Vorspiel.

In about an hour, I'll be leaving for the airport on the first leg of a trip that will take me to Vienna for a month of German language study. Naturally, I'll write more once I get there. In the meantime, here is some music appropriate to the start of a journey: the Prelude to Das Rheingold, performed above by the Bayreuther Festspielorchester under the direction of Daniel Barenboim. (Warning: the music doesn't actually start until about the 1:25 mark, preceded by a silent tableau devised by stage director Harry Kupfer.)



Just for fun and with a nod to a similar post from around this time last year, I'm also happy to present this second musical selection: a string quartet cover of Weezer's "Across the Sea" courtesy of the Vitamin String Quartet. Auf Wiedersehen! AMDG.