In the article I posted last week with the full-episode video here of The Harry Secombe Show -- on which he sang a duet from La Boheme with an opera singer -- I mentioned that it wasn’t all that much of a stretch for him, since he had starred in a 1957 British movie, Davy, about the member of a low-level vaudeville, family comedy team who wants to go out on his own and be an opera singer. 
 
(No, it’s not semi-autobiographical, although Secombe did get his start in vaudeville/burlesque music hall.  In fact, if you ever saw the movie, Mrs. Henderson Presents with Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins – a fairly enjoyable film, for which she got an Oscar nomination – it’s loosely based on a true story where a woman buys on old theater house and puts on variety shows that include an all-nude women’s revue.  And that theater, the Windmill, is one of the places where Harry Secombe began his career.  In fact, he wrote what was a semi-autobiographical story, the comic novel, Twice Brightly,  about that part of his very early career.)

​I've periodically mentioned my Internet friend Peter Breiner.  He's quite an accomplished fellow -- composer, arranger and conductor.  And not only has he made over 290 recordings (I don't even own 290 CDs...), but he wrote a weekly newspaper column, is a book author, had a radio program, and hosted a talk show on Slovenska Televizia (with the great title, Do You Have Something Against That?) that had the honor of being briefly banned for being too controversial. 

(Apparently all was forgiven, because in 2018 Slovak President Andrej Kiska presented Breiner with the Order of Ludovít Štúr, the third highest Slovak state decoration.  Of course, in the interim, he lived in Toronto and then New York City for almost 30 years, and now resides in London.)

​
Every year for my Holiday Fest, as readers here likely recall, I post several selections from two of his CDs, Christmas Goes Baroque I and II, which are among my favorite -- taking has traditional, popular Christmas songs he's arranged impeccably and conducted in the style of Baroque composers.  (He did the same with another Baroque-style CD, Beatles Go Baroque, which got a sequel, as well.)

But this is about something else entirely,

Not long ago, Breiner was commissioned to write a ballet based on Mikhail Bulgakov's classic novel, The Master and Margarita, and it was scheduled to have its world premiere in 2020 at the Slovak National Theater for their 100th anniversary, but...well, you know there was that whole pandemic thing that got in the way.  At least, hopefully, for the moment.  However, rather than wait around, he arranged the music into a long suite which he titled, The Devil In Moscow.  And not long ago, the piece had its world premiere with the Slovak Philharmonic, and Breiner conducting.  And best of all, the video of the concert is online.

And even better, it's wonderful.

Yes, I'm biased, but two things:

First, I didn't have to post this.  I could have sent Peter a nice note, "Really nice, I enjoyed it," and left it at that.  So, everything I say here I mean wholeheartedly.

And second, he's recorded 291 albums.  Though much is his arrangements and conducting of others' works, a great deal has been his own music.  The short version, he really knows what he's doing.

I should add that when I say the piece was wonderful, it's not necessarily my favorite style of music.  (I like some, but there are other styles I like much more.)  But this was vibrant, rich, melodic, edgy and has great scope.  I will acknowledge that I what liked most was how the music built in the second half of the piece, starting with the selection “Niesla žlté kvety” through to the end.  I don’t know my reaction is because of the music, or because I just liked how it built, or if my ear got more accustomed to it all.  To be clear – I liked it all.  I’m just saying this is what I liked most.  I thought that “Niesla žlté kvety” stood out as gorgeous – but also, in a completely different style, my second favorite section was the final  “Velký ples pri splne mesiaca“.

I also thought that it was terrifically orchestrated – my favorite part (oddly, for its simplicity) was the chimes in the finale, for being very emotional and moving, helped by having read the novel.  But perhaps it’s the simplicity that stood out, but also its moodiness.  And the orchestra was excellent.  I’m glad for the thunderous applause at the end.  Actually, I was surprised that the very initial reaction was muted for a few seconds – and then when Breiner turned around, the cheers rose.  And it grew even more when he returned to the stage. 

