Corren, Linköping och Burlington, Vermont -Till min förvåning

Preface for you who do not read Swedish. This post was triggered by an Email from a Swedish musician in the group Vindra (find them on MySpace etc) who was replying to a Letter to the Editor of Corren, the local newspaper here in Linköping, Sweden. That Letter refers readers to my blog where, they are told, they can learn about the music scene in Burlington, Vermont.

Välkommna, Ni som kanske har läst Corren i dag 14/8 2010. Först tack till fotografen Ola Axman som tog en fotograf av en ensam människa med laptop (kunde varit mig) som sitter ensam vid ett av Linköpings tomma torg.

Nu eftersom jag just upptäckt till min förvåning att Corren publicerat insändare som jag skickade för kanske 3 veckor sedan, ville jag skapa post utan att vänta. Ni kan se bilder av Linköping i min post 7/8 och av Burlingtons musik scen med det senaste The 4th of July (Independence Day) och andra om Ni klickar på Older Posts.

Church Street (till höger) är världens bästa gågata. Färgrik, tusentals gående från tidigt på morgonen till sent på kvällen. Restauranger som Red Square här erbjuder Live Music för alla, inte bara för kunderna.


Från den ena änden av Church Street till den andra finns gatumusiker som visat Church Street Committee vad de är för musiker och vad de kan.

Här två tjejer (nedan till höger) som spelar dragspel och gitarr och sjunger med mycket bra harmoni. (Mina äldre inlägg visar ett litet urval av andra sorters musiker.)

Men det finns även rappare som den här killen till höger

Och till slut för i dag en bild av en Burlington Breakdance Group som gör breakdance till musik som får hela publiken att klappa för att uppmuntra dessa "wild and crazy" dansare.

Varje dag, flera gånger, det bästa som finns

  

Det var Burlington, Vermont under ett par timmar på

The 4th of July

Magda's aria - So ends kammarmusik festivalen

Outside Styrsö kyrkan on the First Day of August in the Year of Our Lord 2010 the scene is serene leading perhaps to thoughts of Elegy in A Country Church Yard.

Within the church, the full orchestra has gathered to carry us and Susanna through to the end of these three evenings of sheer delight.


Here a small sample of orchestra and soloist on this concluding evening.

We who filled the church this last evening need just one more song, the encore or "extra nummer" from soloist and orchestra. Our applause and foot stamping - a Swedish custom - brings results and Susanna explains to us that she is going to sing an aria that we perhaps have not heard so often, "åtminstone inte på Styrsö"


The aria is "Chi il bel sogno di Doretto"
"Who can interpret Doretta's dream?" and it is Magda (Susanna) who tells those around her that in the dream Doretta remembers a student who kissed her and, in this remembrance, Doretta realizes that "love is the key to happiness". The music alone opens the floodgates for many listeners, and now, "Even On Styrsö" we know Magda's aria. Act 1 of the opera, La Rondine, ends with Magda disguised and leaving alone, perhaps hoping to find true love now that she is in disguise.

Here is our Styrsö Magda, alone and waiting for the true love that Doretta's dream holds before her. And, yes, this is a fairy tale, so our Magda's true love soon appears to the left on the steps.


Our Styrsö Magda then spreads her wings taking flight - like the swallow (Forse, como la rondine) that fortune teller Prunier has told her she can become - and she is last seen high over the island where all this magic - hers and others - has taken place.

Footnote: I tried to enter the YouTube URL that would take you to Leontyne Price's version of Magda's aria but blogspot would not let me do that. You can find it and other versions.







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Kammarmusik 31 juli Lennie mm

 

What I love to hear

Here in the video clip you see my good friend, Lennie, who, like I, landed in Sweden as a result of marrying "en göteborska". He gets to start this clip laying out one of the themes for you to hear. After awhile, konsermästaren Josef is given his place in the sun playing this theme - and then, what I love most is Lennie taking off in rush and, at the right moment, known only to the others, they come in and we are off on the chase. So since this is all very personal and my chance to thank people, "tack Eva", I have been endlessly happy that Lennie is on this side of the Atlantic.

 And here, to my surprise (uploading and placement are two blog processes that have minds of their own, so although my good intentions were that Susanna and violinist (Josef, I think) would appear at the end, here they are in the middle.Click and you shall see - and hear!

Here yet another gem, violinist Ingrid with the Keith Jarrett of classical piano, Terése, directing at the piano. (A footnote that is inserted here because I do not think blogger allows for footnote - If I have named someone incorrectly, if you wish to correct or delete anything I have written or shown, just let me know at lwlundgren@gmail.com and I will correct  - edit - the post.        

So all you wonderful people out there, I hope you were as happy on this Friday evening as Ingrid and Terése were when you showed them what you thought of their performance. I am having, as usual on Friday night, a ball!

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bara på Styrsö-Only in Styrsö kyrkan

Som sagt tidigare, efter Burlington, Vermont, saknade Linköping något. Live music perhaps. Yet a solution was at hand. Go west "young man", go west to västkusten Göteborg och vidare ut till Anns ö, Styrsö. There all one had to do on Friday evening to solve the music withdrawal problem was to take a walk.

The first song I learned in Swedish when in Oulu Finland in 1968 was Vi skall gå hand i hand, genom skogen du och jag (We will go hand in hand, through the forest you and I), and here is the forest called Arbores skog (a "lund" actually from which you learn the meaning of the first part of my last name, Lundgren). But I digress.

At the end of the trail, we have "gotten to the church on time" where we open the iron gate and enter Styrsö kyrkan under the 1752 telling us that the church is more than 250 years old.


Well inside, we are welcomed by Minister Agneta with the same words "...Ni är varmt välkommna..." with which she has welcomed her flock - and more - during the preceding eight years and this time to Styrsö kammar musik dagar 30, 31juli och 1 augusti 2010.

Here in this first post you see small samples of what Prästen Agneta, herself a trained vocalist, has brought to us Only in Sweden, Only in Styrsö kyrkan, with the support of who knows how many others. Fråga inte mig.

Terés and Johan

Charlotte

All I can do here is show you what you have missed. For the most part you must use your imagination to hear the music, all of it at the highest level, making every moment a Magic Moment (an LWL - that's me - coinage)

And to close this first effort, only a picture of soloist Susanna Andersson

Det skulle ha blivit video här men jag kunde inte upload. ADDED 5 AUGUST - I WAS ABLE TO DOWNLOAD VIDEO TO MY FACEBOOK SO IF YOU ARE A FACEBOOK FRIEND YOU CAN LOOK THERE. OR SEND ME EMAIL AND I WILL LINK YOU TO THAT VIDEO IN WHICH SHE IS SINGING PUCCINIS Oh mio babbino caro.

Eat your heart out, her singing of this well known song was gorgeous and since she is looking in Sture's direction I am reminded as always of an American Standard, They're writing songs of love, but not for me, she's singing songs of love but not for me. Jag återkommer. Just a simple country boy.

To be continued, förhoppningsviss

Med ett stort tack till Ann på Styrsö, kvinnan som bodde alldeles ensam i ett ensamt hus på en öde ö