Patricia González Fernández

message from a book

Patricia — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 07:17:24 +0000

What if you could buy things in a different way? I was already pleased with the service and policy of BetterWorldBooks but today morning that opinion has been surpassed. Here is the letter I have received from the book I ordered:

Hello Patricia,

(Your book(s) asked to write you a personal note - it seemed unusual, but who are we to say no?)

Holy canasta! It’s me… it’s me! I can’t believe it is actually me! You could have picked any of over 2 million books but you picked me! I’ve got to get packed! How is the weather where you live? Will I need a dust jacket? I can’t believe I’m leaving Mishawaka, Indiana already - the friendly people, the Hummer plant, the Linebacker Lounge - so many memories. I don’t have much time to say goodbye to everyone, but it’s time to see the world!

I can’t wait to meet you! You sound like such a well read person. Although, I have to say, it sure has taken you a while! I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but how would you like to spend five months sandwiched between Jane Eyre (drama queen) and Fundamentals of Thermodynamics (pyromaniac)? At least Jane was an upgrade from that stupid book on brewing beer. How many times did the ol’ brewmaster have one too many and topple off our shelf at 2am?

I know the trip to meet you will be long and fraught with peril, but after the close calls I’ve had, I’m ready for anything (besides, some of my best friends are suspense novels). Just five months ago, I thought I was a goner. My owner was moving and couldn’t take me with her. I was sure I was landfill bait until I ended up in a Better World Books book drive bin. Thanks to your socially conscious book shopping, I’ve found a new home. Even better, your book buying dollars are helping kids read from Brazil to Botswana.

But hey, enough about me, I’ve been asked to brief you on a few things:[and from here "he" listed the details of the delivery]

It just made my day!

faithful sound?

Patricia — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:09:50 +0000

“They came to watch us working, from Stravinski to Hindemith, who, by the way, were less exact with their own scores than anyone. They changed their tempi at will, didn’t follow what was written. Very interesting.”

J. Ruiz Mantilla, Interview to N. Harnoncourt in El País (4 December 2010)

Specially interesting having into account some conclusions about the “respect for the text” that can be drawn from Stravinsky’s Poétique musicale…

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)

Patricia — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:03:40 +0000

INSTRUMENTAL

“Paris Quartet no.12″: 6e. Quatuor (from Nouveaux quatuors en six suites, 1738)

score [Telemann's version for cello]

new year, new life…

Patricia — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 11:16:10 +0000

Well, maybe not so extreme. But it is true that every New Year comes with wishes and a renovated sense of improving and doing things better (or at least of changing some habits). So, with such excuse on hand, I’ll take this chance to get back to this blog, which in the last months passed from being gradually neglected (because I was too busy to save some minutes to post, I guess) to be completely abandoned.

So: new year, new life (let’s see how far I go).

And how to start better than with the first concert in a rock band, playing the electric bass? (believe me, that’s certainly a change!)

22 January 2011 - 22.00

Los Karatekas + Los Catarros + Microcosmos (ex-Cocoguaguas)

Sala Mogambo [map]

Azkuene 17
Pasaia (Spain)

follow me…

Patricia — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:22:27 +0000

Veneziana: an 18th century concerto

Patricia — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:16:11 +0000

Venice, with its Scuole Grandi e Piccoli, the ospedali (orphanages), the many churches and palaces, and not least a booming tourist industry, was a hothouse of musical activity in the eighteenth century.

Accademia dell’Arcadia presents chamber works from Venetian-linked composers Nicola Porpora, Agostino Steffani, Alessandro Scarlatti, and of course, the most famous, Antonio Vivaldi.

Italians in London: an Anglo-Italian fusion

Patricia — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:08:01 +0000

Eighteenth century London was awash with foreign musicians and their publications, but none moreso than the Italians. English music was heavily influenced by the Italian fashions and a great deal of Anglo-Italian fusion grew up, much of it for (or arranged for) recorders.

La Suonata presents this idiosyncratic blend of Italian and English flavours in a virtuosic and varied concert programme.

La Suonata

Patricia — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:14:39 +0000

Janet Forbes, recorder

Patricia González Fernández, harpsichord

Italians in London

an Anglo-Italian fusion

[2 musicians]

contact

“composer’s intent?”

Patricia — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:31:56 +0000

“[...] for the listener there should be as much (or nearly as much) excitement in a performer’s insights about a work as in the work itself.”

A. Kozinn, in The New York Times (3 February 2010)

Yesterday we were speaking about this in the kitchen and today I find the article, nice.

ROSL, 1st round

Patricia — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:03:57 +0000

Waking up early in London is very easy: my body still remains in the continent so I got an extra hour to have a calm cup of tea and write this.

Since a couple of days ago, I feel sick (the extreme cold these days in Utrecht and the humidity through the window of my room certainly affected me), but yesterday Janet and me took the plane to London. Today we will play in the first round of the Royal-Over Seas League annual music competition… Bach and van Eÿck… Castello, Telemann and Yun will wait until Monday, and Vivaldi to the final on Tuesday (in case we get there, of course).

By now everything goes very well: a nice travel (far from my last experience with easyJet), a lovely evening, I feel less sick, and thermometers are more than 10ºC higher here. Today we will have a walk in London centre, and go to Long Clawson in the weekend.