tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113483682024-03-13T14:31:13.231-07:00Of Music and MenMy personal essays relating to life and music.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comBlogger287125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-79691166976115253952012-10-08T22:01:00.000-07:002012-10-08T22:28:03.338-07:00Jahrzeit<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xSY0iXLOrzI/UHOnCN9N36I/AAAAAAAACBE/iBCMRRXkOE4/s1600/img018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xSY0iXLOrzI/UHOnCN9N36I/AAAAAAAACBE/iBCMRRXkOE4/s400/img018.jpg" width="381" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Veikko and Ilkka Talvi, 40 & 3</td></tr>
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It was exactly a year ago when my wife’s cell phone rang in the morning and I answered it, not something I would normally do. The message was somber: my brother had just received a call that our dad had taken his afternoon nap and didn’t wake up. It had been a good morning. No suffering; his time had finally arrived. In the Finnish way of counting days it was 9.10.11., a perfect date to remember.<br />
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I used up over a quarter of frequent flier million miles on Delta and flew the long distance to my father’s funeral, coming back in three days. Less than four months earlier I had visited him for his 100th birthday. At that age every day is a gift and I was well prepared for my dad’s death as it had to happen sooner or later. What I didn’t foresee was the emptiness his passing left behind. I realized that not only my parent but also my best pal was gone. All of a sudden I felt my own age and mortality which now had to be accepted differently from before.<br />
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Our relationship had been quite different from what my two siblings experienced. They had started seeing him regularly only in his final years; the closeness I always had wasn’t necessarily how they remembered him. It is very difficult for a parent to show the same affection and interest to all children equally. However, I gratefully accepted what Dad had decided to give me. Recently in an email my brother lamented the fact that our father had to reach his 90s before he could talk about the horrors of the wars between Finland and the Soviet Union. Reluctantly I replied that I had heard all the details already as a child and umpteen times since then. No, he probably wasn’t a model parent to my brother or sister but to me he was everything one could wish for in a dad.<br />
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Music must have played a large part in his interest in his youngest. I had just turned five and while he and my mom were taking a walk in the cool late autumn weather, his violin came out of its case and when they walked in, I proudly declared “see what I can do” and played a melody in higher positions as the full-size instrument was too big for me to play in first. I read any text fluently, also music having studied the piano since three, and I did have perfect pitch. My dad started laughing and he seemed to be trembling. The next day a small violin and a teacher candidate appeared but I refused both. There was a three-quarter size instrument for a little while but I didn’t like its sound, so basically I learned to stretch and taught myself on a full size violin. Dad was almost always present when I practiced and from early on we played duets every night. I joined the quite excellent orchestra he conducted before my sixth birthday, playing in the second violins, second stand. It took quite a while before my feet were able to touch the floor but it didn’t matter as making music with my father conducting was the ultimate fun activity.<br />
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So, lets fast forward. After starting family number one, teaching at the Sibelius Academy at the age of 20 and performing all over, it was time to leave Finland. After a year in Sweden, my family with two children in tow, ended up in Los Angeles, a city I already knew. The studio work seemed very strange at first as did the free-lance scene in general. Money was plentiful although I missed the regular vacations of Europeans. My mom came for a visit and wasn’t very impressed; a couple years later my parents traveled together and America was seen more favorably. I took my dad to the beach in Santa Barbara. Tide was coming in rapidly and my father’s shoes got wet. He laughed: “I came to greet the ocean but the ocean greeted me first”. I was given permission to bring him to a studio session at 20th Century Fox where we were scoring a major movie. He also attended a few concerts, both by my L.A. Chamber Orchestra and Henri Temianka’s California Chamber Symphony. The latter had Ricci performing Kreisler’s fake Vivaldi concerto as soloist and my old man was sweating as the little Paganini expert wasn’t having one of his best nights. My dad’s ear was as phenomenal as ever in his final years. Of the first ensemble where I played as principal second at that time, he warned me about its conductor: “He is not musical and he likes himself too much”. I should have listened to his words more carefully and perhaps turned down the job offer here in Seattle a couple years later. However, once I remarried and we moved here, both my parents fell in love with the beauty of this heavenly corner of the Earth. They would visit at least once a year and we would return to Finland every summer. After my mom was stricken with Alzheimer’s, my dad would visit her in the hospital every day but still take time off for long trips here. A few years later, my mom passed away. I returned for her funeral and then brought my dad back with me for over a month. He clearly felt at home with us; the two little granddaughters absolutely adored him, as did the two older ones who would try to see him regularly, too.<br />
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Isä-Veikko or Pappa, as the younger ones called him, attended numerous concerts here. He was critical; again I heard the same comments. At the time my wife had her highly successful chamber music series and those seemed to please him a lot, with the exception of one where a recent L.A. transplant had been invited to perform. “She plays just like a student”, he remarked. What could I say as there was no fooling the old connoisseur of music. I took my dad to an opera, not his favorite art form, and after hours of sitting there he was more than ready to come home. The Nutcracker at the ballet was more successful, especially with Sendak’s designs. We would take trips to Canada and see the tulips in Skagit Valley. We traveled a lot and he felt that this area was close to Paradise and it reminded him of nature back home but with high mountains, like Finland's neighbor Norway.<br />
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I could write a thick book about this dear man and yet only scratch the surface. It is wonderful that we can live in two different realities, neither of which is more true than the other. My dad and I get to meet often at night and have our adventures together, play cards and then duets the next minute. After a wonderful night the morning may feel empty but a new opportunity for a revisit is close and even in this state of mind we call wakefulness our memories can be incredibly strong.<br />
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It is time to let the depression go. Both my parents are with me and my father will make sure I shall continue to play in tune. He had a beautiful sound on the violin and I can’t disappoint him.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XReQbjtdxVY/UHOn39hEy6I/AAAAAAAACBM/gkSXu41HsmU/s1600/DSC01936.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="319" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XReQbjtdxVY/UHOn39hEy6I/AAAAAAAACBM/gkSXu41HsmU/s320/DSC01936.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My dad as centenarian, the last time I saw him.</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-14885031568649284962011-09-29T19:29:00.000-07:002011-09-29T22:59:53.334-07:00A Shining Light of Music and Humanity<div style="background-color: transparent;">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-szayQH5CwGc/ToVI9xLm-yI/AAAAAAAAA5M/Rz8RQShvAbc/s1600/sokol+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-szayQH5CwGc/ToVI9xLm-yI/AAAAAAAAA5M/Rz8RQShvAbc/s320/sokol+1.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5776236637029797" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is interesting how differently we react to someone departing. Going away may not be even permanent as there is a likelihood that a person’s face will be seen again; yet people are elated and talk about a new beginning, in my field a Musical Spring. Then there are deaths which of course are permanent. Most of these are quickly forgotten, except by family and close friends. Occasionally a truly great individual passes away and thousands will keep on thinking of the person as he/she has deeply touched their lives. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This past August 19th the father figure of Seattle’s classical music left us at an honorable age of 96. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vilem Sokol</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> did more for young musicians than anyone I can think of, anywhere. He headed the Seattle Youth Symphony for 28 years and taught at the University of Washington for even a longer time, 1948-1985. He inspired countless young people to become musicians and music lovers over the decades. With him at the helm, the SYSO organization reached its high point, an envy for the rest of America. Sokol was a father figure for everyone, beloved and admired. His own family was large with ten children, but his extended family was as huge as a big town. He worked tirelessly every day, bringing joy to the hearts of those thousands who were fortunate to have him as their guiding light.</span></span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5776236637029797" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5776236637029797" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Doing violin-related research I discovered a photo from not too long ago in which Vilem Sokol is having a conversation with two esteemed colleagues. The article linked to the picture talks about a famous violinist in Prague, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Otakar Ševčik</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, whose life and work as a soloist and well-known pedagogue was quite familiar to me. What I didn’t know is the fact that Vilem’s parents in their wisdom had sent their son back to Czechoslovakia to study. Not only did he get a great musical education but also mastered the difficult language, unlike so many children of immigrants whose parents did their best to Americanize them, thinking this would make their success in the New World easier. Often elderly parents started forgetting what little English they had learned and their children had no way of communicating with them, a sad situation. I can remember the local opera company turning to Mr. Sokol for help with pronunciation when they produced a Czech opera, such as Dvořák’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rusalka</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span><br />
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I remember playing as a part of a Mass honoring Vilem Sokol’s 90th birthday at St. James Cathedral here in Seattle. At the time it seemed like the iconic figure would live forever as he, a devout Catholic, gave us all an image of being close to a Saint. That he indeed was for so many music lovers. The orchestra in Heaven now has another great conductor on the podium.</span></span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5776236637029797" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.5776236637029797" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I must return to a document of a very personal nature. I would not have made it public under different circumstances but since it refers to a difficult period in my life and Mr. Sokol's kind words and encouragement greatly helped me to survive, I think showing it here is in order.
