I left out a couple of photos from the post on Monday and Tuesday. Here some of us are, hanging around the garden of the Carmel Mission, waiting for the All Bach Organ Recital:
It was a nice day, too, one of the few that week. And I took my usual photo of the inside of the Carmel Mission nave, which is too gorgeous to omit:
The other thing I didn’t add about Tuesday was that, during the Bach Dialogues concert, the modern piece by Lachenmann was very poorly received; my diary says it was “random noises from (mostly) the chorus,” and that 4 people walked out!
Wednesday was a little different. We didn’t have a concert until 3 PM, so we decided to drive down the coast to Big Sur and have lunch there. We started down under a windy overcast – the wind at this stop was so stiff it almost blew me over, and I’m pretty solid.
Eventually the overcast changed to a thick fog and then cleared.
It ended up one of the nicest afternoons we had, including a lovely lunch in the outside patio of Ripplewood, in Big Sur.
On the way back, Jim decided we should drive the Coast Road. This is the road which predates Highway 1. dating to the 1920s or before. I didn’t get any photos because we didn’t stop; it’s a 2 lane road, graded but not paved – it runs through the El Sur Ranch, the only Spanish land grant that was never taken over or broken up. The road is narrow, winding, and lined with No Trespassing and Stay In Your Car signs. We were very glad to be in the Subaru Outback with its high clearance and all wheel drive. We averaged 10-15 MPH, lurching madly, and took 45 minutes (maybe longer; Jim says it’s 10 miles long). I don’t think we saw 3 other cars until we came to the Bixby Creek Bridge overlook – everybody pulls off Highway 1 to come in there and take photos of the bridge. Massive traffic jam, from people who were not sure what they wanted their cars to do.
Wednesday afternoon’s concert was 2 Bach cantatas, at All Saints, with the same collection of singers. I didn’t write anything specific about it, but we always enjoy Bach. They did My Soul Magnifies the Lord (BWV 10) and Soar Joyfully Aloft (BWV 36.5).
The Wednesday night concert was in the Carmel Mission Basilica again, and was a little different – it was called In the Beginning and was a collection of American hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs. It included a few modern pieces (“modern” being 19th century or later!): a Carolyn Shaw, an Aaron Copeland, a Charles Ives, and a Randall Thompson. This was a totally different collection of singers from the afternoon concert, and I don’t recall anything standing out except that I knew some of the traditional pieces (how can you not know Elijah Rock!).
