Wumbo Wednesday with Weaselo: Yes, We Attend Concerts Too

Once again, a good evening. This is Wumbo Wednesday, and to answer everyone’s questions from last week, or I guess originally my question… well, still nothing moved me, and it’s admittedly tough knowing you won’t be able to watch the majority of games due to spending Saturday mornings driving Senorita Weaselo to work, and then spending Sunday morning still asleep. Hey, it’s pretty the only day I can sleep in at all. Unless I have to leave for a gig early, then obviously not.

As for tonight’s fare, I have some fresh boots on the ground! So no, not a belated MarbleCon post from December. That’ll come with the Marble League preview whenever we have an idea of when Marble League ’22 will actually be (live from the home of the Green Ducks in Draklin).

No, tonight we have a boots on the ground from this week. The Joe Hisaishi concert at Radio City that Senorita Weaselo got tickets for, originally back in January, finally happened this week. And, as a bonus, since it was moved it was a day that I was then available, and tickets weren’t a bajillion dollars, Senorita Weaselo managed to get me a ticket without entirely breaking the bank, even though we couldn’t sit together. (Yes, I bought dinner. We went to our favorite Thai place in the city.)

This concert just covered the Miyazaki movies from the Studio Ghibli library, so no The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. (I was going to make a Grave of the Fireflies joke there, but he didn’t write the music for that one. Apparently Princess Kaguya is the only non-Miyazaki Ghibli film he’s scored.)

From the get-go, it was full orchestra (the American Symphony Orchestra), full choir, and girls’ choir. They advertised 150 players on stage, and I’d believe it.

The screens were there to show movie clips, and to help with everyone’s favorite game, Name That Movie. (Programs were available, for purchase.) I mean, after a bit you’d be able to recognize the movie, but hey, you want to try and place it as soon as you can.

The concert started with selections from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and putting on my arranger cap for a moment, it was interesting to see how it was scored for full orchestra. Nausicaä, being from 1984, and being one of the earliest Miyazaki movies, pre-Ghibli, probably didn’t have the same music budget. It’s a lot of synths, which works with the movie, and seeing that translate to full orchestra was interested. It’s not entirely synths though, and their is a choral part, and thanks to this concert I realized that this section was set to the Dies irae text.

Kiki’s Delivery Service followed, and the violin solo was the concertmaster taking a solo spot on stage (and it was solid, complete with what should be straight sixteenths but aren’t because the first note is slightly elongated and I’d like to see the score), before my (second-)favorite movie, The Wind Rises (with mandolin), and Senorita Weaselo’s favorite movie, Princess Mononoke. Did I cry during the hymn? Yes, for reasons we’ve already discussed. The soprano came out for Mononoke and the first half finale, Ponyo. Also, there are lyrics for the beginning of Ponyo; I thought it was a vocalise section this whole time. Ending, of course, with the choirs singing the end credits song. Well, in English. And just the choruses. The verses got passed around the orchestra.

The whole concert was admittedly me doing a lot of thinking “Oh, so that’s what he did, interesting.” Because I am a massive dork and know that I’m a shitty arranger once it gets beyond strings. And also, the orchestra was locked in. I don’t know how much of that was live mixing, because it still needs to be together, and it was, and especially in the first half.

The second half started with some smaller ensembles—wind ensemble, with brass in the wings, for Castle in the Sky. The original score was also heavy on the synths (this movie was 1986, the first Studio Ghibli film), though Hisaishi expanded upon it for the Disney dubbed version. Then, it was even smaller, more of a jazz band outfit for Porco Rosso, fitting for the movie, where a hotel bar is one of the main settings. Then the strings returned for Howl’s Moving Castle and its lush waltzes, or rather, the same waltz and motif teased in so many different ways (officially named “Merry-Go-Round of Life“).

Spirited Away was actually a shorter selection than I expected, only having its main themes and the song, but I guess there’s more incidental music than anything. I just figured you’d have more from the Oscar winner, but you do have to end on the franchise after all.

Like, full choral version of both “Stroll” and the closing song of My Neighbor Totoro. Like, how do you not end with the mascot?

Also, two encores! I couldn’t pinpoint the first one, and neither could Senorita Weaselo, or the two friends and members of our summer orchestra’s 2nd violin section that she realized were right in front of her the whole damn time. The second one was the ending music from Mononoke, “Ashitaka and San.” (No, her name is not Mononoke, it’s a title.)

In conclusion, we had a good time; no, I’m not a member of every group in the city, but I did know one of the violists; and no, the time would not have been better spent by the original plan of blitzing my way through Mementos because sporadic weekend playing means it’s taken me approximately one eternity to play Persona 5. Not even Royal, the vanilla edition! (Royal… eventually. Strikers first.) I’m “only” 125 hours in.

Anyways, what’s on tonight? Just baseball, as I see if the Yankees can successfully score something called a run. I don’t know, I think it’s a myth, and with… oh great, Corey Kluber revenge game? They’re getting two-hit, calling it now. This team was on pace to win 120 two months ago. Forget the ’01 Mariners (they’d need to go… 45-0 to get to the all-time wins record of 117 people were talking about in May and June), they may not win 100, and they keep this up, the 1978 references will intensify, but the other way. The division lead is in single digits and a loss to Tampa tonight makes it 8. Also they’re 2.5 behind the *sterisks, meaning there will be the inevitable walk-off in Game 6-7 of the ALCS, best-case scenario.

What else? Let’s see, we got European qualifiers in both the Shempions League and Europa Conference, including Dynamo Kyiv playing at home in Poland, for obvious reasons. There’s Argentinian footy, there’s assorted South American cups.

Oh, and there’s a rerun of BattleBots on TBS at… 10 Eastern? Watch the fights I’ll write about in the morning! (Which I’ll finish writing about after my gig.)