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; white-space: normal;"></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hlP_E8LN7Z8/ToUoOXvFAHI/AAAAAAAAA5I/sseanpbWqzw/s1600/Sokol+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hlP_E8LN7Z8/ToUoOXvFAHI/AAAAAAAAA5I/sseanpbWqzw/s200/Sokol+001.jpg" width="154" /></a><span id="internal-source-marker_0.45175369130447507" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The letter unexpectedly arrived about a year after a certain Mr. Meecham (today in Baltimore) called me in to discuss my contract and informed me that Gerard Schwarz was looking for new leadership. This was done shortly after I notified the Seattle Symphony that I needed surgery to remove a large tumor from my back. Mr. Schwarz never had the guts to talk one word to me about his unhappiness after my serving him for over a quarter of century, 20+ years of which here, or discuss his possible hormonal overload man-to-man. Add to the equation a local Mr. Kollektor who, I was told, offered the organization money to have me replaced. Anyway, by this time Schwarz, Meecham and the city’s most expensive law firm had lost their case in court and the issue was heading for mediation. This letter from Vilem Sokol gave me back my belief that goodness and compassion still existed and provided me with more strength to fight for justice than anyone else had been able to give. I shall treasure it for the rest of my life.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">24 March 2005</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dear Ilkka:</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ever since you have been dealt an appalling blow by people you considered friends, I have tried to rationalize the reasons behind all of this. Try as I might I cannot find any logical reason that has anything to do with your musicianship, your ability to play the violin superbly or your ability to lead a section of violinists, or for that matter the entire string section.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I’ve concluded after thinking about it for a long time that the reasons can only be political. You have become the scapegoat. You know as well as I who the culpable one is. Your dismissal from the orchestra is just a distraction from something else that may surface someday. It is my hope that it will.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jenny and I continue to pray for you and for Marjorie. We admire both of you. You are not only admirable musicians but also high-principled human beings.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Continue standing up for your rights. Justice is on your side.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; white-space: pre-wrap;">With my warmest regards,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Bill Sokol)</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-45443355484493042422011-09-15T19:02:00.001-07:002011-09-15T19:49:18.494-07:00Stranger in the World<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Last month I made the mistake of purchasing a licence to watch television programs from Finland, country of my birth. Due to their strict copyright laws only news broadcasts and such can be broadcast for free over the web. This service I subscribed to, <i>tvkaista.fi</i>, charges a yearly fee similar to what every Finnish household must pay for such a licence, a common practice in Europe. The main channels are ad-free; some others are financed by commercials. Naturally I watch local television there whenever I visit but do so seeing it as part of life and culture over there. All of a sudden the distance has been removed and part of my old home has followed me here. The broadcasts have all been recorded and are available on demand, similar to using a <i>DVR</i> or a service like <i>TiVo</i>. My feed comes from Chicago which is closer and thus more reliable than trying to reassemble data packets ten timezones away.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MhBibVLpy8Q/TnKxtMOZC9I/AAAAAAAAA3E/omtCEBEF0Zw/s1600/moomins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MhBibVLpy8Q/TnKxtMOZC9I/AAAAAAAAA3E/omtCEBEF0Zw/s320/moomins.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moomin family on Finnish TV</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Why am I calling this wonderful opportunity a mistake? Simply because I am able, or rather forced, to compare life and values here and back in the place of my origin. Instead of American predictable documentaries and movies with chase scenes and special effects but little else, I can follow very smart science programs from numerous European countries, deep philosophical conversations and European movies, crime and other dramas from the U.K., Germany, Italy, you name it. I have been especially impressed by Finnish educational programs. There is a classical music series where most of the presenters, both in speaking and musical roles, are just kids themselves. Naturally classic arts are not to everyone's taste there either, but watching these youngsters talk and play or sing certainly might make others of the same age at least somewhat curious about the subject. I'm beginning to understand why my home country has done so well in global comparison. Unfortunately I grew up in the old system. Living away from the big cities meant that instruction after elementary school was for the most part given by teachers with no interest in making students learn. Many of these people were bitter because they hadn't been able to land better jobs. In today's Finland there are no bad schools and teaching is one of the most competitive and respected professions.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Since the end of a busy summer has finally been less hectic, I have had the opportunity to follow politics, geography, various sciences, medicine and many other interesting topics. It has been twenty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union and freedom for Finland's neighbors to the south in the Baltics. A lot of most interesting programs from the old archives have been rebroadcast, especially about Estonia, a small country that shares so much with its northern neighbor. Programs have subtitles but in most cases I don't seem to need them. Danish is hard to understand when spoken fast as is Dutch. I heard plenty of the latter today in a long documentary on <i>Rembrandt</i>. Having read quite about him, I was amazed to learn results of recent discoveries and the methods of investigating the true nature of many paintings attributed to him but recently found having been created in his workshop, by gifted students who had been taught the master's technique and style.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Rembrandt had no problems with signing his name on the bottom of a picture which wasn't his but this way fetched a far higher price. In the violin world the French master <i>Vuillaume</i> was a similar businessman. Most of the numerous <i>Stradivarius</i> copies were indeed done by students or workers in his shop; only relatively few truly unique instruments were actually Vuillaume's handiwork. He was an expert in creating fake Italian master instruments that look and sound as good as the originals. Actually they are better than the real things as they are newer and less damaged from wear and tear. There is absolutely no way of telling which is which: the famous <i>Hill of London</i> admitted long time ago that at least a third of Stradivari violins they had authenticated were most likely in made by the Frenchman a century later.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">All this information has suited my plans well. As Alzheimer's runs on my mother's side of the family, I try to challenge my brain by studying numerous different topics every day, supposedly the best way of keeping the dreadful illness from developing. Obviously my newly discovered television programs are not enough: I also read a lot and do daily research on the computer. Family members and people who know me well often call me a walking encyclopedia. That I hardly am but admittedly know a lot and increasingly so every day. Seeing the mental decline in my mother and later in her brother, both extremely smart people, was enough to scare me for good, and I certainly don't want ever to be in a similar situation and become a terrible burden to those who love me.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I wrote earlier in this post about having to compare life in two different worlds, whether I want it or not. My extended stay in this country spans over 36 years and yet I have difficulties in understanding American value system, or rather the lack of it. We are a country without a collective conscience, often hiding behind a religion and living contrary to its fundamentals. As a rich nation it is a shame that our poverty level is so high, that our people are uneducated and that the sick and old suffer under our very eyes which we prefer to close. A problem unseen isn't there, right? I should not complain: my family does fine, but it is the less fortunate and their misery that bothers me to no end. Pro-life seems to mean more frequent executions: is the life of a fertilized egg really more important than that of a grown-up who as mentally ill or in desperation has committed a serious crime but who possibly could be returned to society with proper mental health care or by re-educating and giving this person another chance?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">At times I wish I could return. Theoretically I could, but most of my family lives here, three of my four daughters (one has returned) and the same number of grandchildren. Most of my old friends back home have passed away (I was "born old" and always gravitated toward wise people decades my senior) and my family there has shrunk. Additionally, I am approaching an age when the system expects one to retire: one cannot continue in a job past 65 or 67 years of age, unless one is his own employer. For now, people are well taken care of but the financial uncertainty is a curse there as well, with the failing Mediterranean EU economies causing havoc. Finnish companies have followed in America's footsteps of capitalism: paying 200 euros a month in India is twenty times cheaper than hiring people back home.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Perhaps something truly horrible will happen and our eyes will open. Mankind seems unable to start anew, with any humbleness and social justice, except after a global-scale catastrophe. As it stands now, our paper currency, rapidly losing its value, should say <i>In Greed We Trust</i> and leave God out.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If it weren't for my wonderful loving family and the happiness of seeing a thriving new grandchild, I indeed would feel homeless and truly a stranger in this world.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-46491175887789977242011-07-31T15:00:00.000-07:002011-07-31T15:04:40.521-07:00Childish Summer<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Hardly anyone can deny that our politicians are behaving like spoiled children in Washington. The empire of United Greek States of America doesn’t see the necessity of common good. The mess in Greece has put the entire European Union in danger, and the Euro with it. The Greek don’t want to pay the taxes they owe and corruption is rampant. You go to the doctor and have to pay twice: first, the official fee and then the larger amount under the table. Priests get extra pay for leading a service and a similar bonus is given in certain other jobs if you wash your hands after using a restroom. The government has decided to use satellite photos to find out which houses have swimming pools as people’s honesty in non-existent. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Many outside observers have noted that the Greek problems resemble our own. This country’s 400 richest people pay an <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/robertlenzner/2011/07/25/the-400-richest-americans-pay-an-18-tax-rate/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">average of 18%</span></a> of their income in taxes according to a Wall Street financier, Steve Rattner. Before Bush Junior’s era they paid 30%, not as much as they should have perhaps, but enough to prevent the country from sinking into the present mess. At least our rich individuals pay something which is not the case with many of our large corporations. G.E. made headlines earlier this year when it was discovered that not only was its contribution to the U.S. Treasury nothing but it also claimed a tax benefit of 1.1 billion. A 2008 New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/business/13tax.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">article</span></a> showed that two out of three American corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 to 2005. None of us like taxes but the government has expenses and has to make payments we all depend on, especially the elderly. Non-profits don’t even pay real estate taxes. In some cities with large universities and hospitals that can amount to a lot. Faced with increasing tuition charges and enormous hospital bills, one is baffled with these institutions’ non-profit status.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e0Vpq1v6lSs/TjXI3RrjqII/AAAAAAAAA2Y/BOG3N2WN-Yk/s1600/223863_197652360291222_100001393781939_550529_8326261_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e0Vpq1v6lSs/TjXI3RrjqII/AAAAAAAAA2Y/BOG3N2WN-Yk/s200/223863_197652360291222_100001393781939_550529_8326261_n.jpg" width="150" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ellen at 2 months</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This summer has been childish in other ways, too: we have been blessed with a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">new</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">beautiful, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">sweet </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">and healthy granddaughter. I have two other wonderful grandchildren but they live too far, allowing only an occasional visit. <i>Baby Ellen</i> is less than a two-hour drive away, permitting almost weekly visits to witness the incredible speed little ones develop. This one doesn’t fit the typical image of an infant as crying isn’t part of her ordinary performance ritual. There are no sleepless nights. Bright, content and happy, she must be a dream-come-true to my third daughter and her husband. For the past month our youngest has been there helping and keeping company while completing her second-year Spanish at the university. The 18-year-old auntie has the same gift I possess: we both can instantly become children ourselves and be on the same level </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">even</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">with a little infant. I often think of the miracle of my own father being exactly a century older than this newcomer to the world. The circle of life continues even if today’s world seems like a scary place. Has there ever been a time when it didn't?