Klarinet Archive - Posting 001409.txt from 1998/03

From: David H Eby <davideby@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Anna and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1998 17:01:10 -0500

I had the honor of getting shipwrecked south of the southernmost city in the
world, so here is my input:

This may be the southernmost English-speaking city, but the
following two cities compete with them for the honor of being
southernmost habitable city in the world:

Punta Arenas, Chile (53.09 S)
Ushuaia, Argentina (54.47 S)
Christchurch, NZ (43.42 S)

I don't think the cities of Punta Arenas or Ushuaia have a stable
symphony, but I don't really know. I just visited there at the end of
1997 and shipwrecked off the coast of Ushuaia on January 5 of 1998.

Helen Eby
MV Logos Shipwreck survivor in 1988 (along with 135 other people - nobody got
hurt)
Have been playing clarinet for four years

Dodgshun family wrote:

> At 06:18 AM 30/03/98 EST, you wrote:
> >Am I incorrect of thinking of Christchurch as the southernmost
> >large habitable city in the world? Or do I have that mixed up
> >with some other town?
>
> There are cities south of us in NZ, but they are smaller. One, Dunedin,
> does have an orchestra - the Dunedin Philharmonic - but they don't play at
> the level of the CSO - I don't think they're a full-time pro orchestra. As
> for the rest of the world, I'm not sure whether there are any cities further
> south than us, and as I can't find my atlas, I can't check. Just as a point
> of interest, our population is about 350,000.
>
> >And the reason why I found this possibility fascinating, would be
> >that every time Anna plays a concert there (or even if Anna happens
> >not to be present for a particular concert), the works being played
> >are receiving their southernmost live performance on the globe.
>
> This is likely!!
>
> >I have no idea what I could do with this information, but it sure
> >would be neat to say, "Oh I did the Ginastera variations and no
> >one in the world south of me played them as well!"
>
> As the CSO are playing very well at the moment (they've imported a few
> players, including a Auckland clarinettist who is wonderful - I now learn
> from her, and I didn't realise how little I knew until I went to her!) this
> is fairly possible. They did "The Pines of Rome" the other night, as well
> as Vaughan Williams' 5th Symphony and some other stuff, all of which was
> excellent.
>
> >I once played the Mozart Requiem in El Centro, CA. Now I don't
> >know if many of you know of this city in California but it is
> >really remote, lying halfway between Los Angeles and Yuma, Arizona.
> >So I was sitting in the motel room practicing basset horn when
> >it dawned on me that I was probably the finest basset horn player
> >in El Centro. It pumped up my ego so much that I began to look
> >for places where I could assert that there was no one better than
> >me in this or that respect. But the idea of living in
> >Christchurch and being the finest southernmost basset horn player
> >in the world would really be a distinctive thing.
>
> Um, if any basset horn player moved here they would most definitely be the
> best - we don't have any basset horns in Chch. There are two in Wellington
> (NZ capital - further north) with the NZSO which are flown down here
> periodically, and one in Auckland, but none here. I've never had the chance
> to play one, and we usually just do without.
>
> I'll have to find out about whether Chch has the southernmost pro orchestra
> - just as soon as I find my atlas.
>
> Anna