A couple of days ago, I stepped out of the airport in Madison, Wis., and it was hot. About 96 degrees. “Hot one,” I said to a man standing on the sidewalk, having a smoke. “Yup,” he said. “And it’s not even summer yet.” That took me aback. True. Summer does not begin officially until June 21. But I don’t go by the calendar, I guess. I go by weather.
Also, June is pretty much the best month, isn’t it? And not just for weddings. I think of a favorite snatch of poetry: “And what is so rare as a day in June?” (James Russell Lowell).
Before arriving in Madison, and being reminded of summer’s official start, I put together a new episode of Music for a While: here. I begin, “You know what time it is, right? I mean, seasonally.” Then I offer “Summertime,” the lullaby that opens Porgy and Bess (Gershwin).
In the past, I have done full-out summer-music podcasts: the relevant selection from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons; Les nuits d’été, the song-cycle by Berlioz; Im Sommerwind, the tone poem by Webern; “Summer Nights,” from Grease. (Pretty much everyone my age was in love with Olivia Newton-John.)
But in this new podcast, I have just the one summertime piece: Gershwin’s lullaby. And I have Leontyne Price, of course, singing it. She sings it live in Munich in 1968 — on what must have been a cold day: January 27.
As I mention in the podcast, I heard Price sing “Summertime” probably a dozen times, in recital. It was a habitual encore (along with five or ten other habitual encores). She never sang it the same way twice. I have many of her renderings in my head. They are lodged happily, and I hope permanently, in memory.
What else on this new podcast? A little Mozart. A piano piece by Medtner, played by Horowitz. (“Why no one play Medtner?” he once lamented.) A violin concerto by Szymanowski. An aria by Stravinsky. (I may or may not do a little singing myself — but if I do, it’s not enough to ruin the show.) A few viola jokes.
Yes. Musicians love to crack viola jokes. Sample: “Why is lightning like a violist’s fingers?” “Lightning never strikes the same place twice.” Second sample: “How can you tell whether a violist is playing out of tune?” “You see his bow moving.” Third sample: “How do you keep a violin from being stolen?” “Keep it in a viola case.”
Are these jokes absurd, mean, and unjust? Yes. Mainly. Anyway, it’s a subject. For my new Music for a While, once more, go here.