Hi, there, Dear Reader. It’s late morning here in Lithia, Florida, on Sunday, February 13, 2022. It’s a chilly, gray, and wet winter day in the Tampa Bay area. The current temperature is 65˚F (18˚C) under light rainy conditions. With humidity at 90% and the wind blowing from the west at 6 MPH (9 KM/H), the wind-chill factor is 65˚F (18˚C). Today’s forecast calls for scattered rain showers and a high of 74˚F (23˚C). Tonight, skies will be clear. The low will be 43˚F (6˚C).
I tend to get moody on dark, cold, and rainy days. Not all the time, mind you, but constantly enough that I can say with certainty that, yes, bad weather affects my mood. This is especially true in a situation where I am taken for granted, ignored, and relegated to sitting in a room in front of a computer all day while everyone else leads a normal, productive life of his or her own.
Today is also the 57th anniversary of my dad’s fatal airplane crash near Miami International Airport. I’ve written about that a few times before and I’m not interested in going over that story again. Suffice it to say, Dear Reader, that I’m trying to keep my emotions in check, but Mother Nature and my current living arrangements are not making it easy.
Well, on the bright side of things, I received my John Williams in Vienna – Live Edition 2-CD album a couple of hours after I published yesterday’s post on WordPress. I haven’t listened to either of the compact discs, but I happily noted that Deutsche Grammophon (DG) stores the CDs in easy-to-handle DigiPack packaging instead of those fragile 2-disc “jewel box” CD cases. I don’t have great dexterity, so I have a tough time ejecting and replacing CDs in cases with delicate hinges and fold-out disc-holding trays. (I still have not been able to enjoy my Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan La-La Land 2-CD album because of this.)
The DigiPack also includes – tucked away in the album cover sleeve – a booklet with track listing and an essay about John Williams’ concert – his first ever with the Vienna Philharmonic – at the Great Hall of the Musikverein in January 2020. Like most album note essays found in Deutsche Grammophon albums, it is presented auf Deutsch and in English, and it describes – for those fans of Maestro Williams who don’t have the Deluxe Edition of John Williams in Vienna, which comes with a Blu-ray video of the entire concert – the thrilling experience of attending a concert at which the Wiener Philharmoniker played, for the first time in its history, themes from the film scores composed by the now 90-year-old dean of film score composers.
Basically, what John Williams in Vienna – Live Edition amounts to is an audio-only version of the concert shown on the Blu-ray. The applause is there, the spoken introductions by Maestro Williams are there, and I’m willing to bet that the standing ovation that Williams, soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and the Vienna Philharmonic received at the end of the concert is there, as well.
I’ll listen to my new album later unless I decide to watch a movie or read a book.
Well, that’s all the news that I have to share with you, so I will close for now. Until next time, Dear Reader, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.
A Certain Point of View, Too 
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