Naturally, I must start with a “Happy New Year” to all!  At the insistence of my dear departed mother from  beyond the grave, I am also obligated to begin this and every year by making black-eyed peas cooked with a ham-hock (and possibly mix in some small pieces left from the Christmas ham), accompanied by collard greens with salt pork and “Southern” cornbread (that means NO sugar, meaning no Jiffy Mix, and using buttermilk). I will add chopped jalapenos and grated cheddar to the cornbread batter, though. Then all will be right with the world in 2025. Supposedly. But New Year’s Day is also the eighth day of Christmas – “Eight maids a’ milking!” – so I can still wish you a Merry Christmas today, too. 

Having completed a movement of my next (fourth) symphony (see my last, Dec. 18th entry to hear it), I am back now to NOT composing and to working through reading my pile of books. But no more murder mysteries, please! Too many characters to keep track of! So, no more Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Raymond Chandler novels in 2025. That was so 2024.

For Christmas, Crystal gave me two more of the movie actor Stanley Tucci’s food-related books, to go with my previous two. That’s his complete set, so far. I’m a fan. I wouldn’t mind someday having a martini with the guy, but of course I have little hope of that. But here I am (photo below) having one with another famous fellow, along with a few of my own preferences about what makes a good martini.

Gin, not vodka, is the classic. One gin martini has less alcohol, less sugar, and fewer calories than two glasses of wine!

A gin martini is stirred. James Bond’s is shaken only because in the books and a film or two he asks for vodka in it. Vodka is shaken, gin stirred. Yes, you really can taste the difference in mixing methods.

I keep my martini glass and my gin in the freezer and use two fresh, large blue-cheese-stuffed olives – not olives out of a jar, which are mushy.

With Crystal just back, we got to go together last night to a nice New Year’s Eve dinner with great Italian food. Next, as for all of us, will be the return of teaching and theater rehearsals for her, getting back on my diet and composing for me, and (take a deep breath), for you, whatever daily work you do!  I got some weights for Christmas and will be using them and my “AB Wheel” today!

Finally, in observance of another new year, it occurs to me, that I have not recently answered my most frequently asked question of why I compose in “such an unusually traditional” style. Yet, many who don’t listen to much classical music don’t always realize how unusual it is that traditional melodies actually appear in today’s new classical music. Most new music for the concert hall is to some degree “Modernist,” perhaps taking its cue from those paintings of abstract shapes or a dot on the canvas in museums, rather than from traditional paintings of people or landscapes.

Though my academic training required that I employ what you might call a musical version of shapes and dots, I grew up hearing beautiful and great classical music in my home as a child, so I have always been a melodist at heart. While finally embracing that great tradition, I knew it should not sound merely like a copy-cat derivative, not like, say, warmed-over Mozart. I believe one’s own unique artistic voice comes through a synthesis – that is, a puree, not a stew – of many different composers and influences one loves. Finding my own ideal synthesis has been a lifelong goal.

While I respect that other composers may feel called to write discordant music reflecting dark and disturbing concepts, I am not called to do that. I simply enjoy composing music that I would want to hear myself if I were sitting in the audience. In an ideal world, I would like to contribute something lasting to the great repertoire, however small a contribution that may be. That means music that listeners might want to hear many times, not just once. I like to think I get a little closer each time I’m up to bat, so I’m always eager to get better.

Amazon now has my new, third, symphony on pre-order sale , so I’ll make a pitch for you to pre-order it and see how I’m doing. Pre-orders should be made HERE before the official release date of Feb. 7, so you’ll be the first to get it on or before then (as of today they have that date wrong as Feb. 21 but should soon change that to Feb. 7).

Wishing you a lovely 2025!