how strongly I am fighting the urge to point out that I began a sentence in that first paragraph with a conjunction. I'm sorry, dear Mrs. Grimm, wherever you are; please resist the temptation to revisit my 3rd-grade transcripts.)

Exhibit B (and the real focus of present entry): I've been making a conscious effort to carve out some extended, meaningful time with a select group of my ever-expanding trove of books. Without slathering the following with my editorial opinions, I thought I'd share a few of the titles I've been especially enjoying of late. In case you'd like to join in the fun, each title is hyperlinked to its respective amazon.com page (as RB would say, other sites are available).

The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within by Stephen Fry

Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath

The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism by James Geary

Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average by Joseph T. Hallinan

The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words by Ronald C. White, Jr.

Who Killed Classical Music?: Maestros, Managers, and Corporate Politics by Norman Lebrecht

Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music by Blair Tindall

25 Random Things About Me

1. My profession notwithstanding, dressing up is entirely antithetical to my sartorial nature. I would wear jeans and a t-shirt every day if I could.
2. I am addicted to Tetris. My best 40-line sprint time is 0:49.273. Seriously.
3. I write pop songs, and I like them.
4. I hate spending money. I have little money to spend. This works out well.
5. If I could, I would eat Tejas Trios for every meal, and wash them down with Mexican martinis...yes, even for breakfast.
6. If you're reading this, I probably miss you more than I'd admit.
7. There are no words to express how much I love learning.
8. I never knew my biological father, but my dad is one of the greatest people I've ever known.
9. Though I have loved living everywhere I've moved (especially Austin), Seattle and Bellingham will always be home to me.
10. I am a cat person, and have only had three throughout my life: Figaro and Charlie at my parents', and M'ow. I will discuss neither the Cleo fiasco nor the lifelong toll it has had on my psyche in the present note.
11. I am addicted to my computer and the internet, and have been a Macophile since 2001. I've owned an iBook, a PowerBook, an iPod, an iPod nano, and an iPhone. I will never go back.
12. I need time alone. Like, a lot of time.
13. I've owned two cars in my life: my 1994 Ford Aspire (Coche/Ass-Pyre) and my 2001 Honda Accord (Coche Dos).
14. I've voted for either one or two winning presidential candidates (depending on who you think won in 2000).
15. I love reading aloud.
16. Vodka in the summer, scotch in the winter. Who am I kidding? Anytime, anyplace, whatever you're up for.
17. I am horrible about appreciating things while I'm living them. Thus, I'm sure, the persistent streak of nostalgia running through my life.
18. I had my left ear pierced throughout high school.
19. After getting off the school bus in elementary school, I used to run--arms extended--down our cul-de-sac in the hopes that I would take off like Superman. I will not disclose whether this ever worked.
20. I've had four surgeries, and would like to hold there for a while, please.
21. I cannot draw to save my life.
22. I am absolutely, without question a night owl. Post-midnight is prime time for artistic productivity.
23. After concerts, I go home...and study.
24. I love classical music, but almost never listen to it for pleasure.
25. I love traveling, but I love home more (i.e., I was born a house cat by the sleight of my mother's hand).

Pacifism with a purpose

What a thrilling world this could be if only we knew we would never again have to indulge the brutal sin of war-making. Instead of wasting our energies in hostility and our wealth on weaponry, we could send art to the moon, exalt our Pasternaks instead of isolating them. We could feed and house and clothe everyone forever, lick cancer in a week, harness the sun's energy, learn a few languages, talk, travel, grow, and love.

-Leonard Bernstein

Where I'm headed next

Brasov, Romania

Conducting 101

I recently had the pleasure of filming a brief educational video for the Houston Chronicle's website, www.chron.com, exploring the fundamentals of conducting. Enjoy!

Best. Credits. Ever.

"Bridge"

1. Aimless

2. Sad Irish Eyes

3. Man of Many Questions

4. Where You Are

5. Amy

6. Even This

7. Down (You Were)

8. Two by Two

9. (If Your Heart Is) Ready

10. Still Life

11. Come Home

12. Smell the Smoke

14. Walking Allentown

© 2009 Brett Mitchell