Ease On Down The Musical Road

Former San Diego Union Tribune classical music critic and (more importantly in our humble opinion) dedicated Aria Serious reader, Valerie Scher, sends us this blog post from the (musical) road.

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It’s in Lancaster, Ca., about 70 miles north of Los Angeles. The idea is to carve grooves that will “play” the theme from Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” when cars drive over them. What a hoot!


The town first experimented with the concept for a Honda commercial. You can see and hear what I'm talking about down below.


Granted, the rendition is hardly pitch-perfect. But Lancaster’s mayor predicts the new road will become a tourist attraction.

That got me thinking. Why not have such roads in San Diego?

With tongue very much in cheek, I hereby suggest themes from the following pieces so that we can have our own opera-related thoroughfares:


- Overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro on Pacific Highway, in order to serenade those on their way to getting hitched at the County Administration Center.


- Overture to Wagner’s Die Meistersinger on the I-8, in honor of La Mesa Village’s annual Oktoberfest.


- Overture to Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra (“The Thieving Magpie”) on the I-15 on the way to the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, where American magpies --- thieving or otherwise --- are in residence.


- Wagner’s "Forest Murmurs" from Siegfried on I-5 near Encinitas’ Quail Botanical Gardens.


- Puccini’s “Vissi d’arte” from Tosca at Third Ave. near downtown’s Civic Theatre, site of the San Diego Opera production that opens the season on Jan. 24.

Any other suggestions? Share them in the comment section below.

--- Valerie Scher


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Of course we here at the Aria Serious Tower suggests the city first starts fixing those potholes around town because right now our drive home sounds like a concert by Einstürzende Neubauten.




Comments

Anonymous said…
If Valerie Scher's suggestions prove to be hits (and why wouldn't they?)there is certainly room for more. May I suggest:
1. As surf dudes pour each bright day onto the sandy expanse of La Jolla Shores, what better anthem of escapism to get them there than a rousing, blocks-long medley of popular tunes from Philip Glass's "Einstein on the Beach"? It's guaranteed to put a smile and a tan even on the brainiest heads from UCSD. Party on....
2. Prison music from Beethoven's great "Fidelio" is just the spirit-lifter needed by those driving downtown for legal relief at King Stahlman's Bail Bonds. Hopefully, their musical journey can be routed around the county jail.
3. Shostakovich's "The Nose" deserves a bold new lease on local life, lyrically escorting visitors to the shrine of Old Ski Nose himself, the Bob Hope statue facing the retired carrier Midway. Though never a big fan of Gogol, Bob would certainly have given thanks for these memories.

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