Wow, our weather here at the Hilltop has been unseasonably chilly for the South! I confess to being a sunshine-and-warmth–ophile. In a spirit of hope, I have already obtained a couple of metal raised beds (shown here) to plant herbs and other small plants. These are to replace our two, now rotting, identical beds made of wood.

I’m pretty much counting the days to get them and a garden all up to speed, firing up the grill again, pushing a mower around, and reading in the warm sunshine. Most of the time, though, I hope to be working on the other three movements of my next (fourth) symphony and plans for the release of my ballet on audio CD (see below).

It is now just nine days until February 7^th and the release of my new album, Symphony No. 3: English! The response from so many people has been very gratifying. My sincere thanks go to everyone who has placed their “pre-order.”

A few people who already have a copy (from me) are telling me they are listening to it over and over and enjoying it more each time. For me, that is the litmus test of classical music – people wanting to hear it again and hearing new elements each time with both emotional and intellectual enjoyment.

Thanks also to some friends who have kindly posted to ask their friends to place a pre-order! Pre-orders help to boost the “premiere” sales, which can help put the album on the Billboard classical chart. It’s a real team effort. If you’d like to join that team in the remaining week, please click or tap HERE to place your  pre-order, and thank you so very much in advance!

I hasten to add that in classical music, especially new classical music, the overall sales are so tiny –  usually in the low hundreds rather than the millions or billions for the top pop records. Even making it onto Billboard is not likely to bring any real fame or fortune. That’s fine. Early on, I made a choice to become a starving artist and relatively unknown by pursuing the classical genre, where I believed my heart and my gifts were.

But in this case, it’s not only my own work involved. This album is the work of over a hundred people –  a big symphony orchestra, a conductor, recording engineers, and album design artists who also want to share the beauty of their own gifts with the world. I’d say they outdid themselves this time.

Also, I do simply enjoy composing alone for many hours and then working with these other people when we finally come together to perform or record. We always have a marvelous comradery. A composer must be part introvert and part extrovert, I guess.

Speaking of food (wait, was I?) , the bangers and mash meal, for which I made the banger sausages in my last diary entry, turned out as well as I hoped!  Here’s a photo I took. These last two weeks I have also made two meals for company: First, homemade basil pesto linguini with lemon-pepper seared jumbo shrimp; and second, my pumpkin soup with Italian sausage, fresh sage, and mushrooms in a base of pureed pumpkin and stock. Both of these meals are topped with grated parmesan.

Somehow in all of this, I’ve compensated by starving the rest of those days to stay on my diet. But at this point I will wait and announce here the grand total of pounds shed when I finally am satisfied to look in the mirror. P.S.: For the pesto pasta, I ordered the best brand of Italian pasta I’ve ever had, “Pasta Abruzzese di Semola di Grano Duro,” made of bronze-cut semolina wheat grown in Italy. You can order it on Amazon. I think it eclipses most American grocery store brands in both texture and flavor.

With our activities, we’re just not seeing how we are going to have time to produce and mail our annual Valentine cards in time this year. If you are on our regular mailing list, please forgive us for taking a sabbatical from it this year.

Great news! The professional video of the Raffaella ballet (music by me) will air on a local PBS station Jan. 31 in the “Michiana” area (just southeast of Chicago), and hopefully go national on YouTube in a month or so. Stay tuned for details. Here is a “teaser” for the video, which is also a sample of what will be on the ballet full soundtrack album:

I’m also happy to say that those involved in producing the ballet are reviewing the contracts to release the music album taken from the live ballet performances last June. If everyone agrees, it will be a “live” CD/album on Parma/ Navona Recordings! That means there are some occasional, short applauses and cheers for the dancers, which don’t obscure the music and are actually fun to hear. The normal time frame for an album release is usually at least a few months. Stay tuned.

In the macho corner: Today, with a bit warmer temperatures outside predicted, I will do battle with a window that won’t close all the way at the top, because the top of the window is too wide to fit into its upper track. I don’t know whether the wood window frame has swelled or the track shrunk, but I’m going to try to shoe-horn it in and save buying a new window. I’m also working on gathering our income tax documents. A very non-musical day! UPDATE: Well, it turns out I found a “hack” for this on YouTube and was able to “reset” the upper window by swinging it out and slamming it back shut – fixed in a few minutes! I’ll have to save my machismo for something else.

Wishing you a cozy book and stuffed chair, maybe a fire or glowing portable heater, some beautiful music, and some comfort food on these remaining wintery nights!