I know only part of the effort he went through to get to this point, and (and this is totally subjective and personal) I’m so glad he got there – because this now finally has entered into the world.  Here’s hoping the ballet does get staged at some point, but regardless, how absolutely great that the work now has been heard and stands on its own as such a moving piece of music. 

I wrote most of this to Peter, and he said I could post his reply.  He wrote -- 

Thanks very much for your kind words. I am very glad you liked it. This suite was crafted from the first half of the ballet, the original piece is about 2 hours long. The piece was very well received by the audience on both nights. However, since the current government of Slovakia is totally pro- Russian, the press was too scared to write reviews of something with this title, despite the fact, that it's based on a 100 years old extremely popular Russian novel.

With all that out of the way, here then (at last...) is Peter Breiner’s 40-minute suite from his ballet Devil in Moscow, based on the novel The Master and Margarita,” by Mikhail Bulgakov.  For those who do listen, it may help to know the story that the music is telling.  On its most simplistic level, a stranger comes to Moscow and offers people great gifts that almost magically come true.  And then they turn inside out, and the people who took the gifts have their lives become hell.  The stranger is basically the Devil.  And the Devil is communism.  There’s a lot more going on, but that’s the core.

I can't embed the video here since it's not posted on YouTube, however you'll be able to find it at this link here.
 
If you decide to listen to the whole thing, just know that the novel is moody, dark, sardonically comic, mystical, eerie and edgy.  So, the music tells that story.  It’s modern and often atonal.  Though not all of it is.
 
And for those who just want to listen to my favorite segments (or to start with them), those would be -- “She carried yellow flowers" and the finale “The great full moon ball”.  They’re very different from each other.
 
For a bit of assistance maneuvering around the site:

This video is the full concert, which opened with three other classical selections by Walton, Haydn and Bach.  Some may enjoy the whole evening, but if you want to get to Breiner's The Devil in Moscow, you’ll see on the right side of the screen the program for the evening.  Scroll down to where it say’s “Peter Breiner.”   This is what it looks like --
​

Then, just click on  these two segments noted above.  The video will jump right to them.  You may have to click Play.
 
“She carried yellow flowers" is about five minutes, and the finale “The great full moon ball”​ is a bit over six minutes.

Or just click on the title of the piece under his name, to hear the full suite.
 
That’s Peter Breiner conducting.  He also orchestrated the piece.  And the other folks on stage are, of course, the Slovak Philharmonic.

Welcome to Fine Arts Corner, a service provided by Elisberg Industries in our proprietor's ongoing, uphill effort to make it seem like, on occasion -- and on the surface -- that, in addition to our regular yammering, we supposedly have good taste.

It’s unclear, but possible that this video will only be available through May 10, so I figured it was posting something this gorgeous now or never.  And even though most people won’t  watch all of it, some may watch at least part of it – if only because it’s great music to work to.
 
It’s video from 2010 of a Great Performances episode on PBS of when Pierre Boulez conducted the Chicago  Symphony in Mahler’s epic 7th Symphony.  (In fairness, pretty much every Mahler Symphony is "epic"…)  Boulez had been the principal guest conductor of the orchestra, and this video is posted online in honor of this being the 100th anniversary of his birth.
 
Here’s what they write on the CSO website --
 
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra joins the music world in celebrating the centennial of Pierre Boulez (1925–2016), one of history’s most consequential composers and conductors and a beloved member of the CSO family. As principal guest conductor — and later Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus — Boulez worked with the Orchestra and Chorus across many decades, leading them both at home and on tour and making a number of landmark recordings, including several Grammy Award winners.
 
