Gratuitous Musickal Posting (TM)

I've got the radio on this morning, for a change, dialed into the local commercial classical station (in fact, the only local classical station). A commercial just came on for Music & Arts Center, which happens to be the place where the elder two Llama-ettes have their music lessons.

This reminded me that as I sat in on the five-year-old's violin lesson the other day, somebody just down the hall was practicing the solo part of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. Even without the orchestral accompaniment, it gave me the chills. Haunting, that's the word.

Oh, and here's an open question for you classical music sharks out there which came up during our visit to the 'rents in Maine: What think you of "Turkish Band Music" and other injections of stylized Orientalism into European classical pieces? (I ask because the radio currently is playing Saint-Saens' Africa Fantasy.) Personally, I like a bit of it, such as in Haydn's Military Symphony, Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio and Fifth Violin Concerto and the works of various other composers. (Dad doesn't like it and has a particular grudge against the alla Turca of Mozart's A Major piano sonata. But I think that's mostly because he couldn't stand the kid who used to play it at my teacher's recitals all the time.)

UPDATE: Tee Bee has a piece up on the history of Do Re Mi. Coo-el stuff. And yes, I had a huge crush on Julie Andrews back in the day.