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I just read about a German child psychiarist <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Michael Winterhoff. </i>He laments the fact that at present children have overtaken families as their little tyrants. According to him, a typical modern youngster lacks discipline and responsibility and is narcissistic because his/her psyche has remained on the level of a little child. According to Dr. Winterhoff they will be like big children as adults, relying on their parents and unable to guide their own lives. The well-known psychiatrist claims that the fault lies with the parents who are too dependent on the love of their offspring in today’s uncertain world. This leads to emotional abuse of sorts: a parent begs children for love, treats them as their equals and identifies with them to the point that they don’t believe a child could do anything wrong. As a result the child as a grown-up has difficulty with accepting responsibility, being prompt or even getting a job. The author of three books on the subject fears that this all will lead to the destruction of our Western culture. Enclosed <a href="http://www.mefeedia.com/watch/42528961"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">link</span></a> to a short video interview is in German.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I have no firsthand experience in knowing how children are raised in Germany, but it is true that here in the U.S. they often feel entitled to many things that a parent may have trouble providing. And yes, a parent sometimes lives through the child. Perhaps the individual had certain dreams of his/her own which didn’t or couldn’t materialize and a child provides an opportunity to try again. However, this is nothing new. Yes, we have seen students whose parents act as if they are the ones wanting to become stars, but my wife and I experienced the same in our childhood and youth. Personally, our children grew up differently: our now-a-parent-herself daughter calls it “hands-off care”. There were no punishments for an occasional mistake. They knew when we had been disappointed and never repeated the act. No groundings, no taking away privileges. The girls learned to read our faces for signs of displeasure; verbal reprimanding was not needed. It is possible that they were exceptional human beings even as children and we based our way of upbringing on an instinct of knowing that. The truth remains that they grew up to be incredibly wonderful children and young adults. Best of all, they have a strong loving bond between them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Let the country go bankrupt and EU economies collapse. It is time for a shake-up anyway: no empire lasts forever. The future belongs to our children and their children, not to today’s grown-ups who act like they are in their terrible twos or adolescence at best. Life will straighten itself out even if it takes time.</span><o:p></o:p></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-19621629980107443462011-06-23T19:59:00.000-07:002011-06-26T13:30:27.129-07:00Seniority<div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q3igauNE-y8/TgdLXhj6g4I/AAAAAAAAAv8/qyHwzSwAnTg/s1600/DSC01936.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q3igauNE-y8/TgdLXhj6g4I/AAAAAAAAAv8/qyHwzSwAnTg/s200/DSC01936.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Veikko Talvi, 100 on June 21 2011</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Upon arriving at the public senior home to see my dad, I heard sentimental songs, originating many decades ago. At first the sound came from loudspeakers but as I walked on, a Roma (or Gypsy) with a golden voice came to my sight and I realized this was the home’s dance hour. The dark-skinned baritone (for a Finn) was accompanied by a skillful accordion player and the old tunes were familiar to all present. As there were more women than men, the caregivers helped out by dancing with those who hadn’t found a partner. There was sweetness in the air and I had to delay entering my dad’s section of the building. Had he possessed the strength, I’m sure he’d have been the first one on the floor. I was mesmerized by the healing power of this quite basic but sincere and melancholic music making and spent quite a while witnessing the scene.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Today no one seems to know what direction music performances should go. Orchestras are particularly at a loss as nothing simple and small is cost-effective. By seeing the pleasure and happiness on the faces of the seniors I couldn’t even begin to deny the power of live music. There he was, a singer from a minority group in my native country, probably not particularly well known, giving joy to the elderly and even to me. One doesn’t need a star soloist or a bombastic performance of a Mahler symphony to fulfill the needs of a music-loving listener. In its simplicity the slightly amplified vocal-accordion duo hit the spot.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rrj_DIcKwVA/TgdvNSe-dmI/AAAAAAAAAwA/fNd1jfCCWLI/s1600/serenade.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rrj_DIcKwVA/TgdvNSe-dmI/AAAAAAAAAwA/fNd1jfCCWLI/s200/serenade.png" width="123" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two serenades</td></tr>
</tbody></table>My dear dad turned a hundred years old two days ago. Although his age shows by now, he was amazingly perky for the two-hour reception. I had forgotten how proper my countrymen are in such events: just about all the male visitors were wearing black suits in spite of the festivities falling on the longest day of the year. I was the exception in an orange short-sleeved dress shirt and a <i>Moomintroll</i> tie with no jacket. However, my old man was admiring my colorful outfit which naturally pleased me. He was serenaded by two violinists: his very first student, now up in his years, played a long <i>czardas</i> from memory and amazingly well considering his age. The other musical greeting was by my niece’s daughter, four generations younger. In spite of the pressure of an audience and a grown-up’s impressive solo right before, she stood her ground and her great-grandfather was a keen listener.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
Midsummer Eve is tomorrow and my brother Tuomo was busy getting ready to play the keyboard for a daytime dance with one of his bands. They were expecting hundreds of participants and I was admiring the enthusiasm with which the over 70-year-old was packing his car with sound equipment. Even in my childhood I was outright envious of the pleasure my elder brother got out of playing and performing music. The fact that he never did it for living didn’t hurt. I “retired” from studying the piano at 7 or 8 (I actually used this expression to notify my teacher) mainly because I felt I could never reach the level of my sibling who was eight years older than I. The Chopin Etudes seemed too difficult ever to master for a little tyke and I listened with amazement to the skilled improvisations that came directly from my brother’s heart. So, I concentrated on the violin, teaching myself and soon others. The fiddle was my father’s instrument and I knew he would be thrilled by my rapid progress. However, I must admit that I probably never got the kind of satisfaction out of performing my brother did and still does. I can play very well, no doubt, but the love and enjoyment doesn’t reach the level of my brother. I should have followed my mother's advice and have had a career outside of music: that way I could still love it. The wise French said that one should never work in a field what they love most as it was too close to one’s heart. They also claimed one shouldn’t marry the person they loved above everyone else: that one I can’t quite agree with.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It was interesting to hear again complaints about young people losing interest in classical instruments, in spite of Finland’s generally excellent and widely available music education. In particular violin has suffered in popularity, probably because there is no way one can get instant satisfaction from it. No matter how good one’s ear is, learning the instrument takes a lot of hard work. Edison said that a genius is composed of 95% sweat. With a string instrument, particularly the violin, the percentage must be closer to 99. There are really no shortcuts, no magic bullets. My country, even during these globally hard economic times, invests a lot of public funds in classical arts, annoying the larger part of music lovers who prefer a lighter fare. Helsinki is finally getting a decent concert hall which should be ready any day now. Probably it will be packed for many years like new auditoriums tend to be, even when their acoustics leave a lot to be desired. How my country (and the rest of Europe) will be able to finance classical arts in the long run is of course a big question mark, but at least people assume the funding will come from the government or big cultural foundations which are large in number. Music there is not for the wealthy by the wealthy, a much healthier approach that we have on this side of the Atlantic.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This plane is approaching Seattle and I’m eager to see my loving family again after a week. Without them there would be very little to keep me here; add to that our gorgeous nature, a lush version of Scandinavia. My values differ too much from the American norm. Money is nice to have but it shouldn’t become an obsession. I like a system where people are taken care of, whether they are well off or less so. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of wonderful people here; they just don’t make much noise. And we have more than our share of ignorant fruitcakes: anti-science, anti-women, anti-progress but pro-guns, pro-war and pro-greed. After witnessing the care every person in my dad’s home gets makes me realize what a primitive society we in so many ways have.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Happy Midsummer to all!</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-87046500312271895962011-06-20T00:25:00.000-07:002011-06-20T00:32:38.033-07:00Midnight Sun over Canadian Arctic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eNaA8VgwyNk/Tf71YGzOrFI/AAAAAAAAAv4/5RkVdUeAMwA/s1600/melting+ice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eNaA8VgwyNk/Tf71YGzOrFI/AAAAAAAAAv4/5RkVdUeAMwA/s200/melting+ice.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">I have flown over this frozen tundra almost every middle of June for 45 years. Having been a geography buff all my life the landscape is oddly familiar. I can name the larger lakes and tell by the occasional mountains exactly where we are. For the first time I see open water where ice still should cover the sea. Lakes are frozen but the salty water isn’t. Of course floating sheets of ice are still visible but the amount of melt water is shocking. I feel sorry for the polar bears. Yes, they are great swimmers but distances to solid ground from a shrinking ice float can be many miles long. Already there are numerous prizzlies or glolar bears as their formerly separated living areas have become mixed.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Clearly our climate is changing, although certain politicians claim otherwise. Seattle may have had the coldest spring in recorded history and back home in Finland past winter was extremely cold. Yet global warming doesn’t mean warmer temperatures everywhere but more of extreme weather. Storms have become more violent globally. Last summer’s long stretch of almost 100° F weather in Finland was highly unusual; we are on both sides of the Arctic Circle after all.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
Now we are over coastal Greenland. Baffin Bay was filled with fishing boats, many of which have travelled great distances. One could see numerous icebergs but mainly the ocean water was ice-free. What is shocking to see are the freshwater lakes that have appeared on the snow and ice: they seem to be all over. One mustn’t forget, of course, that Greenland was tropical at some point. Perhaps we are heading in that direction again.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
Out of nowhere the Icelandic coast appears and the Boeing 757-300 touches ground almost immediately. A bumpy landing in windy weather and we all rush to the terminal. Since we are going to continue to another Schengen country, we need to go through another security check point. There are signs saying that the American and Canadian methods are not thorough enough. Perhaps so, but annoying they are for sure. This time I had forgotten to remove my very ordinary belt and the SeaTac airport security went through each inch, bending it every which way. No wonder people avoid flying if they can. This sour looking fellow had to manually check the area of my pants that the belt had covered, perhaps looking for explosives. Next time I’ll ask to be hand searched. I know these people are just doing their job but clearly the profession attracts a certain type of a person, such as the police force has members who love the fact that they carry a gun and feel powerful. Often they could be on either side of the law. By being in the police force they can shoot legally without much fear of punishment. Of course, on the other side they make much more money but there is always a risk of being caught.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
Finally we are on our way to Finland. The plane’s auxiliary turbine malfunctions so an extra hour is spend on the plane. Finally a truck is able to start the engines and off we take. Three hours later we land in Helsinki. It seems like all flights are coming in at the same time so another hour is spent waiting for luggage. I see my brother and his wife and off we drive to the Finnish beautiful countryside.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