As we remember Boulez’s legacy, enjoy an encore presentation of Mahler’s enigmatic Seventh Symphony performed by the CSO under his baton — recorded in Orchestra Hall in October 2010 and featured on a PBS Great Performances telecast. The concert is available exclusively on CSOtv through May 10.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote here about my 2008 application (written in the form of an epic poem) to be poet laureate of California.  It came after then Gov. Schwarzenegger was looking to name one for the state, and one of the conditions was that any poet willing to refuse the (small) stipend would be given extra consideration.

I noted in the retelling that --

"My friend Rich Capparela was the long-time host of the morning show on the classical music radio station in Los Angeles, KUSC-FM.  He's still on the air there, though wise enough to no longer have to get up before the sun starts to break. Anyway, at the time, he saw my piece, no doubt thought that it fit the fine arts culture of the station, and read the first verse on the air.  I will note that there were many other verses -- we poets highly prize the epic form -- but being a music show, I understood that some things must give way, even in the exalted name of poetry."

I wrote that and left it as is, because I couldn't find the audio of Rich's moving interpretation of the first verse, which I thought I had kept.

It turns out that I looked in the wrong places.  Because happily...it exists.  And I found it.  So, to raise the fine arts standards of this site, here -- to further honor National Poetry Month -- is the recording. 

​And the proof that I wasn't a-lying.

Here again, for those who might have missed it or are the kind of graceful people who regularly reread poetry to enrich themselves emotionally and artistically, here is the full ballade.

I'm applying to be poet laureate
Though I'm not sure what the job's faureate.
My rhymes aren't deep
But they're fast and they're cheap!
Which is why I've not been shown the daureate.

I so hope I become poet laureate.
I've got poems you shouldn't ignaureate.
Sure, the job pays no stipend,
But I swear I won’t gripe and
I’ll only give thanks I’m not paureate.

O if I become poet laureate
The surprises that you have instaureate.
I'll fill poems by the barrel
To be read at one’s peril.
And I promise I won't be a haureate.

I'd be a real good poet laureate.
This writing stuff isn't a chaureate.
I’ll do sonnet or haiku
Or whatever you like, you
Just tell me if you need some maureate.

So, please let me be poet laureate!!
There are worlds o’ rhymes left to explaureate.
And for better or worse
What you get with free verse
Is something you may not adaureate.

Among its many fine attributes, April is National Poetry Month.  If you haven't gone to any poetry festivals yet, not to worry, there is is still time.

Around 2005, there was a news story out here in California that overlapped with that gala holiday, and it prompted my great interest so much so that a few years later I eventually got around to writing about it for the Huffington Post, on how I had dived in to do my part.

I thought this would be a most-appropriate time to repost that article.

(There's an addendum of sorts to this all.  My friend Rich Capparela was the long-time host of the morning show on the classical music radio station in Los Angeles, KUSC-FM.  He's still on the air there, though wise enough to no longer have to get up before the sun starts to break. Anyway, at the time, he saw my piece, no doubt thought that it fit the fine arts culture of the station, and read the first verse on the air.  I will note that there were many other verses -- we poets highly prize the epic form -- but being a music show, I understood that some things must give way, even in the exalted name of poetry)

                                   My Application to be Poet Laureate
                                                    April 10, 2008

April, as you no doubt are well-aware (and have likely been waiting all year for), is National Poetry Month.  First, the start of the baseball season, and now this!
 
I’m reminded that I submitted my application when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Arts Council announced they had begun accepting nominations for the position of state poet laureate and ambassador for the literary arts.

I feel pretty confident at getting the job because a spokesman for the governor, Terri Carbaugh suggested that candidates who choose to turn down the already-small stipend would be given added consideration in the decision.

"As you know, this is a very tight fiscal year," Ms. Carbaugh said. "Quite possibly, a poet laureate may step up to the plate and volunteer their time. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
 
It would!  It would be so wonderful (or rather, ‘o wondrous,’ as we aspiring poet laureates prefer to say.)  And given that I’m willing to starve for my art and bring beauty to the state and ultimately the world, I figure that my plate will be a bounty.  Besides, being called “Mr. Ambassador” never hurts, especially with the ladies.
 
