Asterix's Expressions: January 2006

Friday, January 27, 2006

Yale has soap!

This day is a great day at Yale. For the first time in history, Yale University now provides soap in student dormitory. This amenity may not seem like much, but many students wanted it badly and fought hard for it. Voila, now they have it.

Personally, I didn't care all that much about it, but not having soap was quite inconvenient at times.

Here's an article describing this triumphant day.

Monday, January 23, 2006

I was a child-labor law breaker . . .

Yup, that's right!

......

Nope, just kidding! When I started my first summer internship, I was 15 and just barely made the cut.

While I was back in Nashville this past Christmas, I visited Rex, my former boss. I worked for him for what must have been five summers in a row. He's a really cool guy. Here's a picture of us from his blog.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

John Eliot Gardiner and Mozart

John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir, and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique came to San Francisco to perform Mozart's c-minor Mass and Requiem last Monday. Naturally, this concert opportunity was irresistable. After all, when was the last time a world-known conductor brought together famous musicians who played period instruments and sang in period style, to perform two of the greatest choral works of all time, right to your doorstep?

Okay, I admit, San Francisco isn't exactly my "doorstep," but it's close enough that venturing there is a price well worth the experience one receives from a performance that parallels a chorus of angels singing in heaven. At least, that's how I felt about it.

So, Grace, Madhura, and I made our way up to SF to listen to/watch this performance, and we had a great time. Before I delve into the gory details of the performance, I would just like to mention that this concert was Madhura's first time at a classical performance, and she enjoyed it.

Okay, now I go into the details, which can be as simple this statement: Mozart's choral music with period instruments and period song style is simply heavenly. The period instrumentation movement has been growing in the past decade or so, with John Eliot Gardiner being in the forefront of it.

For me, personally, I like period performances of music from the baroque and classical eras, not simply because I think it's more appropriate to interpret music this way than with modern instruments and styles, but because I feel period performances sound better. For instance I really like the light, pure, and almost airy sound of the strings. Period woodwind instruments are also less piercing than their modern counterpart, especially the baroque oboe d'amore. It brings forth a sound that is neither sharp nor muffled, but one that is elegant and gentle. An oboe d'amore playing in a minor key can convey effectively a sorrowful feeling. Period voices, too, are pure and angelic, with restrained uses of vibrato. Like so, the music from Gardiner's performance was never invasive, whether it was fiery and full of energy like Qui tollis or sweet and gentle like Et incarnatus est. In general, the period music conjured a comfortable and warm feeling from me.

In addition to the period interpretation, I also noticed the following:

1. The eight soloists-four for each mass-all sang in the choir proper. During solos within a choral movement, they simply turned toward the audience to sing. On movements with only solo singers, they walked from the choir and stood at front stage. This setup is similar to the concerto grosso model, where soloists who play the concertato parts also play the ripieno parts on non-solo passages. Considering the time period when these pieces of music were written, this setup certainly makes sense, since the concerto grosso was also popular during that same century. I have mused to myself from time to time that I would rather sing in the choir than solo, because there are usually more choral than solo movements in a particular mass for a single voice-part. Now with Gardiner's setup, soloists are great because they get to sing the solo parts in addition to all the choir parts!

2. The Et incarnatus est movement consists of a quartet: first sorprano solo, transverse flute, oboe d'amore, and bassoon, with strings and organ accompaniment. Period instruments, in my opinion, sounds more like human voices than their modern counterparts do. As a result, having a mixed quartet of human voice and woodwind instruments do not seem that strange an idea. As Mozart is known to have written beautiful voice quartets-I'm thinking of his operas-this one is no exception. I think the first soprano soloist did a good job of blending with the three solo instruments. Plus, she stood right next to the instrumentalists for that solo, a position that makes perfect sense.

3. Because the c-minor Mass was set to a five-part chorus and sometimes to a double-chorus, the singers shifted positions on stage to form an eight-part chorus from a five part one, and vice versa. The exchange of positions worked seemlessly and very quickly-not an easy feat even between movements! I was a little astonished that Gardiner chose to reorganize the choir. Musically, it does make sense, as he is trying to balance the voices. However, I still think the on-stage shifting of positions is a bit too distracting. Perhaps a compromise position that does not involve movement works better. I will have a diagram later to illustrate my point.

4. Three men sang alto parts, even though there were an equal number of men and women on the choir-fifteen and fifteen. For the c-minor Mass, it makes sense because there are three female voice parts and only two male voice parts-soprano 1, soprano 2, alto, tenor, and bass, respectively. However, the same was true with the Requiem, where there are an equal number of voice parts between the men and the women. So the latter made less sense to me. Perhaps Gardiner wanted more sopranos and altos than tenors and basses, but I don't know why.

