St thomaskirche in Leipzig, now repaired after damage of WWII

This is a quote from a contemporary American composer by the name of Michael Torke. I suppose he must regularly apologize to our friends of the psychiatric persuasion. He seems more famous for this one quote than for his music. Anyway, it seemed appropriate to accompany last night’s performance of the Billings Symphony along with the Chorale from Billings and the Symphonic Choir of Bozeman. Everyone was in good voice last night. The orchestra was drastically reduced to 12 violins, 4 violas, 3 cellos, 1 bass, and a sprinkling of others including 2 oboes, 2 flutes and 1 bassoon—oh sorry, I almost forgot the three trumpets. No trombones or horns I am sorry to report, but even so it sounded splendid.

Haussman portrait of Bach 1748

It was all Bach, all the time and marvelous beyond compare. Another quote that seemed to fit was that of William F Buckley: “If Bach is not in Heaven . . . I won’t go!” More quotes here.

They and we were celebrating the 323rd birthday (1685) of Johann Sebastian Bach by playing and singing some of his greatest hits. Actually, during his lifetime he wasn’t all that popular. The Kyrie, the Gloria and the Sanctus from the Mass in B minor and the utterly beautiful Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring showed off the large chorus, must have been at least 120. Both the Billings Chorale and the Bozeman Symphonic Choir must have brought some supporters along because the place was fairly full.

Our woodwinds were in great form for the Orchestral Suite No. 1 and especially in the Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, where Lynette Larson and Sue MaKeever on flutes with concertmaster Randy Tracy got some well-deserved standing ovations. The bad news was a rumor I heard in the intermission that Susan Wadsworth, the principal bassoonist for many years, will be retiring after this season. I love to watch her play as well as listen to her smooth sounds.

Anne Kania, an alto with a lovely New Zealand accent, coupled with a little northern England and maybe some Australian too, has moved to Shepherd MT. She did a great job on “Erbarme Dich” from the St Matthew Passion.

The playing of a few excerpts from the programs for the coming year was a good idea, and it makes travel planning for the coming year a little more organized. Check out the Symphony website.

Doug Nagel, general director of Rimrock Opera, is one of our home town treasures, notable for attracting young attractive folks who can really sing, including some from Billings and other places in Montana, and of course, doing some wonderful singing himself on occasion.

Amy Logan, choral director at Skyview, does a terrific job with her ROCK group—Rimrock Opera Chorus for Kids—besides doing some great soprano work in various operas and other venues for the past couple of years.

Saturday evening at 7:30pm and Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm. This is worth a weekend in Billings. Bring your pickup and fill up at CostCo and check out the new restaurants in town.

All of these were well-played by a group of musicians that are better than we have a right to expect given our population and boondocky location. Our woodwinds always rival those of more famous orchestras. In fact, all of the sections and soloists did well.

Joe Lulloff’s alto sax was very nice, a really lovely sound, perhaps a little surprising or maybe just my recollection of the raunchy sound of other alto players. The notes say that he also plays soprano sax, even more likely to produce a nasty sound, with a respectable quartet so we can suspect that he has some miraculous qualities. He was well received by the almost full house.

Sprenkel is still alive but his “Reflections on Titian’s Assumption” was very soothing, perhaps a little academic but not making the mistake of being irritated with or talking down to his listeners.

In Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition apart from the Promenade sections and the overwhelming final Great Gate of Kiev the other parts sound like movie music before they had movies. I’m not sure I’ve heard all the horns playing fff, that’s very loud, together and with control before as they did in the Great Gate section. When people all play together with precision and reasonable intonation it is always surprising how the live sound resonates in the listener’s soul. The thing that saved the whole piece was the showing of local kids’ artwork, supposedly their reactions to the music. I was impressed with much of this stuff.

Maestra Harrington continues to get the best from her performers. I’m looking forward to next month’s Bach concert. As a former musical director used to say, “See you at the Symphony.”

But first we had to sample the excellent buffalo burgers at Red Lodge’s Foster & Logan’s Pub & Grill. The beer and wine menu looked pretty good too. See the picture above. This was a very early lunch late on a Tuesday morning, so only a few people were in the bar.

I had seen an article in the Gazette sometime in 2007, noted it in my blog, Muellerstuff, and was curious to see how things had been going for Rand Herzberg, who has been in the coffin-making business for some five years now. He told me that, in contrast to a lot of other retailers, 2008 was his best year yet. Perhaps part of the reason is that no matter how hard we try by exercise, by pills or surgery the mortality rate is still 100% and then there is the fact that Rand occasionally winds up in his workshop ’til the early hours of the morning making sure that someone who needed a coffin quickly would get it in time for the funeral.