Though it’s been a few years and I haven’t heard yet, I expect that’s because they’re busy with other matters.  After all, a job that you don’t want to pay anything for has got to be fairly low down on the priority ladder.  So, I haven’t lost hope and am expecting a response any day.
 
But I’m confident of getting the non-paying position.  After all, not only did I say on my application that I’d do the job for free, the main requirement, but I included the following poem without charge to seal the deal.
 
Here’s hoping!  Metaphors be with me.
 
 
I'm applying to be poet laureate
Though I'm not sure what the job's faureate.
My rhymes aren't deep
But they're fast and they're cheap!
Which is why I've not been shown the daureate.

I so hope I become poet laureate.
I've got poems you shouldn't ignaureate.
Sure, the job pays no stipend,
But I swear I won’t gripe and
I’ll only give thanks I’m not paureate.

O if I become poet laureate
The surprises that you have instaureate.
I'll fill poems by the barrel
To be read at one’s peril.
And I promise I won't be a haureate.

I'd be a real good poet laureate.
This writing stuff isn't a chaureate.
I’ll do sonnet or haiku
Or whatever you like, you
Just tell me if you need some maureate.

So, please let me be poet laureate!!
There are worlds o’ rhymes left to explaureate.
And for better or worse
What you get with free verse
Is something you may not adaureate.

​One new Trump Executive Order caught my eye last week.  It didn’t get much attention, most especially compared to some of his others.  But it did catch mine.  To be clear, there are far more destructive actions that the Trump administration has taken, complicit with the MAGOP Congress enacting the policies, which impact the daily life of Americans – like dismantling Social Security, imposing tariffs on allies that increase prices in the U.S., deporting people without due process, firing masses of federal employees, eliminating expert medical standards and more.  But this new Executive Order – while much less impactful than any of these – may be among the easiest to see as indicative of how the Trump administration and MAGOPs have become fascist in its purest societal sense.
 
The other issues are more destructive to personal lives, but being political at the core of their actions can get them mistaken by the public without noticing the fascist intent.  (“We’re just trying to get rid of excess.  We’re just trying to get rid of fraud.  We’re just trying to keep America safe” – despite not doing any of that).  But this recent Executive Order has none of that as its foundation.  It’s purely ideological and social, and attempting to impose fascist beliefs on all American thought and history.
 
It's Trump’s Executive Order that targets museums, culture and art centers that receive federal funding.  And at the core of its focus is the crown jewel of the country’s culture, the Smithsonian Institution.
 
We saw a precursor to this when Trump took over control of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, making himself its chairman of the board and stocking the rest of the board with his acolytes.  The financial and artistic impact to the Kennedy Center has been profound, as acts have cancelled (including a scheduled run of the musical Hamilton), ticket sales have been drying up, and donations have dwindled.  Devastating as this is, and as notable as the Kennedy Center is, the direct impact is largely felt by the theater itself, since the various performances can rescheduled elsewhere and money can be spent to support other artistic endeavors.  Mostly, this speaks to Trump’s intent to control art and culture – no small thing, and it leads directly to his new Executive Order.
 
All of which, it must always been reiterated, is enabled by the MAGOPs in Congress, who enact his policies and are complicit in them all.
 
Trump’s Executive Order states vice-president “Vance,” who is a member of the Smithsonian’s board of regents, work with Congress and the Office of Management and Budget to defund exhibits that present "improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology."
 
It also calls for a policy against programs it claims will “degrade shared American values [and] divide Americans based on race”.  And a commitment by the governing board “to advancing the policy of this order”.  As for who that board be -- the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents is made up of the vice president, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, three Senators, three Representatives…and nine citizens -- who the Executive Order states would be broadly in agreement with Trump’s decree, all appointed by “Vance” and the MAGOP-controlled Congress.
 
