Convalescing
The weather is as gorgeous today as it was awful yesterday, but I'm being hounded by a cold, and anyway after lunch I thought I'd give something a try. The front page of Portico badly needed a rethink, and I had an idea. What say you?. I know that I've got to tone down the background image, and perhaps some kind soul will tell me how to wash it out, as I'm not finding anything in the unyielding Photoshop LE manual. (Brightness/Contrast is not the answer.) The original of the image hangs on our walls: it's a print by the great American printmaker, Joseph Pennell. The architecture, however, is part of Cumberland Terrace, at the edge of Regent's Park in London. Well, that's what somebody told me; I'll have to look into the receipts. (Ha. Ha ha.) The image is out of focus because it's in a frame, which kept it at some distance from the flatbed... If I were in the other room, I'd be listening to Schubert. The other day, a boxed set of late Schubert chamber music - the last four Quartets and the Quintet - arrived from MHS, which has repackaged the DG issue of performances by the Emerson String Quartet. Are they ever great! Years ago, my colleague at KLEF in Houston, Ira J. Black, used wax ecstatic about the Quintet; he claimed that it contained music to match every human feeling. I thought that that was overstatement at the time, but I agree now that the music has a surpassing comprehension.... JR has posted a picture on L'homme qui marche that's so beautiful that I want to steal it. I meant to save it for tomorrow's Loose Links, but I need a lift right now - and why don't you ask me why. (I won't answer, but the question would be nice.... Convalescence is a favorite word of mind: as one is no longer sick, one can enjoy being pampered, even if only by oneself.
Comments
By astounding coincidence, IJB got another of his acid little letters printed in the Houston Chronicle today - cue disturbing music - and give you joy of no longer being sick. I'm being hounded by something larger and nastier than a cold at the moment and would dearly love to contemplate convalescence, or at least a reduction in fever, which would enable me to render a better opinion on the background image business than can be done at the moment.
Posted by: Mark | February 15, 2005 08:04 PM
RJ,
You may try playing with Image->Adjust->Levels, though I don't know whether that's available in the stripped-down LE version of Photoshop. Also be aware that, at only 1000x651 pixels, that image will repeat itself at the bottom on many browser windows and on the right on very large browser windows.
Damn, the Emerson playing "Death and the Maiden" -- that is my canonical recording of that quartet. I had tickets to go see them playing Mendelssohn quartets the other day, but Amy and I were waylaid with violent gastrointestinal outbursts, so my father accompanied my mother instead. The String Quintet is great too; I haven't listened to it in too long. (Though, truth be told, I know the "Trout" Quintet much better.) Is that the recording where Rostropovich plays the other cello?
Posted by: Max | February 15, 2005 08:06 PM
Right you are, Max, about Rostropovich. The truly astonishing performance is of the Quartet in G, D 887. Think Michelangelo in marble. I subscribe to MHS precisely because it has become such a dependable repackager of great but discontinued recordings. And right you are about Photoshop, too - many thanks!
Mark, what a doofus I am! I can't find Letters on the Chronicle site! How ever did you know about IJB's letter? Do feel better!
Posted by: R J Keefe | February 15, 2005 09:17 PM
I like the new front page of 'Portico'--in lieu of toning down the background (which I think is attractive as is), perhaps you could change the color used for the text? As to the Schubert--you've reminded me that I do have the Emerson Quartet recording on DG which was, for a long time, one of my favorite recordings to listen to, but one that I have neglected for too long. But, did you notice that the Grammy Award for best classical recording by a solo vocal artist (or something like that) went to Susan Graham's recording of Ives' songs? That is my new favorite.
Posted by: jkm | February 16, 2005 03:36 AM