The reason for this quick trip is to be present when my dad turns a 100 years old. I’ll also see some other family and friends. Then I return to my brand new grandchild Ellen and the rest of my American family. It is amazing to think that the infant and her great-grandfather are almost exactly a century apart. The world for sure is a very different place from when my father was born, with more than twice the amount of people and ever increasing number of problems. I shall also return to a liberated place. I love Lucy but despise Lucifer. The Devil has returned to his own territory: there is hope in the air. But more about that later. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-72138011455808364262011-05-15T17:42:00.000-07:002011-05-15T20:17:44.360-07:00Undertakers<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-izBCaVhFV5Q/TdByQ4WT1nI/AAAAAAAAAv0/oCVn2AU9dvM/s1600/Death_Plays_the_Violin_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-izBCaVhFV5Q/TdByQ4WT1nI/AAAAAAAAAv0/oCVn2AU9dvM/s1600/Death_Plays_the_Violin_1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Death Plays the Violin</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">We make fun of Al Gore having invented the internet, yet a major paper <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/arts/music/the-violinist-mari-kimuri-looks-for-low-notes.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">gives credit to a violinist</span></a> for discovering <i>subharmonics,</i> as she calls them. Musicians are not usually the brightest of the bunch, but any string player with curiosity and extra free time surely has bumped into this phenomena. I used to drive my father nuts by playing these "undertones" five decades ago. Gut or gut-core strings, the only ones used then, made achieving such impossible-to-explain low pitches quite easy. I would play them as a joke or a curiosity without even thinking of using them in any musical context. Especially a gut D-string would accidentally go into this register if played too far over the fingerboard with the bow pressed too forcefully. It is the kind of opposite of making an open E-string whistle on demand. Yes, I was able play various scales with my undertones, but as the sound was rather ridiculous (the small size of the violin doesn't allow for much amplification for such low notes), never saw any practical use for it, other than driving people with sensitive ears crazy. Having heard Ms. Kimura's recordings I still feel the same about the value of these bizarre tones. I just returned from trying them out again in my studio and the only reaction was that of our cat running for cover. Perhaps with an electric violin which amplifies the sound artificially, such sounds could be utilized, but I'll leave that to a younger generation to discover.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">It was wonderful to be young and approach any subject with an open mind, music included. It gave me great pleasure to amaze my dad. Before starting elementary school, I was explaining the concept of negative numbers to him, something he never forgot. A grown-up son of his cousin came over when I was still three years old and my dear proud father made me read news articles from the front page of a Helsinki newspaper to him. My second cousin insisted that my father had made me memorize the text and to prove his point wrote a difficult word down, asking me to read it. Correctly I said <i>Äkäslompolo</i> but rushed to add not knowing what it meant. I soon learned it was the name of a village on Ylläs, a low-lying mountain or <i>fell</i> in very sparsly populated Finnish Lapland. My relative instantly gained new respect for the little tyke and my dad was beaming.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">So, early on I also discovered a new way of producing harmonics on the violin. I have never seen this being discussed, so I'm not going to reveal it here either. This technique can actually be successfully used in certain virtuoso passages and the result sounds like harmonics should. I'm sure that there are others aware of the principle and don't want to claim it is my creation, but don't want to read about this "invention" in a paper or online and someone taking credit for it. Perhaps I'll teach it to my youngest before my time is up. Interestingly, the famed pedagogue <i>Carl Flesch</i> came up with a harmonic invention of his own and used it in many of his editions. He claimed that while playing a fast scale down on the E-string, the violinist can simply omit the octave E from the run, going from first finger on an F or F-sharp in seventh position to fourth finger D in third, and the missing note sounds on its own. I have tried this frequently: sometimes it seems to work but more often not. Perhaps Mr. Flesch had a unique instrument that made this trick possible.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">This time of the year many students are performing with school orchestras or in their own recitals. Playing from memory is an issue for many. Granted, one can feel terrified in front of an audience, even if the composition has gone fine during a lesson or in privacy. Nobody likes the idea of making a fool of him/herself and if the memory issue would make the performer sound worse, I usually let them keep the music at hand. How many times would these young instrumentalists have to play by heart in real life, even if they became respected professionals? In an orchestra or a chamber group one always uses music; it used to be a sacrilege to perform a sonata from memory unless both partners did so. The book would be on the stand, often not even opened, sort of like the Bible at hand while quoting Scripture. On the other hand, I don't think one really knows a piece of music unless it is memorized. By memorization I mean knowing the work well enough to play the notes with completely different set of bowings and fingerings, or even on a keyboard. Everyone learns memorizing differently. Some have to close their eyes, others depend on the harmony of the accompaniment. Personally I see the written music in front of me, measure by measure, enabling me to finger and bow it as I see fit at the moment. Perfect pitch comes in handy with this method. If the composition is very fast, all of us rely on muscle memory. Granted, my way will not work for everyone and often I have ask the student for help in deciding how the problem should be tackled. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Having witnessed many great artists getting lost I know that the issue is not <i>if</i> one makes a mistake but <i>when</i>. A soloist needs a Plan B at any given time (and Plan C, D etc.). Solo Bach is notoriously difficult: <i>Casals</i> got stuck in a movement of one of the cello suites and instead of reaching the end, wound up at the repeat. Finally he apologized, left the stage and returned with the music. This was after playing through the music probably thousands of times! <i>Heifetz</i> took a wrong turn in the final coda of the Prokofiev's second concerto in 1968. As there was no conductor, it was scary going for a while. As I have written before, <i>Oistrakh</i> had eight major memory lapses in Vienna in his Beethoven concerto in 1967. I thought it was a freak accident but recently saw a video of another concert where he also got lost in the same work. Although I, as a listener, felt uneasy at the time, did the mishaps really matter? Of course not: the audiences were shown the human side of their superstars and they loved it.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Time for some rich, nice overtones. I leave the undertones for musical morticians, to be buried six feet under.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-23624386563368050432011-04-30T18:47:00.000-07:002011-04-30T21:07:00.315-07:00Change<div style="text-align: justify;">We can argue over whether change is good or bad, but it is inevitable. Who could have seen the collapse of the Soviet Union or the recent events in the Arab world? The uneasy balance between Israel and her neighbors is about to collapse now that we so eagerly wanted to "liberate" Egypt and other countries. Our memory is astonishingly short when it comes to previous "freedom" and "democracy" campaigns. To our unpleasant surprise Egyptians want to discontinue their peace agreement with the Jewish State, and worse yet, want to become friends with Hamas and Iran. I don't think too many freedom advocates saw that development coming. The Libyans are killing each other, Yemen and Syria are in a messy situation which will most likely benefit militant radicals. In Marrakesh, Morocco, the bombing of a popular tourist cafe has all the trademarks of Al-Qaeda. Germany just <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8485526/German-al-Qaeda-suspects-planning-a-huge-bombing.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">arrested three bomb makers</span></a> trained by the same organization. I can see bloody times ahead. Is another global war in the works? Nature has her ways of shrinking any unsustainable overpopulation, even in seemingly cruel ways.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vi_AoZfI6F0/Tby35mhD7SI/AAAAAAAAAvw/QyR0Db94M_g/s1600/playing-for-change-cd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vi_AoZfI6F0/Tby35mhD7SI/AAAAAAAAAvw/QyR0Db94M_g/s200/playing-for-change-cd.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are many colleagues of mine who stubbornly expect the world of the classical arts to remain the same as it has been for a number of decades. Yet this is but a fantasy, based on their dreams, not on facts. My father will reach the milestone of a 100 years in a few weeks. In his youth he found a popular area of making music: playing for silent movies. He was the violinist in a piano trio, performing in the shallow pit in front of the screen. Movies were becoming very popular and the field seemed like a great way of expressing one's musical talent and making money at the same time. In America, improvising a live "soundtrack" was usually left to an organist, some of whom were incredible in their skills. Well, the talkies arrived and the seemingly lucrative careers for these musicians came to a screeching halt. My dad kept up his playing but started to conduct an orchestra instead, just for the love of music. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">I myself grew up in the time of reel-to-reel tape recorders and became quite good in recording not only my own performances but others as well. This was the pre-transistor era and changing a vacuum tube was a common event. Microphones were rather large and connecting cables had to be double-shielded to eliminate any electronic noise. Soldering wires to the tight spaces of a European three- or five-prong DIN plugs made me burn my fingertips more times than I can count. Editing recordings required skill and I became quick with splicing the tape at a 45-degree angle and attaching it to another piece with special white tape. This all seems old-fashioned now, but it is a part of the past I miss today. If someone had told me all this knowledge was going to be obsolete in a few years, I would have laughed.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Not long ago I was reading an article in the leading Helsinki daily, lamenting the fact that orchestras in my native country have trouble attracting qualified Finnish instrumentalists and have to hire foreigners instead. It isn't that there is a shortage of music education as just about every town has a publicly sponsored music school. On the college or professional level schooling is completely free and at least until now student are actually given a stipend for their living expenses. Playing in an orchestra is not thought of as a glamorous occupation, and unlike here, the musicians think of themselves as musical civic employees, not artists. As salary is tied to the common pay scale structure system, it usually makes no difference if one teaches or plays in an orchestra. At least when I was younger, I couldn't call myself a "violin artist" unless I performed regularly as a soloist or recitalist. The country has its own "soloist association" which I think I'm still a member of.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">In the U.S. orchestral playing wasn't that greatly valued either as it seldom gave a musician enough of an income. Seasons were short and working hours lousy. Perhaps in certain large cities with a long tradition of orchestral music matters were better, but those would have been few. Then something happened after WWII and with the country's increased wealth it became fashionable to donate large sums of money to education and arts institutions. Cities felt a need to build mega-halls and have large orchestras to fill the stages. At the same time interest in smaller groups, chamber music and recitals waned. As the donors aged and became increasingly hard of hearing, perhaps a deafening level of brass and percussion was needed to prevent their hearing aids from whistling. Musicians' appetite for larger and larger salaries grew and soon the financial balance became impossible to sustain; the orchestra bubble began to burst, something <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704330404576291033972112542.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">we are witnessing now</span></a>. Philanthropy continues, of course, but instead of entertainment, it is focused on global health and such issues.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Glancing through online reader comments, musicians seem to receive little sympathy for their salary and other demands. It is quite easy to discover which opinions were written by the orchestral musicians themselves or their friends. The ordinary people are far more concerned about their own employment or lack of, not to mention health care and education. State universities are increasingly taking in out-of-state students because they can be milked for full private school level tuition, no matter how low they have scored. In Seattle straight A students, even class valedictorians, haven't been admitted to our #1 school, University of Washington. The school openly admits that it prefers outsiders as it sorely lacks funds. If we as a society expect every high school graduate to continue in college, we have to make it accessible and financially realistic. Of course, one could make an argument that attending college should be a privilege for the deserving, not an automatic right.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Back home a rather significant event took place. In the recent parliamentary election a formerly small party known as <i>True Finns</i> scored a tremendous victory. Many of my countrymen have been horrified as they see this relatively anti-EU party as a big step back. Even foreign media calls the election a major shift to the extreme right. I'm not so sure about it. Young voters, usually uninterested in politics, perceive them as a worker's party (wouldn't that qualify them as extreme left?) which wants to preserve Finnish values and not bail out other EU countries that are on the brink of collapse because of fiscal corruption. My brother, an astute observer whose political views hardly match those of the country's conservatives, says it is a good thing for the country to have so many new faces in the new Parliament, most belonging to ordinary men and women who campaigned with ideas, not with big budgets. People have spoken and now we must listen to what they have to say, whether we agree with the message or not. </div><br />
