Exploring the possibilities

I'm still not sure exactly what I want to use this blog for, if anything aside from supplementary information on performances.  Possible other-than-performance-information topics I've thought of include:

1. Amber Riley (Mercedes on Glee) is an incredible artist, and we share the same favorite Michael Jackson song! (Which would be "Human Nature" from Thriller.)

2. Networking is hard, and I am bad at it.

3. Used books are so cool!  The only type of book this doesn't 100% apply to, in my estimation, is comics, which are kind of nice when they're fresh, and it's better to have new textbooks for the childrens, but in all other arenas the used book kicks the new book's butt.  Take, for example, this '77 edition of Alastair Reid's translations of Borges' volume The Gold of the Tigers that I bought, like, a week ago, and haven't yet read.  I don't need to read it.  I just want to own it.  It's got awesome flippy pages and a paint-by-numbers pile of limned spaces that could very well add up to a tiger, and the typeface on the cover is lovely, and it has the cool scent of an older book (mixed with purse gum, but that's another story).  A new book is just a book, but a used book is a find.

4. Purse gum, and what is up with it.

5. My love of chicken salad.

...

Hmmm.  I may just stick to supplemental performance information.

Note about the downloadable Graduate Recital feature

Color-coded for your somewhat ease of navigation:
1. Disclaimer
2. Reasoning
3. Modus Operandus/Security thingee
4. Invitation to the voyage!!
5. Final Babble
6. Link

1. Here's the thing: I thought my Graduate Recital went well, all things considered.  Things considered include imperfect singing (mostly imperfect singing), as well as a few recording issues.  The tracks near the middle are a little bit off (the end of some songs ended up at the beginning of other songs), and there is some skipping (again in the middle).  It's a live performance recorded by a student engineer--we both did a good job...all things considered.  I just want to warn anyone thinking of listening to or downloading the program.  The tracks I have up as videos are (in my opinion) the ones most worth listening to. 

2. So why am I making the (even more) imperfect tracks available (for a limited time--I'm thinking maybe two months)?  I think it's because the recital was an important point for me, and I do want to share it, or at least make it available to anyone who's interested (for a bit).  The recital was--is--a real expression of songs I love and feel a connection to, within a context I tried to create (the French section's title is "Invitations," the German's, "Homecoming," the English's, "Longing," and the Bach/Italian arias', "Regeneration" [or something like that]).  I want to keep sharing a moment that was really about sharing--to fit the form to the thing itself. 

Come on, Sara, do you really think you need to get this heavy over an optional fileshare?  ANYWAY...

3. Not being the most tech-savvy of mortals, I'm downloading the whole thing to a filesharing program that I found when looking up "upload music to places HELP ME GOOGLE."  The files are in .mp4 format, which I know was a problem for Picasa but am hoping won't be a problem for anyone who wants to listen to them.  They should be okay if you open them, for instance, in iTunes.  I'd be willing to bet.  At least 50 cents.

I'm not 100% sure about filesharing security issues--according to my web-knowledge friend, filesharing is perfectly safe, but according to my internet explorer, it may not be entirely secure.  The 4shared security measures seem pretty impressive--to find out more, visit
http://help.4shared.com/index.php/Security_overview

4. Finally, if you're interested in, like, discussing any of the pieces, just drop a comment on here; I'd LOVE to hear what anyone has to say about interpretation or history, or favorite recordings, or experiences had in singing or witnessing performances...

5. Or if you're interested in getting a translation for any of them (I wish I were more computer-good so that I could include this information with the tracks themselves), I can throw you one.  Except the "Nel profondo," which will have to remain an approximation until further notice.  Seriously, my understanding of the translation of that piece goes something like this:

"In profound of this world
the precipices of a type
the spiteful to this heart
the strongest love will win
with the aid of valor"

Nothing like really doing a text justice.

6. If you're on the blog as opposed to the website, the link to the page with the download is here:
http://sara.couden.net/listen

Sredni Vashtar: a brief, violent entertainment for mezzo-soprano and orchestra

Some facts about Sredni Vashtar:

-it is around 25 minutes long
-it is based on a short story by Saki (the text of which can be found at www.srednivashtar.com, along with a neat picture of an angsty polecat ferret!)
-it is written by Nicholas Pavkovic (his website, with samples of his music, can be found at www.pavkovic.com)
-the librettist is Jim Coughenour
-it is comprised of five segments:
1. Overture
2. I am the singer...
3. Aria: Conradin's Lament and Discovery
4. Aria: Ceremonies and Festivals
5. The Consolations of Toast

Information on Saki's life can be found with a quick wikipedia-ing (thank you, technology!).  His apparent obsession with animals is legitimate, his mother having been killed (basically) by a charging cow, and I think one of his uncles being eaten by a tiger or something.  His short stories pit Edwardian morals against nature, with nature winning.  The wikipedia site has links to online versions of several of his works.

I feel that Sredni Vashtar the chamber opera is a very expressive, intelligent, creative, and sensitive setting of a wicked and funny libretto ("The Consolations of Toast," just as an example, explores both the exultation and the pathos inherent in browned bread with butter).  But come see the piece--don't take my word for it!*

Performance information:

August 27th, 8 pm
Kevin Korth, accompanying on piano
San Francisco Conservatory, 50 Oak St.

October 30, 8 pm
Ross Ipsen, conducting
San Francisco Conservatory

More information to come!


*This feels like a catchphrase waiting to happen...or perhaps it has happened.  Anyway, I'm appropriating it.

Heyo!

Well, hi, and thanks for visiting my blog, and hopefully my website (or my website, and hopefully my blog, whatever order you may have done this...in case you didn't visit the website, here's a handy and helpful link to it:

http://sara.couden.net

Wasn't that handy and helpful?  JUST SAY YES).

I might be slightly obsessed with getting this website of mine up (read: may or may not have stayed up until three or so two nights ago...and last night...and not sure how tonight's going to go), so please excuse this first entry of any fatuosity*.  I'm trying to get this blog linked to the website (link here:

http://sara.couden.net)

and don't want said link to be completely empty of content.  Not completely empty of content.  Quality control may be a bit on the negligible side.

Why, some may ask, would I want to create a blog to attach to a perfectly good singing website?  (Really, it's perfectly good--check it out for yourself!

http://sara.couden.net)

The answer stems from my childhood, encompassing about thirty years of beautiful memories, but what it boils down to is the maxim: When in doubt, blog.  Or, as Beyonce might say, If you like it then you should've stuck a blog on it.  Or, quite simply, Why not?  We have the technology!  And the technology is free!

So enjoy my blog!  It should perhaps become vaguely less fatuous-tastic** soon--and that is really nothing like a guarantee.

http://sara.couden.net.  For all your http://sara.couden.net needs


*might not be a word
**almost definitely not a word