The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s five-program Beethoven Festival, which took place over five weekends, was a hit. Two programs sold out.

The Sissel concert on PBS last night was great. It was filmed in the picturesque Norwegian town of Røros in wintertime, the music itself performed in a historic church there. Very classy and reverent, I thought. And, needless to say, The Greatest Voice in the World soared through the pure, arctic air, delivering beauty like an angelic UPS truck. Or something.

My only unhappiness concerned Sissel’s hair. As is so often the case.

I care about women’s hair. It has something to do with an experience I had once, which it would be lugubrious to recount now (I suspect I’ve already told the story in this space, or on the old site, anyway). But I’ve always had strong opinions on women’s hair.

If you look at pictures of Sissel in the early stages of her career, you’ll see a lovely young girl with long, thick, honey-colored hair. That’s how she looked when I first became a fan, and that’s the image I imprinted on.

But it all changed around the time of the Winter Olympics in Norway in 1994. There she appeared, suddenly, and to the great shock of most, at the opening ceremonies with short, dark hair. Her hairstyle has changed constantly in the years since, but has generally been more or less that sort of thing.

Since her marriage broke up she seems to have grown it out a little, but for the concert she appeared in some kind of avant-garde coiffure that looked both oily and swirly. It was not becoming, in the eyes of this obsessive fan.

Why do women do this? I don’t know a lot about women, it goes without saying, but I’m pretty sure they tend to be more insecure about how they look than men are. That being true, why do they consistently put themselves in the hands of hairdressers of ambiguous gender, and trust them when they say, “Oh, darling, we’ll just streak your hair with purple, and lacquer it, and make it stand out straight from the left side of your skull so you look like a character from Anime! You’ll look divine!”

Any man can easily tell you what we want in a woman’s hair. Like most things about men, it’s very simple: “Long. Grow it as long as you can. Never cut it. Split ends? What are those? Dry, fly-away hair? Who cares?”

Show me a woman who wears her hair extremely long, and I’ll show you a woman who understands men deeply.

Of course a woman who wears her hair extremely short probably understands men deeply too.

Which sort is wiser, I’m not qualified to say.

Irish singer/songwriter Tommy Makem, 74, died on Wednesday of lung cancer.

Point out the weaknesses in some, maybe most, praise music sung in churches today and what happens? A long rant-fest.

“‘Lord to give you up I’d be a fool’ almost literally gag-making”

“the lyrics of praise music is meaningless pop gestures”

“As the character in the Simpsons said, you can turn praise music into a love song merely by changing ‘Jesus’ to ‘Baby.'”

“Most “praise music” stinks. Use the Psalter or use the psalms of David in meter.”

“I remember the whole ‘rock music is evil’ debate. The same debate happens every time a new music genre enters the Christian space”

Have you seen this video of Britain’s Got Talent winner Paul Potts? A Bristol, England, native walks on stage, feeling nervous, and does not impress the judges by claiming a desire to sing opera. Oh, but when he sings! He went to the semi-finals to sing “A Time To Say Goodbye,” and returned to his first song in the finals, “Nessun Dorma.” Now he has a £1m record deal with Simon Cowell’s label and plans to sing with Katherine Jenkins at a Wales event.

Bravo!!

I don’t usually post on weekends, but I just found a YouTube link to share. I’m about a light year behind everybody else on things like this, and I’ve only been exploring YouTube recently. I checked out The Divine Sissel, and found that this number is available.

It’s a country song, which isn’t her usual medium, but I think it’s a lot of fun, and it might help explain my enthusiasm for this really remarkable talent. Also check her rendition of the contemporary gospel number, “My Tribute.”

“Astronomers have recorded heavenly music bellowed out by the Sun’s atmosphere,” writes SPACE.com reporter Jeanna Bryner. Awesome. The heaven’s declare the glory of God.

So, there was this violinist, a violin player, in the metro lobby this morning. He was good. Played classical stuff. I didn’t have anything on me, so I didn’t chip in. I was in a hurry too.

Read what happens when a great violinist, Joshua Bell, starts playing for the crowds in Washington D.C. The music director of the National Symphony Orchestra thought a crowd would form to listen, “75 to 100 . . . if he’s really good.” (via World)

“Bach no more composed for us than he lived for us. His music comes from far away; it speaks a language that we understand yet in which we hear echoes of another language, outside our expressive range.”

Martin Geck, Johann Sebastian Bach: Life and Work (trans. John Hargraves)

Taken from Terry Teachout’s Almanac