We sang a piece last semester by Georgy Sviridov -- it is pretty, tuneful, a little schmaltzy. Its plaintive suspensions are all followed by obliging glissandos that slide guiltily into the chord that everyone knows they want to hear, the way a spoon may seem to slip gratefully into a dish of chocolate pudding. It was nice. Introducing the piece, our conductor mentioned that there is an asteroid named for the composer, 4075 Sviridov, an interesting albeit not entirely crucial fact to know when listening to the piece.
After the concert, I encountered an astrophysicist in the audience. I think he studies the sun -- something like that. We were chatting, and I mentioned the asteroid since I thought he would be interested, and then realized that he thought composer had been named in honor of the asteroid and not the reverse. It's all a matter of perspective, I guess.
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