A FREE DAY!

''Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.''

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet, dramatist.

My sister, Shella Massey, introduced me to the above phrase.
 

Beautiful day today, 40 degrees, clear and sunny.
 

We first walked to Bond Street No. 9 to get Carolyn's Valentine gift,
 

http://www.bondno9.com/

We then walked to Katz's Deli for a Reuben,
 

http://katzsdelicatessen.com/

 

We then walked home and rode the subway to Juilliard for the violin competition finals at 4:00 PM.

A word about Juilliard music competitions...

We have attended several competitions at Juilliard and have a sense of how they work.  Each of the students plays the same, challenging piece of music in a performance setting with faculty judges sitting in the back of the room.

A competition is not for sissies since Carolyn and I this afternoon heard the full Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2 four separate times. We were there to hear 4 students from 4:00 PM until 7:00 PM.

Here's the way it seems to me.  Let's say I had a world class vineyard cared for by a world class vintner.  I divided the grapes from that vineyard into 4 equal parts.  I then gave the 4 portions of identical grapes to 4 competing winemakers.  Several years later I opened one of the bottles from one of the winemakers and considered it very good.  For the succeeding 3 months I opened one bottle a month from the remaining 3 winemakers.

As I drank the wine in 4 separate settings from the 4 different winemakers, who used the identical grapes, I would probably consider each of the bottles quite good.

However, If I opened a bottle from each of the 4 winemakers at one time and did a side-by-side tasting, most probably, one would stand out as a better bottle of wine, having used the same grapes, because of the talent and skills of the winemaker.

Juilliard places 4 very good, talented musicians side-by-side and, even though they are all good, one of them stands out as exceptional.  That's a Juilliard competition.
 

Today had something for everyone!