Category: Blog
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US Open Qualifying Tournament 2012/Day 3
Above: India’s Yuki Bhambri signing autographs after winning his first-round qualifying match at the US Open.
Tuesday August 21, 2012 – Over the past few years I’ve discovered and followed certain players during the US Open qualifying matches – people like Alejandro Falla, Bjorn Phau, Go Soeda, Tatsuma Ito and Rajeev Ram. This year all five of those men were up in the rankings and so were into the main draw already; congratulations to all of them, but it meant I would be spending this year’s tournament mostly checking out players new to me. Yuki Bhambri was the most exciting new discovery for me: he has an powerful serve and, after losing the first set, he buckled down and gave an impressive display of tennis skills in defeating the excellent and exciting Argentine Horacio Zeballos. It was close match, ending with a tie-breaker for the third set. I will definitely want to see Bhambri play again later in the week.
It was a beautiful day at the Open, breezy and with a nice mix of sun and clouds. There was a sizeable crowd and the usual annoyances of small children (parents: little kids get restless and cranky at tennis tournaments so leave ’em with a sitter), cellphones, and people gabbing during play. But for the most part I was able to find quiet spots to watch from, or to move if things got distracting. I was delighted to see the great Billie Jean King walking from court to court early in the day (the whole place is named after her, and deservedly so).
My first match was between two women I didnt know anything about: Dinah Pfizenmaier and Heidi El Tabakh. I initially pegged Pfizenmaier as the likely winner,but on the big points El Tabakh was able to capitalize and she won the match.
Thailand’s Danai Udomchoke, who I’ve seen play many times, put up a valiant fight but was out-gunned by Spain’s Adrian Menendez-Maceiras.
Three Asian women – all new to me – scored impressive victories: Ying-Ying Duan (very tall) and SaiSai Zheng (with a tendency to moon-ball) were representing the next generation of Chinese players, while Taipei’s Yung-Jan Chan presented her opponent with a double-bagel victory.
After watching Yuki Bhambri’s exciting victory, I decided to head home on a high note although there were still matches in progress. There’s some construction going on at the Tennis Center and both the noise and the necessary ‘detours’ are inconveniences.
But I did take a look at the newly-opened Court 17, a smallish arena-style venue with an intimate feeling. I hope to see a match there at some point this week.
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US Open Qualifying Tournament 2012/Day 2
Wednesday August 22, 2012 – Tsung-Hua Yang of Tapiei (above) made a big impression on me at the 2011 US Open qualifying tournament and I was glad to have the opportunity to see him play again today. He faced Antonio Veic of Croatia in the very first match of the day.
Yang’s playing is impressive for steadiness and technical sureness. His opponent was fiery and theatrical, with a couple of major outbursts of temper when he got what he thought was a bad call. Yang simply maintained his composure and moved unperturbed thru the match; he seemed destined to win from the start. Two rain delays – one of about 15 minutes and a second lasting only a couple of minutes – interrupted play. And as Yang was serving for the match, it started raining harder. He was able to secure the win just before all tournament play was suspended for about 45 minutes.
Antonio Veic did display a sense of humour amidst his theatrics: when called for a foot fault, he asked the lineswoman “Which foot?”
Once the rains stopped and things got dried out, I stayed at the same court to watch China’s Yi-Fan Xu, a petite player who managed to thwart the tall British woman Naomi Broady. With a mixture of moon-balls and craftiness, Xu seemed to prevent Broady from making any headway.
After Xu’s win, I moved from court to court: no match really captured my attention although I was curious to see the ‘new’ Chinese male player Ze Zhang in action. He has a lot of talent, and he’s quite tall but his opponent – the second-seeded Slovenian Aljaz Bedene – showed that experience counts for a lot in these situations. The Frenchman Josselin Ouanna similarly kept Taipei’s Ti Chen from building any momentum, despite some impressive shots.
We’ll see how my favorites fare on Thursday and that will determine whether I need to go again on Friday.
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US Open Qualifying Tournament 2012
Above: India’s Yuki Bhambri signing autographs after winning his first-round qualifying match at the US Open.
Tuesday August 21, 2012 – Over the past few years I’ve discovered and followed certain players during the US Open qualifying matches – people like Alejandro Falla, Bjorn Phau, Go Soeda, Tatsuma Ito and Rajeev Ram. This year all five of those men were up in the rankings and so were into the main draw already; congratulations to all of them, but it meant I would be spending this year’s tournament mostly checking out players new to me. Yuki Bhambri was the most exciting new discovery for me: he has an powerful serve and, after losing the first set, he buckled down and gave an impressive display of tennis skills in defeating the excellent and exciting Argentine Horacio Zeballos. It was close match, ending with a tie-breaker for the third set. I will definitely want to see Bhambri play again later in the week.
It was a beautiful day at the Open, breezy and with a nice mix of sun and clouds. There was a sizeable crowd and the usual annoyances of small children (parents: little kids get restless and cranky at tennis tournaments so leave ’em with a sitter), cellphones, and people gabbing during play. But for the most part I was able to find quiet spots to watch from, or to move if things got distracting. I was delighted to see the great Billie Jean King walking from court to court early in the day (the whole place is named after her, and deservedly so).
My first match was between two women I didnt know anything about: Dinah Pfizenmaier and Heidi El Tabakh. I initially pegged Pfizenmaier as the likely winner,but on the big points El Tabakh was able to capitalize and she won the match.
