Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Nature

It's not often you come across something very large and wild when you are taking a gentle evening stroll at the beach. This huge sting ray had come into the shallow water and was waiting to be able to swim out again when the tide turned.

I got in very close with my phone and shot a couple of pics, thinking they probably wouldn't be much good,
but I was quite surprised when I downloaded them....

he was just inches away from me, and he had two very big eyes and a very long tail, and I was thinking that he seemed to be as interested in me as I was in him, because as I walked along the beach he followed alongside, and when I turned to walk back the way I had come he did the same. I was quite sad to say goodbye to him, I hope he made it back into the ocean safely.


On the way home I took this pic of the sunset with my phone as well. It was quite a memorable evening all in all.


This Saturday night our orchestra is playing the first concert of the season.


The music is all about 'The Great Outdoors'.

It opens with the Aotearoa Overture by Douglas Lilburn and I wish I could give you a great recording on you tube to listen to, but sadly I only found two videos of the music, one of them is filmed at Te Papa and has lots of background noise and the other is performed by Westlake College and has good sound but is very poor visually.

Lilburn wrote this in 1939 and it is quite nationalistic. We all get very stirred up when we play this. It means something different to each one of us. For me personally I am transported into the native bush of New Zealand, I hear the birds and see the mountains and the rivers...I love it. I find it very 'hand on the heart' stuff !
We then play Weber's Clarinet Concerto, which should be fun, it has been a while since we had a soloist to perform with us.
Finishing with Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony which is always a favorite and exciting to play, especially during the 'storm'. I think of Beethoven writing this when he was happy and on holiday in the country.

Some great music to mark the beginning of Autumn and the start of Easter.

7 comments:

Mary Keenan said...

Wow!!! That is a great phone to have handy - those pictures are so great I almost feel I saw all of that with you!

Lori ann said...

Oh Sally, how i would love to be at that concert. Thank you for all the descriptions of the music and musicians. Have a wonderful time, i'll be thinking of you.

now the stingray...i surely don't want to scare you or anyone but here is a post i wrote you might like to read, i hope you will...
http://loritimesfive.blogspot.com/2009/08/under-sea.html

i am still shuddering looking at how close you were (wow your iphone took great photos though!)

Sally Anne said...

O.M.G Aargh...Thank you for that post Lori !!!! Actually when I saw this stingray the other day it did make me think of Steve Irwin, fortunately I wasn't in the water but standing on a sandbank alongside. It has certainly put me off swimming in the sea ! SCARY !!!
Is your ankle completely OK now or do you have ongoing problems with it ?

The Curious Cat said...

What wonderful photos! I adore that sunset one and the stingray - wow! Funny how he followed you...wonder what was going through his head... xxx

Binnie said...

What a lovely program! My orchestra had the great fortune to have had Georg Tintner as our conductor for a number of years. You might recognize his name - he conducted in your neck of the woods, as well. He brought Lilburn's music to our rocky Nova Scotia shores - wish I could remember what we played of his. I'll have to dig around.

Lori ann said...

oh dear sally, i didn't want to scare you, only inform. i still go in the water, but with an awareness i never had before. it's just good to know i think. the ankle is permanent, it severed nerves and tendons that the surgeon couldn't repair.

Anonymous said...

Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony--what can I say....too beautiful. I could also eat his "Pastoral" piano sonata with a spoon. Hand on heart of a different variety, I guess.