5. The soloists were awesome. Their voices projected very well but remained gentle calm to the ear. In general, I think the ladies did a slightly better job than the men in terms of projection, but they were both stellar.

6. Gardiner took care to bring out the dynamics changes of the choral movements, something that often gets lost in performances with large choirs. One example in the Requiem is the final build-up to the climax at the end of the Kyrie. The contrast in the volume between the start of that crescendo and the climax made a powerful statement at the end of the Kyrie.

7. My dad gave me a Nikon binocular for Christmas, and it really came in handy! The binocular helped me identify the choir sections, and it gave me a close look of some of the instruments from all the way at the top of the second balcony in Davies Symphony Hall. From the looks of the light-blue covers of the Requiem score that every choir member was carrying, I'm guessing that they were using the Baerenreiter urtext choir score.

Okay, this post is already too long, so I'll stop here and maybe post more later. I'll end with Gardiner's orchestration for the c-minor Mass:

transverse flute (recorder)
2 oboe d'amores
2 bassoons
2 french horns (?)
2 trumpets (not sure which key)
3 trombones
timpani in C and G
10 first violins
8 second violins
6 violas
6 first sopranos
6 second sopranos
6 altos (three women and three men)
6 tenors
6 bassses
5 cellos
3 double basses
organ

There were a total of forty-six instrumentalists and thirty singers, plus John Eliot Gardiner conducting, so seventy-seven people on stage.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

2005 in Review: 10 Blessings

Okay, I've been wanting to post this list for a while now, and here it is!

1. Canaan Church's cell group model took off.
My California church completely reorganized its fellowship structure at the beginning of 2005. Instead of having fellowship groups by age, gender, and marital status, we now have mixed groups by locale. Although the adjustment was a little rough for some, I found it to be a blessing. My group of six to eight people bonded very well, and they have become my closest friends in California. Throughout this year, we learned to share with each other in vulnerable ways, keep each other accountable, and to walk alongside each other. It is truly an experience of grace and love from God.

2. I finished singing in the Stanford Symphonic Chorus for one year.
Two years ago, I would never have dreamed of singing in concerts. Now, I have finished one year of singing pieces by composers from Bach to Verdi. It was such a blessing, as choral music is heavenly. This one year of singing gave me joy and the skills I needed to lead a choir.

3. I had the privilege of leading a choir at church for a whole year.
This experience was definitely humbling, especially when two years ago, I didn't know how to sing. I also had my doubts. Canaan Church was already short in workers for existing ministries, so why start another one? It was a bit confusing that I felt this calling to start a choir at that time. My church friends' commitment and heart for the Lord encouraged and reassured me, and I was humbled. I saw how the music led people to praise the Lord and gave church members an opportunity to serve in a ministry they were good at.

4. Carpool!
Now I have officially carpooled to work for two years now, first with just Byron, but now with Andrew and Sherry, as well. Carpooling saved time and money, and it gave us a chance to get to know each other better, when we were not too grumpy and exhausted from work.

5. Summer Visitors
This summer I had a lot of visitors. My mom came and visited me for a weekend before she continued her traveling to China. Ezekiel and Deb visited me from Southern California. Rob took an internship here in San Francisco, and I was able to hang out with him and play Halo together. Nina returned to California after Yale, and with Rob, we were all about to go to Monterey. Jill came for her sister's graduation, and we had just enough time to catch up over dinner. Yueqian worked in the Bay Area for the summer, and we had a chance to catch up. My summer weekends were all filled with busyness, but it was a delight to see all my friends, some of whom I hadn't seen since I left Yale.

6. Christmas with Parents
This Christmas break was probably one of the best I've had. It was just spending time with my parents, but I felt so blessed to be with them.

7. Pancake Pantry IV
As I already mentioned in my previous post, Michele, Lauren, and I had our fourth Christmas breakfast at Pancake Pantry. Always a joy to catch up with old friends.

8. Short-term Trip
After praying for over a year, I finally had the green light to go on a short-term trip. At the end of the trip, I didn't want to come back. Does the Lord have long-term missions plans for me?

9. New Home, New Friends
I moved into a new apartment in August, along with two friends from church. Since then, our home has become a de facto hang out place for church buddies. We have two living rooms and two TVs and three gaming consoles. Need I say more? Being at home now has been lively and fun, rarely, if ever, boring.