It must be spring as I smell all kinds of changes in the air.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-77798216620745888912011-04-01T17:18:00.000-07:002011-04-01T18:35:31.078-07:00I'm a Fool<div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf490" sourceindex="4"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf2b0" sourceindex="5" style="text-align: justify;"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf2f0" sourceindex="6"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf500" sourceindex="7">The phone rang and my youngest daughter, a college freshman, was on the line. We talked a bit about school but then she became very serious and told me she was going to become a vegetarian. Since all three of her sisters had gone through a similar period, I wasn't exactly surprised, especially since I knew her room mate and close friend is strictly vegetarian, or even vegan. I started giving Sarah a lecture about the pros and cons and explained that it was hard to get all the nutrients from that diet since our digestive tract is that of an omnivore. She listened to me carefully and said she had given it a lot of thought and this was going to be a long term decision. Then she cracked up and laughed out loud "April's Fools". I wanted to be upset but could only laugh at myself. My little one knows my way of thinking better than I do myself (we even share similar dreams) and she knew exactly how to get me.</div></div></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf6e0" sourceindex="8"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf7e0" sourceindex="9"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5eda3f0" sourceindex="10"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf650" sourceindex="11"><br siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf690" sourceindex="12" /></div></div></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf270" sourceindex="13"><div class="separator" siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf7f0" sourceindex="14" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-giWhAdnFMkQ/TZZnF6Ctu5I/AAAAAAAAAvg/i8d_eDAh1gI/s1600/Lenox.jpg" imageanchor="1" siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf710" sourceindex="15" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf450" sourceindex="16" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-giWhAdnFMkQ/TZZnF6Ctu5I/AAAAAAAAAvg/i8d_eDAh1gI/s200/Lenox.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf9a0" sourceindex="17" style="text-align: justify;"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf860" sourceindex="18"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf610" sourceindex="19">A different kind of April Fool's trick was performed by our house, namely its ancient gas furnace. Last night I realized that it was getting colder inside. It was too late to call for help and I brought a space heater to our bedroom. I'm battling with rather nasty bronchitis and hacking cough; shivering unnecessarily didn't seem like a good idea. This morning a big truck pulled in front of the house and two men came for a look. They stood there looking extremely puzzled. It turned out that they had never seen a 50-year-old Lennox and didn't even recognize how the different components worked. A new one is being put in place and before nightfall the men (now there are three) are going to be finished. This new unit looks Lilliputian but is supposed to be much more effective than the old one and pay for itself over the years in the form of lower gas bills. Let's hope so, as this month is expensive with various tax payments (real estate, estimated tax, a lump sum to be sent with our extension request) not to mention college payments (tuition plus Room and Board) for the last quarter. Our little one is doing beautifully and working hard, so every penny is worth it. She even took a violin with her to school.</div></div></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf5f0" sourceindex="20"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf900" sourceindex="21"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf6f0" sourceindex="22"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf540" sourceindex="23"><br siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf9f0" sourceindex="24" /></div></div></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf880" sourceindex="25"><div class="separator" siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf630" sourceindex="26" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R_J_4ZjqbtQ/TZZnpx2QdII/AAAAAAAAAvk/ARQCC7Gzh7I/s1600/xoom.jpg" imageanchor="1" siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf810" sourceindex="27" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfbe0" sourceindex="28" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R_J_4ZjqbtQ/TZZnpx2QdII/AAAAAAAAAvk/ARQCC7Gzh7I/s200/xoom.jpg" width="196" /></a></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfaa0" sourceindex="29" style="text-align: justify;"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf8a0" sourceindex="30"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf760" sourceindex="31">I decided to get a tablet. Twice I went to an Apple store right when they opened, just to find a long line, just like at an airport security and before I could get in, an announcement was made that the day's allotment was sold out. So I started doing research or Motorola's Xoom and its WiFi version. We have two portable hotspots and I wasn't going to pay for an extra data plan. Besides, at home we have a fast wireless network. Every place was taking pre-orders for the Xoom, but Staples actually had them available for purchase on their website. A couple days later a big box arrived. I was kind of puzzled because a 10.1" tablet is small. A smaller box was inside and when I opened it, there were five tablets, not just one. The American voice in my head said "keep them, keep them" but the Finn protested very loudly. So, I was going to wait for Staples to find their mistake.</div></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfab0" sourceindex="32" style="text-align: justify;"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfa00" sourceindex="33"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf830" sourceindex="34"><br siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfa10" sourceindex="35" /></div></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfb00" sourceindex="36" style="text-align: justify;"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf320" sourceindex="37"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf740" sourceindex="38">The following morning the phone rang (I was already teaching) and a woman from Staples somewhere on the East Coast left me a message, sheepishly asking if I could call her back. I did so early in the afternoon and talked with an African-American man. He checked my order number and put me on hold. Finally he came back and told about the mistake. I said that they are more than welcome to get their units back and he sounded surprised. A little later he called back and asked if I was really going to return the extra units without a fight and I said "Of course." He then told that his supervisor had authorized a sizable gift check since I was so honest about the matter. I thanked him and hung up. Sure enough, in about a half hour Staples called again and my wife answered. It was the woman who first called, and she kept thanking us. My feeling is that the company sent out quite a few of those boxes before realizing their error and customers felt entitled to all the merchandise. The unit runs on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) and is remarkably fast. It also has Flash support. Selling those four extra Xooms would have helped with the furnace cost but my conscience would have prevented it. Honesty is not a virtue in America but I live by different standards.</div></div></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfa70" sourceindex="39"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfce0" sourceindex="40"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfde0" sourceindex="41"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf800" sourceindex="42"><br siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfc50" sourceindex="43" /></div></div></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfc90" sourceindex="44"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebf870" sourceindex="45" style="text-align: justify;"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfdf0" sourceindex="46"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="5ebfd10" sourceindex="47">If you use Gmail, don't forget to check out their Gmail Motion (Beta). It is a great idea. Happy April 1st!</div></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-10414962953021706112011-03-31T15:25:00.000-07:002011-03-31T15:25:52.888-07:00Here We Go Again<div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e5a4a0" sourceindex="4"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e5af30" sourceindex="5"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e5a990" sourceindex="6" style="text-align: justify;">Of the close to four decades I've lived in the United States, this country has been involved in armed conflicts much of the time. During my teens there was the Vietnam War. It was impossible to get objective, truthful news. Propaganda was at work: night after night we the people learned about amazing victories against the Vietcong. Someone finally tallied up the number of enemy casualties as we had posted them and they exceeded the population of North Vietnam. This all happened before our Information Age and the Internet; I got quite a different picture by listening to my shortwave radio and reading the Finnish newspaper mailed to me daily.</div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2df9240" sourceindex="7"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e5af50" sourceindex="8"><br siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e493d0" sourceindex="9" /></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e63010" sourceindex="10"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e63080" sourceindex="11" style="text-align: justify;">After Saigon collapsed, involvement in Nicaragua, Grenada, former Yugoslavia, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan followed (am I forgetting something?). Now we are playing World Police with certain Arab countries (but not all) where people are unhappy and restless. Egypt's Mubarak was corrupt but so is every other despot. We lost a partner and Israel a neighbor leader they could live with. Libya's Gaddafi is in our cross-hairs: much of this has to do with the bombing of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Pan Am 103</span></a> over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. Never mind that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">we shot down</span></a> an Iranian passenger jet a few months before with many more dead. This was toward the end of the Iran-Iraq war where we took the side of Saddam Hussein, then considered our good friend.</div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e49e80" sourceindex="12"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e5a6b0" sourceindex="13"><br siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2df9b30" sourceindex="14" /></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e5a260" sourceindex="15"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e63fd0" sourceindex="16" style="text-align: justify;">Restlessness in Arab nations seems to be spreading although we are very selective with our involvement. Even in Saudi Arabia there have been demonstrations. The Saudis, too, have reasons to demand more freedoms. Western feminists should be screaming but I don't hear them; it would be nice to let a Saudi woman drive a car and have a life. But hell will freeze over before we take the side of their people over the reigning royalty. We ought to be fair: every country has to be treated in an equal fashion. Of course the real issue is our hunger for oil; the people may demand democracy without the slightest idea of what it is. One should be careful what one wishes for: it was important to the U.S. that the Palestinians vote. Now we (and Israel) have Hamas to cope with as the result, something we should have foreseen as a likely outcome in the Gaza Strip.</div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e63820" sourceindex="17"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e49b60" sourceindex="18"><br siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e49cf0" sourceindex="19" /></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2df96e0" sourceindex="20"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JNn7rF5MNQo/TZT8fxUu_pI/AAAAAAAAAvc/HTvsEjKVB_A/s1600/druze+star.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JNn7rF5MNQo/TZT8fxUu_pI/AAAAAAAAAvc/HTvsEjKVB_A/s200/druze+star.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Druze Star</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e63860" sourceindex="24" style="text-align: justify;">The Middle East (or Near East, a term I prefer) is no closer to peace between Israel and its neighbors than many decades ago. Various times there have been negotiations but if they seemed to be heading toward a solutions, extremists on either side have taken care of the matter with violent acts. Perhaps the formula, using America as the mediator, is fundamentally quite flawed. Palestinians and their neighbors don't trust us and see us as Israel's partner (which we of course are). A new neutral party should be found, something both sides could respect. </div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e63860" sourceindex="21"><br siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2df9de0" sourceindex="23" /></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e63860" sourceindex="21" style="text-align: justify;">I am surprised that no one has thought of using the <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/druze.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Druze</span></a> in this role. Although their religion is based on Islam, Muslims don't consider them their own. For one thing, they are perhaps the most pro-women society on Earth. Also, they are not allowed to convert outsiders: nobody can enter or leave the fold. Though they represent just a small percentage of Israel's population, they willingly serve serve in the armed forces, many having reached high positions in the military. Of the neighboring countries, there are sizable populations in Syria and Lebanon. As the Druze are respected by both Israel and her adversaries, wouldn't that make them an ideal mediator? They should have no trouble seeing issues from both sides. </div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e680d0" sourceindex="25"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e49c10" sourceindex="26"><br siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e49930" sourceindex="27" /></div></div><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e63040" sourceindex="28"><div siber__q92dpb7seovvtbh5__vptr="2e63920" sourceindex="29" style="text-align: justify;">Perhaps we have left the Druze out of the picture on purpose, fearing that peace just might happen. A scary thought indeed.</div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-53471097482518085092011-02-28T15:00:00.000-08:002011-02-28T21:29:56.557-08:00Then and Now<div style="text-align: justify;">Opening this morning's New York Times was uneventful. There were the usual bad news about our involvement in other countries' affairs. Often I wonder if certain foreign problems purposely get so much attention so that we the people wouldn't notice our domestic mess. Perhaps we should be more careful about encouraging other nations to pursue democracy, a concept they have little or no understanding of. Why is it it so important for us to remove the leaders of <i>Egypt</i> and <i>Libya</i> and yet be quiet about <i>North Korea</i>? If the restlessness spreads to <i>Saudi Arabia</i> and the price of crude oil triples, would we be equally eager to support to end the friendly monarchy's rule there? We seem to have forgotten about our demands for an election in the <i>Gaza Strip</i>: against our expectations the <i>Hamas</i> won and we, along with Israel, were most upset by their victory. One should be careful with what one wishes for.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Of course I had read all those news a day before and not just from an American perspective. One of the greatest things about the internet is the ability to follow what's happening globally as seen through very different eyes. I'm comfortable in reading enough languages and when I'm not, <i>Google's Translator</i> comes in handy. Naturally the latter requires that said translations be reinterpreted, but with a bit of logic that isn't usually a problem. Pages from Mandarin to Hindi to Arabic open with ease.