Route 11 Road Trip -- Day 1: Winchester

On the road to Winchester

Our adventures actually started before we reached Winchester. We left early in the morning and took a back road from our home. It took us through Front Royal, where we found a farmer's market in the town square.

The town center farmer's market at Front Royal

The square also featured a large sundail (that was pretty accurate, at least according to my watch and asmall bandstand.  Not everyone was local -- I overheard an animnated coversation in German as we walked back to the car.

Dinosaur Land! How could we pass it up?

On the road to Winchester, we passed Dinosaur Land. I know absolutely nothing about the place, save that it looked like it had seen better days. When traffic patterns change, many of the businesses along the older roads that rely on tourists tend to wither -- like Dinosaur Lnad.

Winchester

Winchester is where Route 11 enters Virginia. The road is also known as the Valley Turnpike, and has its origins as a wagon route. The city stands at the mouth of the Shenadoah Valley, and was of major strategic value during the Civil War. The rich farmlands of the Valley were called the "Breadbasket of the Confederacy." Union troops were sent to capture and destroy that breadbasket, opposed by the out-numbered and  under-equipped confederates lead by Stonewall Jackson.  The hit-and-run tactics of Jackson tied up the larger Union force and ranged up and down the Valley. There are historic road markers about every two miles ( or so it seems) marking some skirmish or battle of the Valley Campaign.

One of the many unique
structures in Old Town.

Winchester's downtown (Old Town) was beautiful. The center is bricked over to make a pedestrian mall, and most of the boutique shops and restaurants seemed to be thriving. Of course, Winchester is the county seat for Frederick County,  a refuge for the rich and powerful (and horse owners) from Washington, DC. There seemed to be not a few businesses catering to the carriage trade.
  
Apples and Rebels
Throughout the city, large apples had been set up for public art. I've seen similar projects elsewhere -- the concept is that different artists decorate the shapes, making them simultaneously uniform and unique. Sort of like variations on a theme. The oddest one I thought featured different portraits of people important to Winchester.

As you can see in the photo below, there's Stonewall Jackson. I remarked on the odd placement on Facebook, and someone pedantically explained that Stuart encamped in Winchester. True, but I stick by my original thought.  When I think of Winchester, I think of apples. When I think of apples, I don't think of Stonewall Jackson.

Winchester = apples = Stonewall Jackson ?!

Tomorrow it's on down the road, to Stephens City and beyond!

#route 11

Route 11 Road Trip -- The Plan

Route 11 Road Trip - Day 2: Winchester to Harrisonburg

Route 11 Road Trip - Day 3: Harrisonburg to Lexington

Route 11 Road Trip - Day 4: Lexington

Route 11 Road Trip - Day 5: Lexington to Christiansburg

Route 11 Road Trip - Day 6: Christiansburg to Abingdon

Route 11 Road Trip: Day 7 Abingdon to Bristol

Route 11 Road Trip -- The Plan

We’ve decided on a somewhat unusual vacation this year. I’m not sure if it’s technically a staycation or not, but it should be interesting. We’re going to travel down U.S. Route 11 from Winchester to Bristol. VA/TN.

Our goal isn’t to travel the entire route (which runs from New York to Louisiana) – just the Virginia section, which enters the state from West Virginia around Winchester, and runs down the Shenandoah Valley to Bristol.

My wife grew up in Abingdon, Virginia and she and her family traveled Route 11 often to visit relatives in Madison County (up near Charlottesville). From Northern Virginia, I recall Sunday family drives down through Winchester, picking up Route 11.

Route 11 used to be a major thoroughfare until Route 81 was constructed in the mid-1960s. 81 parallels 11, and is now a major artery for truck transportation. During our long-distance courtship and after our marriage, we travelled up and down 81 for years.

On our journeys, we always saw the exit signs leading to Route 11, and the small towns it went through, but we seldom had time to stop or explore – we were on our way either to or from Abingdon, and we wanted to get to our destination as quickly as possible!

This time, though, we decided to visit all of those places we whizzed past on the interstate. For me it would be a voyage of discovery – for my wife, a revisiting of the past. So we decided to journey down Route 11, taking our time and seeing what we could find.

And there's another reason, too. The day we start this trip will be exactly a year since we first visited the oncologist, and I found out I had Burkitt's lymphoma. Since then, I've underwent treatment, and everything is in remission. But one of the lessons learned was that one can't put things off forever. So we're going to visit all those places we zoomed past when we didn't have the time. We're making the time now.

The itinerary’s pretty simple. We’re starting in Winchester on Saturday, July 16, 2011 . We’ll meet family in Abingdon either Thursday or Friday of the following week – arriving just in time for the start of the Virginia Highlands Festival.

While we’ve booked a room for the first night in Winchester, we haven’t made any other reservations. We’ll find accommodations wherever we happen to be at night. A leisurely drive down a road, taking days instead of hours to traverse, with no set itinerary or timetable.

I’ve never done a vacation like this before, but it should be fun!

#route 11

Route 11 Road Trip -- Day 1: Winchester

Route 11 Road Trip - Day 2: Winchester to Harrisonburg

Route 11 Road Trip - Day 3: Harrisonburg to Lexington

Route 11 Road Trip - Day 4: Lexington

Route 11 Road Trip - Day 5: Lexington to Christiansburg

Route 11 Road Trip - Day 6: Christiansburg to Abingdon

Route 11 Road Trip: Day 7 Abingdon to Bristol

Radio Nightmare

Last night I dreamed I was back at WJMA, a station I worked for back in the 1980's. It was more of a nightmare than a dream. I was filling in for the regular Saturday afternoon host Even though the format was country (which it is for the station in real life),  I had been asked to play classical music, since that's what I do at WTJU.

