1985-04 (April)

April 6th, 1985

Shiloh anniversary, 123rd. Paid bills while playing clarinet trio and piano trio 4. Began writing to French friends and business associates: Michel Gassey, Paul Carunignaui?, Mary King. After lunch, played piano concerto 25, the Prague symphony, and the quintets 3 and 4, two of my favorite pieces in this world.

Began re-reading McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. Seeseel’s; got steak beef, onions, carrots, to make a stew for supper. Also got croissants for breakfast Easter morning.

After dinner, while Gwyn and Avery watched TV, I played violin sonata 5- the last and best.

April 7th, 1985

Easter. Croissants for early breakfast; then played piano trio 5, sonata 15, and the Adagio and Fugue for strings. Returned to McCarthy, working out itinerary; about one-third through. Second breakfast, bacon and egg on toast. Brinkley’s Washington on TV. Back to McCarthy; then Mozart’s last three symphonies, 39, 40, 41. Walked two miles; played string trio k. 563.

Gwyn took Avery to spend the night with her cousin. I played quartets 21 and 22, latter while bathing. By day’s end was about two-thirds through Meridian.

Webber’s Requiem on TV; good individual performances of a dull composition; curiously reduced in sheet by over-production. Saw first 40 mins. Of Fellini film, “The Ship Sails On.”

April 8th, 1985

Up before six; cereal, coffee; then breakfast when Mary got here. Yard badly in need of pre-departure attention, but Isaiah is missing. Nearing end of Mozart; clarinet quintet first off, then others – the last two quartets. Mainly, though, I continued McCarthy, liking it more all the time.

Isaiah called, has a job he said, but will come on Saturday. I don’t like it, but said o.k. Waited all day for promised delivery of KLH Receiver. It didn’t get here, though it was promised for sure. Called Opus late in day and was told it would surely be delivered tomorrow. Maybe.

April 9th, 1985

Slept till 7; played quintet 5 – the 1). Major, k. 593- which seems to me to consternate all that’s been in late Mozart chamber music and already outside the Romantics who followed the paths it opened to them. Magic + skill = beauty. A new beauty out of the old components; skill.

Finished Blood Meridian; liked it even better this time around. Mozart: last piano concert, last quintet (#27, #6-k.595, 614), clarinet concerto. Ends Mozart, all but the Requiem and the Operas. Quite an experience

Opus 2 finally delivered my KLH reviver. Total BILL, $83.50 – only $2.50 of which was for parts; rest where for labor, $40, pick up and return, $35, plus tax, $6. Brutal exploitation. At 4 o’clock went for dental appointment; teeth cleaned and the jaw tooth (upper left rear) pulled. That squares things off: I now have lost the top last two on both sides.

Took Gwyn and Avery to Pancho’s for dinner; margaritas and enchiladas, following nachos. Home by 9; TV movie, “Moscow on the Hudson.” Mary not here- x-ray tests at hospital.

April 10th, 1985

Up before 6; Gwyn took Avery to bus station for return to New Orleans. Mary arrived. Library; Xeroxed a map of Northern Mexico, Chihuahua and Sonora, for following Blood Meridian routes. XXXXXXX it and taped it into the back of the novel for future references.

Played Is nozze di Figaro in the morning. La Clemenza di Tito in the afternoon. Walked 2 ½; played first half of Act 1, Don Giovanni, while out, other half when I returned. Good walking music; good anything music.

TV adventure farce, “Romancing the Stone.” Read first half of Ellen Gilchrist short story volume, “In the Land of dreamy dreams,” this months Wolf River selection. Fair.