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">It was a short night as we had to get up very early after working late last night. I had set the coffee maker's timer and by the time I got to the breakfast table my wife Marjorie had finished reading the paper, in addition to consuming a respectable amount of high quality java. <i>The Arts</i> section was open, and a review and picture of a string quartet caught my attention. I'm certain that the <i>Takacs Quartet</i> played their <i>Schubert</i> program beautifully, but the photo was disturbing. Are such exaggerated physical motions needed for this great and heavenly music? <i>Shostakovich</i> or <i>Ginastera</i> might have been more understandable, but lovely Schubert? I have seen almost identical pictures of other groups regularly and wonder if all that circus is truly necessary. In the picture underneath I have placed photos of the <i>Joachim Quartet</i>, the true founder of this art form, and Takacs group, next to each other. Joachim made violin playing and chamber music a very serious affair. Thanks to him recital and solo repertoire changed greatly and a virtuoso's encores no longer consisted of imitating animal sounds.</div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qDW2SKtgcgE/TWvz5uNFZPI/AAAAAAAAAvA/SBIovOnE-qA/s1600/Joachim-Takacs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qDW2SKtgcgE/TWvz5uNFZPI/AAAAAAAAAvA/SBIovOnE-qA/s400/Joachim-Takacs.jpg" width="366" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Joachim Quartet (top), Takacs Quartet </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.1641516070612946" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(©B Harkin/NY Times)</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">I am fascinated by early performance practices, especially when we have some actual proof of how music was interpreted. Old photographs are more truthful than paintings. The artists made <i>Mozart</i> look pleasant and even charming, yet books tell how homely and unattractive he was in real life with his pox marks and other facial features. Naturally in early photographs action shots were not possible as exposure took time and people had to look very proper. The famous Joachim Quartet looks almost stern in photographs, and based on listeners' accounts their performances were very serious business indeed. From early recordings we know how Joachim himself played: his interpretation of solo Bach seems almost contemporary and is certainly not covered under a coating of constant vibrato or other trademarks of Romantic playing.. We can easily imagine what his quartet must have sounded like. Joachim was revered in continental Europe: his funeral in Berlin was like that of a Kaiser. All that respect and admiration without any gimmicks on stage!</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Naturally resorting to showmanship and cheap tricks is nothing new. Being a musician was for a long time comparable to that of a circus member. We seem to have gone back in time, as nowadays we unfortunately enjoy our musical encounters more with our eyes than with our ears, as if concerts were intended for deaf people. Everyone should enjoy a blind person's experience: bouncing around and madly waving bows or batons obviously would be of no use.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Interestingly, the same New York Times issue had a picture of <i>Emanuel Ax</i> at the piano, playing another all-Schubert recital at <i>Alice Tully Hall</i>. He looked like a serious musician, an old-timer. Joseph Joachim would have approved.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-21387009012981645272011-01-28T14:52:00.000-08:002011-01-28T22:35:29.636-08:00Brave New World<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><div style="text-align: justify;">The drama in <i>Detroit</i> with the symphony will soon come to a head. What it will be is anyone's guess. This is a no-win situation: by striking for this long (half the subscription season), the musicians have made sure that even if matters return to "normal", it will be next to impossible for the institution to market 2011-12 season as if nothing had happened. Will the present subscribers be given a refund? Why would anyone bother to invest in entertainment that may or may not take place? Management has greatly upset the lives of the musicians. First there was anger and outrage, now desperation. If there were plenty of available well-paying orchestra jobs available elsewhere, only a fool wouldn't try to leave the ship that's taking in water faster than the pumps can get rid of. Unfortunately, a long-time orchestra <i>tutti</i> musician is not going to have an easy time winning an audition. Yes, he or she may have all the routine in the world, but the decreased quality and accuracy of playing is no match to a young person fresh out of one of the top schools. At least with string players, orchestras don't want to hire artists, no matter what they claim. They are after worker bees who are able to play most correctly and who don't possess strong musical ideas of their own, i.e. musical robots. Youth is a big plus as the new hire's health will most likely remain good for many years to come.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">But let's move to a much happier topic. Florida's <i><a href="http://www.nws.edu/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">New World Symphony</span></a></i> is an anomaly in America's music scene. For over twenty years, it has been a unique place for those who really want to play in an orchestra, a sort or post-graduate school where you get paid something for your work. Since similar institutions are hard to find, the New World can be very selective: the acceptance rate in about 3%, based on the figures available. What makes the orchestra unique is that hardly any other musical group has managed to flourish in Florida. There are plenty of concert halls, one fancier than the next, but they all depend on visitors. As it is common, people rather donate large amounts for a building than for operating costs of an organization. Who needs local entertainment when long-distance groups are waiting to fly in, away from the snow and cold to the balmy beaches of Miami and surrounding areas?</div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TUNGxMzEzPI/AAAAAAAAAu4/ofQea6UB20E/%5BUNSET%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" imageanchor="1" linkindex="17" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TUNGxMzEzPI/AAAAAAAAAu4/ofQea6UB20E/%5BUNSET%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="max-width: 800px;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New World Center, photo by Michael McElroy for the NY Times</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
Until this point, the New World Symphony hasn't created enough of a local following to warrant using one of the mega-barns. Now matters are quite different: a few days ago they got to open the new New World Center, created by <i>Frank Gehry–Yasuhisa Toyota</i> team. It has a supposedly excellent 750-seat concert hall, small in today's standards but one that brings intimacy between the musicians and their audience. There are excellent auditoriums for a 1000 or fewer listeners all over Europe. America, believing that bigger is better, is sorely lacking in these. Based on initial reports of the venue and its acoustics, I would be surprised if it didn't become a very tempting destination for chamber and other smaller orchestras and well as chamber music groups and recitalists (if there are any left). Clearly not an ideal place to listen to bombastic orchestral works, it might be exactly that for most of the real musical treasures that seldom get performed today, being "cost-ineffective" for a 100+-member group. If I loved alligators, snakes and hurricanes, I could see myself living nearby and becoming a regular visitor to the place, as little as I like the idea of going to concerts.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">With a maximum three years allowed in the group, the New World Symphony doesn't have to cope with other orchestras' often unpleasant issues, from union negotiations to tenure. Everyone there is eager to give their best and there is genuine joy and excitement in music-making. I have to think back many decades to remember what that was like. Top music schools have often good orchestras but the students play in them because they have to, a very different setup from the New World. The founder of the institution, <i>Michael Tilson Thomas</i>, is perhaps the best person to train these young orchestra musicians. Mr. Thomas still manages to be true dynamo in spite of his 66 years of age, and is probably a better fit than anyone else in the country for the orchestra transplanted in Miami Beach. Granted, <i>Gustavo Dudamel</i> is exciting to watch, but Michael Tilson Thomas knows better what it is like to be a true American musician.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">A new concert hall is always a gamble. Surprisingly few architects and acousticians truly understand the difference between great and adequate. As a large amount of money is spent constructing an auditorium, it is usually praised to high heaven by the media, brainwashing the would-be audience. Sometimes it take a few decades for a child to declare that the emperor has no clothes. Criticism is generally not allowed as long as one of the creators is alive. Sometimes we wish the white elephants, such as the <i>Philharmonic</i> a.k.a. <i>Avery Fisher Hall</i>, would simply go away. This smaller newcomer will probably be treated kindly by future generations. The hall seems to be ready for new directions in music presentation with its built-in multimedia equipment, something that today seems mandatory and inevitable.</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-31143034513457259612010-12-30T12:57:00.000-08:002010-12-30T17:52:00.331-08:00All's Heimers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TRzv6GRD86I/AAAAAAAAAuw/17VrmJTUUe4/s1600/dementia-9336587.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TRzv6GRD86I/AAAAAAAAAuw/17VrmJTUUe4/s200/dementia-9336587.jpg" width="170" /></a></div>We all start forgetting as we age. Many become victims of various forms of dementia. The scarlet letter"A" refers to the dreaded Alzheimer's disease these days although there are other causes for dementia, some of which are just signs of aging. I don't yet greet my image in the mirror but just this morning realized that I had forgotten to pay our real estate tax a month ago. As my mother and her younger brother both suffered from Alzheimer's, I know there is a genetic possibility that I'll suffer the same fate, but hopefully I have succumbed to another illness by then. And on my father's side people stayed unaffected for much longer.<br />
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One of dementia's first signs is disappearing short term memory. Often I feel like our society as a whole is becoming demented. We seem to have forgotten the reasons for the economic scandal which started the recession and our country's downhill slide just three years ago. Initially there was a lot of anger against the bankers' greed and resulting enormous financial compensations even when the financial institutions themselves had to be rescued with taxpayer money. This recent <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-28/out-of-lehman-s-ashes-wall-street-gets-what-it-wants-as-government-obliges.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">article</span></a> on Bloomberg.com is one of the increasingly few attempts to show how much political clout Wall Street has, and how it managed to weather scary times and end up with bigger bonuses and profits than ever before.<br />
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Our government rushed to the rescue of the very rich, yet left the victims of the banks' greed, the homeowners with their mortgages, fend for themselves, in most cases unsuccessfully. Even I know several people who have lost their homes or are at default due to their inability, or sometimes reluctance, of paying for a loan that is far greater than the property is worth. Many of these people suffered a terrible blow when their jobs disappeared and with that their health insurances and pension investments. The way we count the number of unemployed gives a completely false, overly optimistic picture of destitute people. Even with the extended jobless benefits there are millions that don't show in the statistics. They haven't been able to find a new job, many of them in the 50+ year age group, and have given up hope. As I personally know, threatening to discontinue health coverage is used by companies and organizations as a way of blackmailing an employee to accept an illegal demotion. Few have the brains and means to fight back. America being the capitalist dream country, many people prefer to have their own business. When that doesn't survive, there is no public safety net.<br />
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As long as a person has employment and benefits, in our society he or she is not going to worry about his neighbor. With our short attention span and "me here now" focal point, most of us refuse to think that a disaster might strike us next. People don't want to pay for taxes that might benefit the unfortunate. But people get sick and lose their jobs, even those who eagerly have voted for tax cuts and against universal health care coverage. I hope they will remember their ideology when they are faced with hard times. Rising health care costs, together with the insane amount of money we spend on education, will quickly result in a bubble that inevitably leads to bursting. At this rate we are rapidly becoming another India with its super-rich and untouchables. Already our society shows increasing intolerance to different faiths and our caste system is alive and well. One of the principal reasons parents rush to make their offspring apply to the most prestigious colleges for undergraduate studies is hoping that they will meet a partner from an upper class. Basic education is pretty much the same in hundreds of colleges, both public and private, yet big money is spent in hopes of a successful U-Harmony dating service.<br />
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It strikes me as odd that this country of ours thinks of itself as perhaps the most Christian country on the planet. Our founding fathers decided in their wisdom to keep religion and state separate. Yet politicians today increasingly speak about bringing prayer and faith to public life. If we really thought along the teachings of our Judeo-Christian heritage, we would all be socialists and care about the well-being and safety of our brothers and sisters before our own. This hardly is the case: the Christ in which so many believe is actually the Antichrist. Our favorite preacher promises everyone wealth and new luxury cars if we pray for them. If 40% of people take the biblical story of Creation as a fact, what is the point of trying to teach them science or history in schools and colleges? Since my wife and youngest daughter played on two violas for the local Finnish Lutheran Church on Xmas morning, I was present there, too. The visiting pastor spoke about the first Christmas in her sermon and how the message of the birth of Jesus was first given to the poor untouchables of that time. She then went on to ask the rhetorical question of if the Messiah was born today, who would be informed first? Being a Finn, she obviously thinks differently of life's true values from most of us here. I thought her logic was perfect.<br />
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Back to dementia. After losing one's short term memory, sooner or later the patient forgets about present time altogether and starts living in the past. My father will turn 100 this coming summer unless he is taken from us before then. Living in a care facility he has become "institutionalized" and doesn't really follow today's events. His thoughts and dreams are most often back many decades when he was much younger. People long gone are still alive in his world which is a much simpler place from today. When an old person has little to look forward to, it is a blessing to be able to live in the past.<br />