There were some nightmarish elements fellow broadcasters could appreciate. There wasn't a log, so I didn't know when things were supposed to happen, like the news feed at the top of the hour. I didn't know what commercials to run, or even where they were in the studio or on the board (had I chosen to run any). Ditto with public service announcements. The studio clock wasn't working, so I was relying on my wristwatch for time checks.

Worse yet, the studio also doubled as the lobby, with a door opening onto the street, so people were constantly coming and going -- and of course talking the whole time, whether the mic was open or not. In fact, the News Director was there, criticizing everything I did, but only while I was trying to talk on air. When I asked him to stop, he replied that if I was doing what I was supposed to, he wouldn't have anything to say. (BTW - I worked with this person at the station, and he's still there. He's a true professional and would never do any such thing in real life).

Apparently I had done this shift the previous Saturday, and he was there with some programming suggestions. The classical music I played before was too hard to listen to. It was too long, and too complex for their country music listeners. So no vocal music, nothing over four minutes in length, and the more familiar the better.

I replied that I only had about four tracks by Bach, another four by Handel, and three by Vivaldi that fit his criteria. "That's fine," he said, "just keep repeating threm." I expressed doubts that running the same eleven tracks in rotation from 1 to 4PM was a good idea. That's when he informed me that I would be on until 5, or possible 6PM when the owner's plane landed.

I woke up.

Yes, it was all a dream -- except for one part. As I've documented in my Classical Challenge, there are quite a few music directors who labor under some of the restraints I was lucky enough to escape when I awoke.  I wonder if they consider their jobs a nightmare, or a dream?

ASO Moves from Strength to Strength

Theofanidis: Symphony No. 1 and Lieberson: Neruda Songs
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Robert Spano, conductor
Kelley O'Connor, mezzo-soprano

If they continue on the trend established by their first two releases, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's ASO Media label may become one of my favorite labels. For their second release, the orchestra pairs two compositions by a rising and an established composer. Christopher Theofanidis is the (relative) newcomer, and the work is his first symphony. Peter Lieberson is the established composer, with his "Neruda Songs."

The Symphony was premiered by the Robert Spano and the ASO in 2009, and it's clear that they know this music intimately. Theofanidis's symphony is a study in contrasts. It starts out with a unison wind line that contains all the motifs for the rest of first movement. When the rest of the orchestra enters, its with a lush sound well-suited to the orchestra.

Some parts reminds me of Carl Vine's orchestral music, which is not a bad thing. Like Vine, Theofanidis writes melodically, in clearly defined structures that are easy to follow. This four-movement work is symphonic in every sense; dramatic, expansive, full of rich timbres and imaginative orchestration. For those who still think that modern music is only cacophony gone wild, Theofanidis' First Symphony provides ample proof to the contrary.

The second work on the release, is Peter Lieberson's "Neruda Songs." It's a good match for the Theofanidis Symphony. It also is richly orchestrated, with some distinctively Latino musical turns, in keeping with the Chilean poetry of Pablo Neruda. Lieberson originally wrote this orchestral song cycle for his wife, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. This recording features mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, who brings her own interpretation to the work (that's her picture on the album art, BTW).

O'Connor's warm delivery and sensitive phrasing give this work new life. The "Neruda Songs" are personal love letters Lieberson composed for his wife. This performance turns them into something more universal, yet still deeply moving.

Two substantial 21st Century works performed with authority and conviction -- the Atlanta Symphony's self-released CDs just keep moving from strength to strength.

Hummel At the Opera - Engaging piano arrangements by a classical master

Hummel At the Opera
Madoka Inui, piano
Naxos

Like many virtuoso composer/performers of the day, Johann Nepomuk Hummel wrote arrangements and variations on popular melodies. And in that day (the early 1800’s), the best-known melodies were to be found in operas.

This collection features a number of Hummel’s operatic arrangements for solo piano. All show a wealth of musical imagination. Some of the source material is familiar to us today, such Mozart’s Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and Gluck’s Armide. Others are a little more obscure. In a few cases,  such as Hummel’s own fairy opera Eselshaut, his piano arrangements are the only surviving versions of the work.

As may one might expect, these variations and grand fantasias are full of attractive melodies. Compared to Liszt’s operatic transcriptions – or Beethoven’s “Diabelli Variations,” these works can seem a little tame. But Hummel’s inventiveness runs closer to  that of Mozart and Haydn. So while they’re  excessively showy, they’re all solidly constructed pieces of music.

Especially attractive is his variations of “Vivat Bacchus” from Mozart’s Die Entfuhrung. Hummel takes the aria through several permutations that vary in tone from humorous to serious.  I also found his simple counterpoint in the Grand Fantasi on Oberons Zauberhorn particularly charming.

Pianist Madoka Inui plays these works with precision and sensitivity. Her phrasing is impeccable, giving the music a sense of forward motion while maintaining a little of the emotional reserve characteristic of Hummel’s late-classical style.

Pleasant – and in some cases – thought-provoking arrangements that make for an enjoyable listening experience.