Two immediate, important things must be noted:
 
The first is that, as we’ve seen in long-standing Trump and MAGA actions, “shared American values” are those shared only by white conservatives and by those, as the order itself states bluntly, who agree with Trump’s decree.  And anything that “divides” American by race is only that which upsets white people who believe they or their ancestors never did anything harmful to black people or minorities, including slavery.
 
And second, museums are not federal agencies.  They exist as archives of what existed in history, both noble and tragic, and everything in between, so that societies can study the past and learn from it.
 
The importance of all this, even if it is of far-less harmful impact on people’s daily lives, is that, in Trump’s own words, it is about “ideology.” And that permeates everything.  It’s the “Thought Police” concept which not only liberals, but MAGOP conservatives rail against.  It’s Trump and complicit MAGOPs in Congress (and “Congress” is in Trump’s order…) trying to impose their ideology and thought on the culture of America.
 
Indeed, when decrying exhibits that, to their fascist view, have “improper, divisive or anti-American ideology”, it’s near-impossible to not be reminded of parallels to actions by Nazis in the 1920-30s against what they called “degenerative art.”  Rather than let culture develop as a reflection of society, which is what culture is, for good or ill, this is imposing one’s self-interested restrictions to limit thought and freedom.  And make no mistake, those restrictions aren’t “merely” about art, but when you limit thought and freedom, it permeates everywhere.
 
That’s why this Executive Order by Trump, with MAGOPs in Congress complicit, is so easy to spot.  It’s not about anything grounded in politics, it’s only pure ideology.  And this case, that ideology is fascism.
 
While this order mostly impacts The Smithsonian Institution, it’s not limited to it.  Furthermore, the Smithsonian Institution, which began 178 years ago, is far more than “just” a museum.  It’s a sprawling collection of facilities that covers a scholarly research complex, monuments that are run by the Department of the Interior, libraries, and 21 separate museums that include, beyond the Smithsonian structure itself, the Air & Space Museum and the American Art Museum.  And the National Zoo!  All of this together is the world’s largest museum and research center. When people call it the “crown jewel” of American culture, that is not hyperbole.
 
That’s what Trump and the MAGOPs in Congress want to reshape into their own, personal ideology.  That’s what so easy to grasp – at least if you are honest and want to take an open look.  That’s what this is – turning a renowned, expansive museum of almost 200 years into a manifesto.  It doesn’t matter what that ideology is, there is no foundation for doing it.  This isn’t about fixing Social Security, enacting tariffs, protecting the border, balancing the budget, getting rid of waste.  It’s a museum – the arts, cultural, history research center of the United States since August, 1846.  A repository of American society – left, right and center, all that’s good and all that isn’t.  It is not only improbable that anyone who voted for Trump and MAGOPs did so thinking they wanted the Smithsonian Institution restructured into a fascist ideology center, which Trump is trying to do – and taking control of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – it is improbable (bordering on the impossible) that anyone who voted for any candidate...ever, since their founding...did so thinking they wanted the Smithsonian Institution and Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts restructured in any way.
 
And to be clear, for all this…the Smithsonian isn't even a federal agency. It does receive federal funds, though only about 60% of its funding is from the federal government.  Private sources, trust funds, grants and business activities make up the rest. Yet, despite not being a federal agency, Trump and MAGOPs in Congress want to control its ideology.
 
An ideology whose mission for 178 years has been the glory of the United States and a beacon to the world to present history and culture, free and open thought, whatever it may be.
 
And in the end, all of this aside, if “improper, divisive or anti-American ideology” were the actual standard we go by, then a leader and party that enact the illegal mass firings of Americans overturned by courts while defying court orders against illegal deportations, calling all those you disagree with your “enemies” while demanding the impeachment of judges who rule against you, and placing tariffs on your allies as you protect the interests of the country’s enemy Russia, then Trump – and his complicit MAGOP party – would be the first and only ones to be impacted by the order.  Most especially since it’s the core of fascism.