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In our society we also like to pretend often that nothing has changed. A prime example is the world of fine arts. For instance, orchestra musicians have a hard time accepting the possibility that today's younger people may not find their trade as valuable as did the generation and two before. Of course classical music is still important, as are other art forms. Times have changed, however. Do we still have the need to spend an entire evening and small fortune to attend a concert when a better performance of the interesting composition is a few keystrokes or a compact disc away? A painting is easier to study on a large monitor screen than trekking to an art museum. How many of us would think of doing research today using nothing but a library as a resource? Who would be willing to give up the cell phone which many people seem to have practically glued to their ear? How many still take the time to write thoughtful personal letters and send them via snail mail? Even that qualifies as an art. People's writing skills have disappeared with texting and electronic messaging on social websites. Grammatic rules don't matter any longer for most: reading postings and emails is often painful. The younger generation prefers electronic shorthand and resulting short utterances to speaking; many don't even check their voice messages.<br />
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So, with the New Year, let us look at ourselves and our lives objectively and not allow any kind of dementia affect our thinking. Past is important, but it is history and we have to make sure the future will be tolerable for our children and grandchildren. Spend an afternoon at the library, unless it has been closed for lack of funds, and another one taking a walk in the nature. Just leave your cell phone and iPod at home. Enjoy life the way it was meant to be.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-38861724374792726512010-11-21T18:03:00.000-08:002010-11-21T19:36:25.347-08:00Perfect Sunday<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span xmlns=""></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div></div><div align="justify"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This day couldn't have been better. I had no students until tonight due to rescheduling. Full moon can be seen through a thin cloud cover. Flakes of snow have been falling; not sticking to the ground yet as it is a couple degrees above freezing, but enough to change one's mood. Whereas cold rain can be depressing, the sight of fluffy snow is an upper. Today is also our daughter's first wedding anniversary and it brings me tremendous joy to know she's very happy. Online we saw pictures from Bellingham, an hour and half north from here, where our youngest is enjoying early winter scenery. An incredibly deep eighteen-year-old, she naturally goes through both highs and lows with her emotions, but in these pictures she radiates happiness among close friends at her college. At that age I could have written a manual about loneliness, having been sent to study in distant countries where I knew no one and barely spoke the language. I'm grateful that she hasn't had to go through the same. Quite the opposite: she is best friends with her roommate, and from her dorm window she can see the building where her big sister works on campus. In spite of a five-year age difference, the siblings have the kind of loving closeness most families can only dream about. Those two are living proof that we have done well in what really matters in life.</span></div></div><div align="justify" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have often questioned the wisdom of having become a violinist. In my youth, it seemed like an exciting new field, an available option for the first time as a serious profession. Performing from early on in countless recitals and as a soloist with orchestra, I could never have pictured myself sitting in an orchestra for a career. Teaching was always fun and rewarding; an occasional job in an orchestra was interesting at best. After ending up back in this country I realized that life in music would never be the same as it had been. Playing in the Hollywood studios was strange, although decades ago there still were a number of great instrumentalists who were doing the same work as I in their retirement. Perhaps I should have remained in sunny California, although I really felt like an alien with the smoggy climate and millions of cars always on the move. At least the Pacific Northwest reminded me of home and it was a good place to raise a second family.</span></div></div><div align="justify" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> <br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TOnBgOG6VLI/AAAAAAAAAuk/xWCNEOFKyuQ/s1600/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-10568%252C_Fritz_Kreisler_mit_Hund.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" ox="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TOnBgOG6VLI/AAAAAAAAAuk/xWCNEOFKyuQ/s200/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-10568%252C_Fritz_Kreisler_mit_Hund.jpg" width="144" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fritz Kreisler with his terrier</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit;">Having the extra time this morning, I listened to old recordings of <i>Fritz Kreisler</i>. I always felt closeness to his playing and his compositions and arrangements. Piece after piece, or song after song as today's younger generation would say, the masterful artistry brought tears to my eyes and reminded me why I had chosen this path. This was music at its best: nothing Kreisler did followed exactly what he had written on the page. As I see it, string players in an orchestra may think of themselves as artists, but the job they are doing is often as mindless and emotionless as working at an assembly line. It leaves very little room for individuality. Initial excitement about a new job wears thin rapidly. Likewise, the person overseeing the conveyor belt is seldom an artist, but rather the workers' foreman.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> To me, present day's full-time professional orchestra represents a music factory where a product is manufactured in a hurry.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
Dear old Fritz didn't care about dots and dashes. The length of an individual note varied from one performance or recording to another; a held note could well be shortened from two measures to a quarter and a rest taken. Yet everything was done to perfection. Not one measure was played mechanically or even together with the accompanying pianist or orchestra: <i>meet you at the bar line</i> was the name of the game. Every portamento and glissando had a purpose and was executed to perfection, as if adding little spice to a dish. What a far cry from a conductor screaming "more slides" to the poor violin section! The master's silken seductive tone and endlessly varying vibrato would melt even the most frozen of hearts. I finished the emotional session by listening to two interviews of Kreisler, one on his 80th birthdays, the other close to the end of his long life. The <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydJC8IhFAA0"><span style="color: blue;">former</span></a> is available through YouTube for everyone to enjoy, the other not. Kreisler's speech with its accent and intonation reminded me of <i>Ben Rosen</i>, a colorful sheet music dealer in Los Angeles, whom I had </span><a href="http://schmaltzuberalles.blogspot.com/2005/04/rosen.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">written about</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> in this blog quite a long time ago. In the later interview the maestro had trouble finding English words and often reverted to French or German.</span></div></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This afternoon I am in love with music again, as if I had celebrated my golden wedding anniversary with the violin. I am as removed from the blasting orchestral music as I was in my youth. The life and art I miss probably doesn't exist any longer, at least in this society. The dwindling number of people still attending classical music concerts is not likely to ask for old-fashioned recital but expect fast and loud orchestral music, just as the moviegoers demand to see special effects and chase scenes, with a sound track ready to burst one's ear drums. Yet <i>Casablanca</i> and other great films from the past will survive in spite of being shot in somewhat grainy black and white, with a monaural, at times scratchy sound track, but with beautifully composed musical scores. They will outlive most movies made for the masses today. Likewise, I believe the good old times with music will return. It certainly would make more economic sense to support recitals and chamber music concerts than to sink millions after millions into mediocre orchestras. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course orchestra music needs to be performed, too, but since groups have grown in size, it is not economical for them to perform great masterworks that call for a classical or chamber orchestra only. Bigger is not better: a small but beautiful painting is often far more enjoyable than a gigantic canvas displayed in a museum, depicting a battle scene. A beautiful recital could be taken to people anywhere, even in a small town. In fact it is out of its element if presented in a mega-barn. Intimacy needs to return. We are entitled to our tasty hors d'œuvres and bonbons. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is no wonder classical music is having a tough time today. Of all the beautiful music composed, only a tiny fraction can be heard in concerts. The most sublime works are heard only on recordings, some as old as the ones I listened to this morning. There is a whole world out there to be rediscovered. Put Bruckner, Wagner, Mahler, Richard Strauss and the likes to rest for change. And cancel all world premieres unless the composer has something meaningful to say. A beautiful theme is a lot sweeter to listen to than crazed banging by the percussion.</span><br />
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Art that pleases one's senses – what a revolutionary idea.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-80992759951255056732010-10-16T17:35:00.000-07:002010-10-16T18:06:27.397-07:00The Odd State Of Arts Affairs<span xmlns=""></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span xmlns="">About five months ago I <a href="http://schmaltzuberalles.blogspot.com/2010/05/auditions-part-1.html"><span style="color: blue;">wrote about auditions</span></a> and promised to return to the topic at a later date. A lot has happened since that time: a one-time famous orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, is on strike and the National Ballet at the Kennedy Center has decided they can't afford an orchestra for this season, thus performing to recorded music. One seldom hears positive news. San Diego's orchestra is <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/oct/03/symphony-celebrates-centennial-future-deemed-limit/"><span style="color: blue;">celebrating</span></a> their centennial. For two years the group had ceased operating but got back on its feet with a much shorter season and reduced salaries, and of course, thanks to the largest donation ever made to an American orchestra in 2002, $120 million. At some point, a competitor to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego's present base salary is barely more than a third of its northern neighbor. Aside from Mr. & Mrs. Jacobs, the orchestra still hasn't been able to broaden its support base and depends on less than three thousand donors. However, for the time being the show goes merrily along.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<span xmlns="">Like some other orchestras, the Oregon Symphony has taken deep cuts but appears to be surviving. Unlike the musicians in Detroit and many other places, they are willing to face reality and don't claim they deserve something the organization's finances cannot support. I wish them continued success and brighter days ahead as they are worthy of a successful life. Portland is too far from other big cities for its music lovers to travel to a concert elsewhere. The only other option would be broadcasts in HD format streamed to a movie theater, something denizens of cities and towns without a decent orchestra might also welcome. As a former long-time student of mine just won a position in the Oregon Symphony, I would like to see her content in her new workplace.</span><br />
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</span><span xmlns="">Many ideas have surfaced regarding re-inventing classical music performances. Some seem like copies of my suggestions: the New Jersey Symphony has transformed itself into an ensemble on wheels and intends to serve the entire state. Granted, New Jersey is not very large in area, but the musicians will be on the move a lot nevertheless. During my days in the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra every program was performed in numerous locations. One of our favorite venues was a suburb of San Diego, El Cajon. On paper it seemed crazy to travel two and half hours in one direction to play in a lesser known place, but that city had the most enthusiastic audience; the auditorium was the perfect size for a chamber orchestra. I can't remember a concert there that wasn't a delight to play and even the acoustics were pleasing. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<span xmlns="">There is a geographical limit beyond which people stay away. Or rather, a potential audience member is only willing to drive a certain amount of minutes to attend a performance. Thus arts organizations, which insist on performing only in their home auditoriums, can at best serve only a relatively small portion of our overall population. Even in New York City, many of the boroughs are simply too far for music lovers to make the commute, at least regularly. If the event is something spectacular, an exception will be made perhaps once a year, but then we are talking about something on a grand scale, such as the <i>Three Tenors </i>shows used to be. A symphony orchestra is not very interesting to look at, unless the players are young and eager. Often it seems like musicians don't really want to be there, playing the same old stuff with the same old boxer (no, not the dog) on the podium. I can visualize screens appearing in concert halls, with close-up video of players otherwise unseen, to add the element of a show to the concert. This of course already happens in major sports events and rock concerts. Unfortunately, music is best served when observed with ears, not eyes.</span><br />
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<span xmlns="">The present system or protocol of auditioning instrumentalists for a vacancy is rather bizarre. Orchestras have more or less agreed on which snippets of which compositions are to be heard. Ask for something else and candidates are ready to protest. After a mandatory 2-2½ minute introduction of a Mozart concerto a violinist is prepared to play a total of 10 to 15 minutes of orchestral excerpts. A typical example is the first page of <i>Don Juan</i>, a Richard Strauss war horse. Most violinists taking auditions know it by heart, as well as the opening of a certain Schumann symphony movement. However, these works are not programmed all that often and when they are, audiences expect to hear the complete work, not just a minute's worth. </span><br />