Thailand’s Danai Udomchoke, who I’ve seen play many times, put up a valiant fight but was out-gunned by Spain’s Adrian Menendez-Maceiras.
Three Asian women – all new to me – scored impressive victories: Ying-Ying Duan (very tall) and SaiSai Zheng (with a tendency to moon-ball) were representing the next generation of Chinese players, while Taipei’s Yung-Jan Chan presented her opponent with a double-bagel victory.
After watching Yuki Bhambri’s exciting victory, I decided to head home on a high note although there were still matches in progress. There’s some construction going on at the Tennis Center and both the noise and the necessary ‘detours’ are inconveniences.
But I did take a look at the newly-opened Court 17, a smallish arena-style venue with an intimate feeling. I hope to see a match there at some point this week.
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“Amour, viens rendre a mon ame!”
Shirley Verrett sings the great bravura aria “Amour, viens rendre a mon ame!” from ORPHEE ET EURYDICE.
“Love, fill my soul with your most ardent flame!
For this love, I shall brave even Death.
Though Hell should stand in my way,
The monsters of Tartanus hold no terrors for me.
I feel love’s power in my breast,
and for this love I shall brave Death itself”
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Palazzo Vendramin
Click on the image to enlarge.
Late in the evening of February 12, 1883, Richard Wagner sat down at his piano in the Palazzo Vendramin, Venice, and played the Rhinemaidens’ Song from DAS RHEINGOLD. Wagner had been in poor health for weeks, and had come south with his family from Bayreuth following the 1882 festival to recuperate in the warmer climate of Italy. Cosima was with him that night as he finished the Rhinemaiden theme, and he said to her: “I am fond of them, these creatures of the deep with their longings.”
The next day, February 13th, Wagner felt unwell and decided to stay in his room; Cosima heard him talking to himself and shuffling thru his papers. She went down to luncheon with the children but suddenly the maid rushed in saying that Wagner was calling for his wife. Cosima dashed blindly from the dining room, running head-long into a doorframe which did not deter her. She reached her husband’s side just as he was collapsing of heart failure. His pocket watch fell to the floor. “My watch!” he exclaimed as the life drained out of him. For hours on end, Cosima remained in the room, cradling Wagner’s body. At last she was prevailed upon to return to reality for the sake of her children. Wagner’s coffin was transported back to Bayreuth and he was buried in the garden at Wahnfried. Cosima lived on for nearly fifty years before joining her husband in his resting place.
My friend Kokyat was recently in Venice and he very kindly stopped to photograph the Palazzo Vendramin for me. As someone with a mortal dislike of travel, I’m so grateful to have these images of one of the very few places that I would actually love to visit; Bayreuth is another fantasy destination. If only I could simply be there without having to get there.
The Palazzo Vendramin houses a Wagner museum in the rooms where the composer lived during his last weeks; the main floor of the building is given over to a casino. When Kokyat walked in, he was urged to buy chips and gamble but he declined.
Cosima Wagner kept a detailed diary throughout her marriage to the great composer. The story of his playing of the Rhinemaiden music on the evening before his death marked the journal’s last entry. Although she lived on for decades, her diary ended with her husband’s death.
All photos by Kokyat.
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Picasso @ The Frick
Above: Pablo Picasso’s Two Women With Hats (1921)
Friday December 23, 2011 – Last week my friend Debbie and I spent a delightful hour at The Frick looking at the exhibit of Picasso’s drawings. I couldn’t help thinking how much Kokyat would enjoy this collection, which is so beautifully displayed in the small galleries of The Frick‘s lower level. So this afternoon, after a delicious holiday lunch at LeSteak Bistro on 3rd Avenue, my photographer-friend and I headed to the museum with its restful atrium. I was hoping we would hit a time slot when the galleries were not too crowded, and we were indeed lucky in that regard. One advantage of The Frick is that children under ten years old are not admitted; this eliminates the annoying baby strollers and wailing infants who so often spoil our treks to The Met.
Photography is not allowed at The Frick so we simply devoted our attention to the incredible drawings which provide a lovely panorama of Picasso’s works from the period 1890 to 1921. The earliest examples come from the nine-year-old prodigy; by the time he was 15, Picasso created a drawing of his father that is uncanny in its depth and style.
One of my favorite drawings on display was Three Bathers by the Shore (above) which has an exact dating of August 20, 1920. Of course you can find images of many of Picasso’s works on the Internet, but nothing compares to standing before these masterworks live and imagining the artist’s hands at work in their creation, and to ponder the thousands of other eyes that have beheld them over the span of the century of their existence.
Above: self-portrait of the artist as a young man. I’ve always loved reading about the period of time when Pablo Picasso was part of Gerald and Sara Murphy’s circle on the French Riviera…the long afternoons on the plage where everyone was a bit in love with Sara. Ah, to have been alive then.
The Picasso exhibit is only at The Frick til January 8th; it is very much worth seeing. If you go – and you should – be sure to watch a showing of two brief films, one about the Frick Collection and the second about the Picasso exhibit, in the museum’s music room. Very informative.
Sometime between the day Debbie and I were at The Frick and today, a new space has been opened in the museum: the Portico Gallery. This long, narrow hallway is lined with glass-fronted display cabinets full of delicate porcelains. The far end of the passageway opens onto a small windowed temple-like chamber…
…where Jean-Antoine Houdon’s Diana the Huntress (above) presides magnificently. I will return to this small shrine, immediately a favorite Gotham place for reverie, often.
A perfect day with my perfect companion.
Oberon's Glade 