Detail of coffin

He was kind enough to show us his workshop, located about 3 miles south of Red Lodge, where he keeps a couple of ordinary coffins for show, but all of his coffins are custom-made, and often in a hurry. The workmanship looked good. See the joinery, if that is the word, to the above.

My wife started to worry when I asked how tall she was. He also makes urns for cremains. See his web page. I never thought I would have the opportunity to use that word—cremains—cremated remains. Life is good.

By the way, don’t believe the directions that Google maps give to Cowboy Coffin and Pine Box Co. You will wind up in Roscoe. Instead, go through Red Lodge toward Cooke City, and turn left across Rock Creek about 3 miles beyond the Ranger station. Call for directions. Check out his website here.

Rand Herzberg—Coffin Carpenter

There is a lot of useful information and good pictures on this professionally done website. It looks like prices haven’t risen during the past year, except for what Rand calls the “classic” shape, where the shoulders and trunk tend to widen out, which is more difficult and takes a lot longer. The prices seem very reasonable to me. Rand is a nice guy as well. Here he is smiling next to one of his ordinary rectangular coffins.

There were some recognizable old hippies in the audience, surprisingly well preserved, must have been the drugs, but most of them had disguised themselves as ordinary older folk out for a sedate good time.

The Trio put on a good show, sounded just like the records I remembered, sold CDs in the lobby, and promised to come back if the Symphony would invite them. We should have brought our grandchildren along: I’m pretty sure they would have liked the sound.

The Meistersingers, Westwinds, Vox Nova, and the Chamber Choir, all vocal groups from Billings West High School, together with their instrumental friends were in good voice Thursday evening at Mount Olive Lutheran Church. Parents, parishioners and alumni filled the sanctuary. This was billed as a Holiday Concert. And it was, and curiously enough the holiday celebrated was the Nativity, commonly known as Christmas. The brass quintet was a little too loud for the Chamber Choir and the Meistersingers had some trouble with entrances in the Hallelujah Chorus but these kids sang with passionate hearts and the audience knew it.

The numbers that really stood out were the comic Straight No Chaser arrangement of The Twelve Days of Christmas by the Westwinds; Elgar’s The Snow by all the ladies was splendidly mystical and musical; and What Child Is This? by the Meistersingers.

A nice touch was ending with Beautiful Savior by everybody including alumni. I noticed some recent graduates among the guys and a number of proud moms and maybe a few dads amongst the alumni. It takes a community to raise great kids.

Congratulations to all of the winners and thanks for making Billings a better place to live by sharing your gifts.

That’s right, it’s time for MontanaFair!

The biggest fair in Montana begins today at 6:00 p.m. with Sneek-a-Peek night. I have plans to check things out on Sunday so I’ll have a longer report then.

As if the beginning of MontanaFair isn’t big enough news Laurel is also celebrating their 100th Birthday and the Magic City Blues festival begins tonight. If you either didn’t get tickets or live too far away you can listen to the festival on Yellowstone Public Radio. They are streaming the festival online and the broadcast schedule is (with all times approximate):

Friday, August 8
6:30pm Mighty Lester
8:30pm JJ Grey and Mofro
10:30pm Delbert McClinton

Saturday, August 8
8:00pm Po’ Henry & Tookie
10:00pm Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm

Oh yeah, don’t forget the Farmers’ Market tomorrow morning from 8:30 – 1:00 under the SkyPoint.

The first is a story about the Japanese community in 20th century Harlowton and the second is of the last Japanese native in Harlowton. The story of Henry Muneta is especially poignant since he is the father-in-law of a Big Sky blogger.

I’ll let you figure out who the blogger is.

The next story is a nice one about the local Bluegrass music club which has weekly jam sessions at a local Hardee’s. The Gazette also has a nice photo album to go with the story.

I wonder if the Long Time Lonesome Dogs ever play at Hardee’s?

The scuttlebutt concerns the Chili’s Grill & Bar and Romano’s Macaroni Grill which are coming to Billings. The word I’ve heard on the street is that they’re planning to build next to the new Cabela’s on King Ave. East.

Do you have any scuttlebutt you want to share?

Sue Devries, who oversees ticket sales at Metra Park, explained to county commissioners that since gas prices were so high folks weren’t going to travel much but instead stay home and spend their money on Montana Fair this year. Montana Fair is the largest fair in the state and if Ms. Devries prediction holds true then records may be broken this year.

The $67 price for the ticket bundle is a good value since it gives you access to all shows and events at the fair. Montana Fair begins on August 8 and runs through August 16. It will include such events as horseracing, Puddle Of Mudd with Theory Of A Deadman. Corbin Bleu, Sugarland, and Bill Engvall. Ticket purchases can now be made on line at MetraPark.com.

In other county news, the budget for next year is up nearly 3%.