Geminiani: Op.3 Concerti Grossi (Hogwood/Academy of Ancient Music)

傑米尼亞尼是巴洛克晚期的作曲家，與巴哈，韓德爾，還有韋瓦第等同輩的作曲家。出身於Lucca，他的爸爸是當地教堂 Cappella Palatina的小提琴家，也很有可能是他的啟蒙老師。他後來又先到米蘭與Lonati學習音樂。接下來，今天公認的說法是他到羅馬時應該有當過 Corelli的學生，在拿坡里時又有拜師Alessandro Scarlatti，雖然這都沒有明確的文獻記載。1707年，20歲的Geminiani回到自己的家鄉，從父親手上接下了教堂小提琴手的工作，任職有 兩年。 1711年，他再度回到拿坡里擔任某樂團的小提琴首席。不過，他愛過度即興的個性與喜歡將音樂的節奏弄得太有彈性，使他從小提琴手被貶為中提琴手。

NP Stamps

Starting to upload the National Park stamps at the units I've visited....   I'm a stamper after all !!!
開始附上去過的每個國家公園的單位所蓋到的章~~~     有些沒蓋那麼漂亮就是了~~~

Movie: Away We Go

Away We Go is a nice little piece by Sam Mendes, director of critically-acclaimed films like American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead, and Revolutionary Road.  It's a nice little departure from his normal films and very refreshing.

The film is about a couple, Burt and Verona, in their mid 30s trying to figure out what to do with their lives when Verona becomes pregnant.  Still leading college student lifestyles, they realize the need to change their lifestyles and environment to welcome their newborn baby. 

Schmelzer: Sonatae unarum fidium (John Holloway)

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer(c1620 - 1680)是17世紀中在德語系國家中相當重要的音樂家。雖然他早期的生平多不可考，不過許多文獻都指出他在1635就已在統治Holy Roman Empire(神聖羅馬帝國)的Habsburg王朝的宮廷禮拜教堂(court chapel)下當樂手。儘管1643的正式婚姻文件記載他為cornett(角號)的演奏家，他最終是以高超小提琴家的名氣傳播至整歐 洲。

Post Date Change

Thanks to I-Kang, I now know how to change my posting dates of my entries.  Therefore, I will be changing my posting dates of my very old National Park conquests.  I will then only leave the latest National Park entry, which I will change when a newer entry comes out.

Movie: (500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer is a movie I recent saw over the winter break. It had a very good lasting impression that I watched it again with some friends (had them watch it with me would be more correct :) ).

This movies retraces Tom's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) relationship with Summer (Zooey Deschanel) in nonlinear fashion. It details how the love blooms, and in the next scene, jumps forward in time, to show you how a same movie date has become boring and the relationship falling apart. The first few lines spoken by the narrator cooly says "This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story." So don't get you hopes up about a happy ending.

Handel: The Eight Great Harpsichord Suites (Paul Nicholson)

2005底開始學大鍵琴以來，也開始大量收集大鍵琴的CD。以前小時候，甚至到大學的時候接觸和收集的巴洛克音樂，以室內樂和管弦樂為主，獨奏的音樂仍比較少，而且也以巴哈為主。雖然上研究所有購買巴哈和Francois Couperin的大鍵琴曲全集，但因為對樂器的了解有限，所以一次有辦法專注地聽完一整張CD的次數不多。

Vivaldi: 9 Concertos (I Musici)

I Musici 義大利音樂家合奏團，是於1952年由12位主要來自於羅馬的音樂家所組成的室內樂弦樂團。他們1955年所錄的韋瓦第的四季小提琴協奏曲，不僅是當初市 面少數買得到的錄音之一，也是多年來銷售相當好的唱片。1983年，在Philips所灌錄的這張四季，全世界銷售量超過1000萬張而被發行一張白金鑲 鑽的紀念唱片。這50幾年來，他們會將這耳熟能響的曲子，共再錄七次之多。