MARK ALBURGER, 2022: April 2

So, turns out that Emma and Juan's daughter Carmen shares my birthday, and, upon learning this, asked, "Does that mean Mark is turning 9, too?" Great!

And, on the strength of Carmen's wonderful birthday card to me -- the one at top in kind, referencing

Charlemagne (714-814)
Maria de Jesus de Agreda (1602-1665)
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)
Alec Guiness (1914-2000)
Mark Alburger (b. 1957)
Carmen (b. 2013)

But,

before this,

out for an errand /

supply run,

then

home

in time to greet

Cliff,

getting down to the serious scenario of celebration, with Harriet,

Megan,

and the

far-flung folks

via Zoom --

with

cards,

great discussions (including re the re-opening of the Metropolitan Opera),

chips and salsa / spaghetti with Ragu meat sauce / crumbled hamburger / vanilla-iced white cake

(beyond the wedding, Quasimodo and Venus de Milo

re-appearing) /

Bryers vanilla / red wine / champagne / mimosas...

A capital time, on the 39th day of summer, high up 4 to 83 (always a good omen to have summerish temps on this date), updating the Works site vis a vis

Saul! Saul!, Op. 67 (1998),

finish the parst for

Three George Crumb Tropes, Op. 392 (2022), from The Decameron: Fifth Day, Op. 247 (2015)
   Novel VII. Pietro Teodoro, being enamoured of Violante, daughter of Messer Amerigo,
             his lord, gets her with child, and is sentenced to the gallows (Black Angels [1970]: I-V, VII, X)

with the Cello / Bass parts, and -- yes! -- more textables for

Book of Dreams, 2022, Op. 376 (2022)
     April 1-2
          3am One Side Fired Upon by Other, One Bullet Ricocheting Around for Quite a Long Time,
                Dinging Against Metal, Someone Hit in the Pancreas.... Ukrainian Burned Out Building...
          5pm Running Out of Gas, Parked Directly Under "No Parkng" on Curve in Wilderness,
               Trying to Take Small Walk, But Law-Enforcers Nearby,
               They're After Someone Else and Veer Around, We Make Our Move, Also a U-Turn,
               Avoiding an Outgoing Car (Parking at a Premium Along This Roadway) and
               Make It Into Unpaved Partially-Granitic Open Space, Make Our Way to the Overnight
               Accompdations, Knowing How to Proceed on Map, But Not Sure in Reality,
               Eventually We Reach Destination, w/ Magnificent Yosemite-Like Cliffs In Distance in
               Sunset, Innkeeper in Heroic Ahwahnee Inn-Style Bar Area,
               She Says "Something I've Always Wanted to Know About Americans: You Don't Say 'Our'",
               I Respond Singing "Our Father Who Art in Heaven", Somewhat Rockilly...
               This Area of Back Country a Maze of Unpaved Roads, Tall Pine Trees....
               The Alfred Hay Malotte Setting of The Lord's Prayer... She Is On a Most Unusual Quest /
               Quaranteen / Adventure / Trajectory, and I Need to Be on Same... She Is English,
               an Older Woman Akin to Jane Goodall.... Wiry, Wizzened, Sweet...
          8am Distant View of Mt Diablo from I-80 Southwest in Fairfield...

...with media fore, aft, and sometimes, respectfully, during, including

F.J. Haydn (1732-1809) - Symphony No. 103 in Eb Major ("Drum Roll") (1795): II. Andante,

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) - Symphony No. 5 (1902),

Viteslav Novak (1870-1949) - South Bohemian Suite, Op. 64 (1937), Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) - Bolero (1928 -- Megan connects it with Gerald Fried,, b. 1928, music for the Star Trek, 1966: Amok Time episode....),

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) - The Rite of Spring (1913 -- could be no more appropriate music for the b-day...),

Joaquin Turina (1882-1949) - Cinco Danzas Gitanas, Op. 55 (1930),

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) - Symphony No. 7 in C# Minor, Op. 131 (1952),

Howard Hanson (1896-1981 - Nymphs and Satyr (1979),

an episdoe of Robert Pirosch (1910-1989) - Combat! (1962), featuing a nicely distorted take on Haydn's Emperor's Hymn (originally, 1797), Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994 -- another nicely-relevant piece o' the day),