Yesterday, I was in Chinatown first for dim sum, then to stop by the Boston Opera House (I never realized how close the Theater District was to Chinatown). I spotted a hair salon in Chinatown called Hair Adventure. I'm not sure that I ever wanna try that salon... unless I'm feeling particularly adventurous with my hairdo. I also got bubble tea at a restaurant in Chinatown where they gave me a straw that wasn't big enough to fit the tapioca pearls... what?! Sigh. Then I coincidentally ran into Guoqing! Totally unexpected - it just reminds me of what a small world this is.

I've been obsessively checking out flight prices to VA for thanksgiving. This is what the flight prices were in the past 40-some days (thank you, farecast). Currently the lowest available flight is... $414?!? That is just ridiculous.

Ooh, so I am playing the cello in a Brahms piano quartet. It's a whole different experience being a cellist in a chamber group - besides just the fact that I have to lug around a larger instrument now. The biggest thing for me (which I wouldn't have expected) is the intonation issue - perhaps it's just because I'm used to being a violinist for countless number of years (and playing the uppermost line, clear and piercing), but it is so difficult to hear myself and tune funky notes that are many octaves below everyone else's. I have to actively try hard to tune my notes, especially since I am not playing a melody most of the time. Usually, this wouldn't be too problematic for me - in fact, playing countermelodies or accompaniment lines are really fun, especially if the harmonic sequences are very interesting. I might even go as far to say that as a longtime violinist, I was deprived of playing anything but the melody :) However, given the low range of the cello, its sound gets buried effortlessly when mingled with other instruments' higher notes, making it hard to not make myself seem tone-deaf. But!! this is a really fun experience :) I also love Brahms - the cello part in this quartet is quite beautiful.

I have been reading about and listening to some piano quartet music recently. Of the few that I've listened to, Brahms No. 1 and Faure No. 2 definitely won me over! (both in g minor, coincidentally)

I've only been obsessed with the last movement of the Brahms 1, which may just be the most well-known movement of all his piano quartets - the "Gypsy Rondo." There's so much adrenaline rush, especially with the piano cadenza and the acceleration to the finish line. But now I'm realizing what a gem the first movement is! It opens with a simplistic yet melancholy presentation of the main theme, but reaches its first high point very soon. So many beautiful and fiery moments develop from that point on. Ahh, Brahms is so amazing.

The Faure - wow, I don't ever remember being impressed with any of Faure's works before. However, his Piano Quartet No. 2 is incredible, incredible, incredible. Of course, I am mainly talking about just the first movement, which is the only one I've listened to carefully so far. It has a clear sense of Romanticism with its sweeping melodies, but with glaring hints of French Impressionism (this piece sounds so very French... whatever you make out of that). For a good part of the movement, the piano part sounds like something rumbling underneath several layers of the strings parts flowing on top... It's such a colorful piece. I can definitely see how one would call Faure as the missing link between Brahms and Debussy :)

Now, a good question for tomorrow is how in the world I am going to sight-read through these piano quartets (mostly from the Romantic period)... on the cello. I realized I am really, really, really, not a good sight reader on tenor clef. But I'm excited nevertheless.

Yay! I finally made it to the Harvard music library earlier this week... an item that's been on my "should-do list" since August 2009. The sheet music collection here is pretty good, and the selection for music literature is also good! Later when I have a few free hours, or need to get work done and get nostalgic for my "old" college days, that's where I might be! (though, as with the UVa music library, I might waste more time browsing through the collection than getting work done)

However, I do not like the "CDs are available for in-use library only" rule here. Also, it was ridiculously unoccupied (probably because it was a Tuesda evening): I saw one guy plunking away silently on a keyboard with his giant headphones, and another guy scribbling on large orchestral-sized staff paper. That was it! Part of what I liked about the UVa music library was always bumping into the small number of "regulars" who essentially resided in OCH, I wonder if that happens here too. Well, anyway, I was quite amused by the homey bathrooms in this music library. It was one of those unisex bathrooms [an actual bathroom, not a restroom] that you would expect to see in a personal home or a bed&breakfast :)

On a whole different note, another season of premeds interviewing at Harvard Med School begins. The other day I saw a bunch of guys and girls dressed in black suits, wearing name tags and carrying a briefcase. This always puts me in a funky mood.