Although last night’s performance of the San Francisco Symphony was generally poor, I did enjoy parts of Fauré’s “Suite from Pelléas and Mélisande.” The main problem was the guest conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier and his renditions of Britten’s “Les Illuminations” and Mozart’s “Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major” were very disappointing. It was fun to play with my new Sidekick PDA phone right in Symphony Hall though. I went with David and we had dinner at Ananda Fuara with his roommate Tommy beforehand. It was great to visit with them and I invited them by for tea at my place afterwards.
Today, after a grueling 4.5 hour Online Policy Group board meeting, I joined Steve and Olof for the film “Blind Spot” (“Im toten Winkel”), an interview of one of Hitler’s secretaries. It was oddly compelling and answered some of the questions that were lingering in my mind about the end of one of the most horrifying human personalities ever to have lived. It’s an excellent set of interviews of an interesting person who witnessed an odd part of history.