10. Doug and Resident Evil 4
Doug is in Virginia, and I'm in California. We bought the game at the same time and played together while talking on the phone, exchanging our gaming insights, excitement, guesses, and ooo's and aah's about the game. I will never forget this experience.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

RE4 Rocks!!!

That's right, Resident Evil 4 is da bomb. Just check out Gamespot's 2005 Game of the Year Award! The video there explains it all.

Back to the Bay Area

After being away for nearly four weeks, I'm finally back in Mountain View! It definitely feels good to be back and to see all my friends here. For the first time in over two years, I feel that I can finally call California my home.

Four weeks was a long time to be away, though. I could tell by the fact that this notice appeared on my car front window:

Unattended Vehicle Check: this card is an indication to officers that your vehicle has been checked . . .

And then in fine print:

19.21 of the City Ordinance provides that any vehicle that has been parked or left standing upon a street . . . for 72 or more consecutive hours is subject to tow-away under authority of 22651k of the California Vehicle Code. (!!!) To comply with this ordinance, a vehicle must be moved at least 1,000 feet every three days.

Wow! My car was almost towed. I'm just glad it's still here and drivable, after being left alone for four weeks.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Happy 2006!

Well, I've held out from blogging for years on end, now. Perhaps it's time to give it a try. I suppose I'll start out by having a brief recap of what happened at the end of 2005.

Pancake Pantry 2005!

For the past four years, Lauren, Michele and I have met up for breakfast at the good'ole

Pancake Pantry in Hillsboro Village. Mmm . . . blueberry pancakes! I must admit that pancakes there are the best I've tasted. Just about everyday will one find a long line jutting out of the restaurant and around the block end. Even on a cold December mornings, people didn't seem to mind the weather all that much. As for Lauren, Michele, and me, we've been at it since Christmas 2002. Since we live in three different areas of the world and get to see each other only once a year, naturally, we'd come together for delicious pancakes and catch up over breakfast, no?

And here we are, filled up to the brim with pancakes and maple syrup, immortalized beside the Wizard of Waukesha Guitar, right outside the restaurant.

Next year will be our fifth-year anniversary breakfast. Perhaps we should do something special . . . like eating at the Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg! That should be fun, so we shall see.

Oh, there's a Millbrae Pancake House in the Bay Area, and its pancakes are pretty good, too. Does any one of you want to join me for pancakes sometime?

Narnia

I went to see Narnia, finally, and it definitely lived up to my expectations. I had finished reading the novel for the first time in my life only a couple of weeks ago, so the book was still very fresh on my mind when I saw the film. It's great to see that the filmmakers have stayed pretty faithful to the book. I love the movie as much as I love the book, and I must say that Lucy is my favorite character, both in the novel and in the film. She is brilliant, honest, sincere, and innocent-almost the perfect child. I certain agree with Andy and ANg that she pretty much carried the entire movie.

That same night while at a Chinese Christmas party, I overheard a couple of friends chatting about the movie. They criticized their Christian friends for over-analyzing the meaning of the movie and for reading too much between the lines. Presumably, they didn't want the movie to be compared to anything Christian. I chuckled to myself, thinking, "Perhaps they forgot that the author of the novel was one of the greatest Christian philosophers of all time, and he had design the novel to be a Christian allegory in the first place." On a similar note, I've heard some criticisms of the movie, saying that "it's trying too hard to be like Lord of the Rings." I agree, but I also see no problem with it. Tolkien and Lewis were friends and had influenced one another in their writings. So it shouldn't come that much as a surprise that the movies tend resemble each other.

Shopping for Clothing

Okay, I admit it. My wardrobe is overdue for some new additions. I went with my friends Ezekiel and Michele for some after-Christmas clothing shopping. At the end, I decided to wait until I return to California before acquiring anything new-heavy luggage is just not my thing. But my mind is set-I must buy some new clothing!

Cheesecake Factory

My parents and I went to eat at the local Cheesecake Factory after Christmas. Having been living in the Bay Area for a while, I've realized that I don't know Nashville that well anymore. And I didn't expect a Cheesecake Factory to pop up in the middle of Greenhills Mall, not that I'm complaining, of course. The meal there was most satisfactory.

For some reason, I had the notion in my head that Cheesecake Factories are rare across the United States, and that there are only five or six of them-maybe that's why I didn't expect one to be in Nashville. Well, it turns out that there are three of them just in the Bay Area. That is excellent news.

Cranium Hoopla

For New Year's Eve, I went to my home church's annual party at the Bible College. Usually, there is basketball, volleyball, and people chatting. This year, there is Cranium Hoopla.

And boy it's fun. So next time when there's not enough people for Cranium, there's always Cranium Hoopla!

Asterix's Expressions