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<span xmlns="">Certainly an orchestral jury member will get some idea how a musician sounds from this material, but two contrasting Bach movements, a Paganini Caprice and segment of a major concerto, the exact spot given right then and there, would be a better indicator of an individual's musicality and technical ability. Every finalist should be made to play a quartet movement with orchestra members, of a work no longer widely available or newly composed for the occasion. As rehearsal time has become more and more in short supply, <i>prima vista</i> a.k.a. sight-reading should be the skill for which most points are given. A conductor used to have as many as twelve rehearsals for a program behind the Iron Curtain; we are lucky if four are allowed. If a candidate has perfect pitch and plays decently, hire him/her right away! I can count with the fingers in my two hands the people I've heard over the many decades who can actually read well. The opposite is more often the case: a person sounds good and the snippets have been learned and memorized to perfection, but the reading stinks. Yet orchestras perform certain repertoire, such as Pops programs, often with one or maximum two rehearsals.</span> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TLovR-2PNWI/AAAAAAAAAug/37UNszDdIfo/s1600/img065.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TLovR-2PNWI/AAAAAAAAAug/37UNszDdIfo/s320/img065.jpg" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing by Kari Suomalainen</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span xmlns="">Simple math will give an orchestra musician a minimum of 50 hours of different material to play in any given season, often quite a bit more. Those hours translate to 3,000 minutes. In four years that adds up to 12,000, and 15,000 in five. Every one of those minutes should be performed at the highest level, not just the required ten to fifteen, presented at an audition. So perhaps an orchestra hires a player based on how he/she manages 0.08% of the task. The first page of Don Juan isn't even the toughest spot of the work! I remember an in-house audition, nowadays forbidden in most groups, where the conductor gave a couple passages of a Bruckner symphony as sight reading. I was horrified and none of the individuals trying out, including a maestro's favorite, could play the material at all; yet it had been in the orchestra's concert repertoire the previous week. Truth is often ugly. Does it really matter that a few pre-selected passages are played well, when later, especially after having earned tenure, everything is faked?</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div></div></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span xmlns="">If a person's appearance becomes an issue, with video close ups and possible broadcasts, we can say farewell to unbiased auditions. Odd-looking individuals won't have a chance and the eye-candy effect will become an increasingly important factor. In many cases, orchestra managements are reassessing the tenure clause in contracts. Ballet dancers cannot remain graceful forever, and no one expects to see a 250-lb upper middle-aged ballerina on stage. The dancers have to learn to do something else for a living; why not musicians who at present hold onto their positions until <i>rigor mortis</i> sets in?</span></div></div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span xmlns="">Thinking forward, here are some <i>New Rules</i> to meet today's industry requirements: after a successful audition, offer winning candidates a trial period of 2 months. The qualified player might be seated next to the section leader for half that duration. A psychological evaluation should be mandatory, to prevent bullies and sociopaths from entering the workplace. This goes for the music director as well. Every four years, an audition, recital, or orchestral re-audition would determine renewal. Non-biased adjudicators must be selected from the outside, to prevent "friendship bonus points" from entering the decision making process. And finally, disruptive or back-stabbing behavior would be cause for immediate dismissal. </span></div><br />
<span xmlns="">These rules probably sound harsh to musicians, yet they are in effect for professional sports; nobody questions them. Great team spirit is essential, as well as top individual performance. Every few days we read about a coach being fired and a new one hired. If there are issues with an orchestra, replace their music director and management. Like professional sports, orchestras and other such arts organizations are entertainment and people like to get their money's worth. Playing a solo, a recital or even a chamber music performance counts as art: blindly following the interpretive ideas of an egotistic conductor as a member of a 100-person orchestra doesn't. </span></div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-16193219419690312012010-09-23T13:31:00.000-07:002010-09-26T10:28:42.819-07:00Sheets Decomposing<span xmlns=""></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TJ-Bdb7YJtI/AAAAAAAAAuc/gzPpD8SmnTw/s1600/Old+Music.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TJ-Bdb7YJtI/AAAAAAAAAuc/gzPpD8SmnTw/s200/Old+Music.png" width="155" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zarzycki Mazourka cover</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Publishing music is a strange business. Trying to get hold of sheet music of a lesser-known work is tricky. If the composition is no longer protected by copyright laws (which are different here and across the Atlantic), often the best bet is to find a PDF file online, either for free or as a benefit of belonging to a "club" that specializes in scanning out-of-print and other old material. I have often wondered why it is so easy to print a book on demand (much of the giant selection of Amazon.com is produced this way) and have it at one's doorstep in a couple of days, yet waiting for sheet music can take forever. Early last winter I decided to search for a copy of a French piece for solo violin which I had learned soon after its publication in 1950s. I placed five orders, two domestically from businesses which advertised the work being available through them, and three from European sources. In a couple weeks I got an email from a domestic distributor, saying the composition wasn't in stock but would arrive later. One European source refused to send the four-page work to America as the publisher had a representative here. I waited and waited. Another online store over there said the sonatina was "unavailable" but in three months a copy was sent to me from London. Then, a domestic source sent me the music five months later, on the same date when the first American store informed me that the work was "out-of-print." At the end, I was the proud owner of two brand-new copies, to replace the torn original. <br />
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The French used to print music on paper high in ground wood, similar to what you would find in your Daily, just a little thicker. Oversized, the sheets would soon appear as if they had been through a great war. At first musicians used "glue paper" to fortify the page edges and rebuild corners to facilitate page turns. Later plastic tape took over but it turned yellow in a couple of years, then fell off. Publishers in other countries weren't much better, and Russian editions were even worse than the French. The Soviet system couldn't care less about copyright law and as a large number of my countrymen visited Leningrad and Moscow, a lot of "illegal" sheet music of Western composers ended up back home for almost nothing. A tourist didn't have a great selection of merchandise to choose from: sheet music and LP recordings were very popular in addition to the one liter bottle of vodka the Finnish customs would allow. <br />
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Groundwood-based paper had an advantage to more expensive pulp product where the fibers are separated chemically, the stuff in finer books and magazines. The old stuff bends more easily and even large books of music are easy to open. We have among others a collection of all the popular concertos from early 1900s as one publication. Even the thick piano part opens up without an effort. Compare that to today's <i>Fritz Kreisler Favorites</i> album which won't stay open no matter what magic tricks one performs. <i>Ivan Galamian</i> used to get mad at me, as he insisted that I played his version of the <i>Kreutzer Etudes</i>: during the lesson the book wouldn't stay open. Not that I had spent too much time on the material, but it was somewhat embarrassing to have the music close itself after a few measures. He might have been hard of hearing but this was a dead giveaway. I still blame the high-quality paper… <br />
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The old scans often include images of the back cover(s) with advertisements of what the publishers thought to be important works at the time. It comes as no surprise that we have never heard of nine out of ten composers listed. Age isn't kind to composers, or authors of books for that matter. Getting a publisher never guaranteed lasting fame or success. Yet those works were widely performed at one time, which is evident from old concert programs. A composer's own favorite work didn't often match public opinion. <i>Max Bruch</i> was convinced that his second violin concerto was his best composition. He eventually refused to see any violinists who wanted to play for him, as they all wanted his input on the ever-popular G-minor first one. <i>Heifetz</i> was one of the few champions of the second concerto: perhaps his recording of it discouraged others from playing it and becoming a staple. He "ruined" the <i>Conus</i> and <i>Glazounov</i> concertos, not to mention many by lesser-known composers, by recording them so superbly. I was surprised to find a PDF file of Bruch's third violin concerto as it doesn't appear on any list. I played through it and it isn't the composer's best effort, although decent enough to deserve an occasional performance. There are a lot of treasures among the scans of long-forgotten works. A student of mine recently performed a beautiful <i>Prayer</i> by <i>Henry Hadley</i>, who had been a conductor of the local orchestra long ago. The young lady's father had discovered the old print somewhere.<br />
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An email from an online sheet music store (the physical ones have just about all disappeared) recently presented a question: <i>What Exactly IS Urtext?</i> Needless to say, they were having a sale on Henle Urtext Editions. The explanation they gave was somewhat vague as that title is used as a marketing gimmick, as a sign of something "better" than normal. As our library has numerous Urtext versions of the <i>J.S. Bach Sonatas and Partitas</i>, plus quite a bit of other such material, I am somewhat skeptical of these editions. Composers have always made mistakes when writing their manuscripts in ink and even many printed first versions have obvious errors in them. The wonderful short Sonata Op.1 by <i>Karen Khachaturian</i> has a missing accidental in the violin part in the beautiful slow movement. As much of the material is written as a canon, the piano first plays the correct version and the violinist should notice the mistake immediately. The recording by Heifetz hurts one's ears as he plays what the print says. No one had the courage to tell him he was wrong. <br />
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A slur for a string player means two different things: a bowing or a phrasing. To everyone else it is always the latter. Unless the composer was an accomplished violinist, a work cannot usually be played as indicated. We know that Bach played the violin among other instruments, but primarily he was an organist. Obviously no one takes the long slurs in <i>Wagner</i> or <i>Richard Strauss</i> as indications of bowings, although I have known a conductor who thought otherwise. Galamian published the first modern Bach edition where all dynamics are as Bach wrote them (a few echo effects) and any guidance or help to possible phrasing are left out. However, he offers us fingerings, and the slurs are not consistent with the manuscript. There is a messy copy of Bach's original at the end of the book but that is of little benefit, just more of a curiosity item. I much prefer <i>Joachim-Moser</i> or <i>Flesch</i> editions as underneath the edited version, a clear printed copy of Bach's markings is shown. A violinist can easily base his/her interpretation on the lower line but at the same time see what one of these old master fiddlers was thinking and why they made the changes they did. Starting with an unmarked edition of Bach with permanently discourage all but the brightest students, or make the teacher work overtime with his pencil.<br />
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To me any edition without fingerings or bowings would be a blessing. The more famous a violinist the editor was, the stranger the markings usually are. Most of them had been spoon-fed the works as children and they seldom gave any thought to why they used a certain fingering or bowing. Yes, <i>David Oistrakh</i> played a beautiful <i>Beethoven</i> concerto, yet his markings in that composition, and many others, are odd and defy logic. <i>Zino Francescatti</i> was a fabulous virtuoso and outplayed everyone else in much of the repertoire, yet he decided to alter compositions and many of his fingerings are without real purpose, other than perhaps enabling him to exhibit his incredible vibrato and "fat" sound. <i>Fritz Kreisler</i> was famous for never playing the markings which he published. If you examine the music carefully, you'll notice that the fourth finger indication is almost absent. He wanted to sell a lot of his compositions and arrangements, and knew that most of the potential customers had weak pinkies. Some of the more useful editions are by violinists who never made it big, or weren't child prodigies, and thus had to be more analytical.<br />
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What we need is an Amazon.com store for music, with print-on-demand and an option for no-frills editions without any edits. Better yet, have all the music available on touch screen display, allowing markings to be inserted and stored for printing or viewing with a similar device. This would be truly an orchestra librarian's or a pedagogue's dream!</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-60327661503690656162010-09-15T17:26:00.000-07:002010-09-15T17:56:58.745-07:00Swiss Army Knives<div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span xmlns=""></span></span></div><div align="justify"><span xmlns=""></span></div><div align="justify" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TJFdnk0sTDI/AAAAAAAAAuI/I6gV7TVwPFM/s1600/wenger_giant_knife.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TJFdnk0sTDI/AAAAAAAAAuI/I6gV7TVwPFM/s200/wenger_giant_knife.png" width="187" /></span></a></div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">About ten days ago I was busy repairing a watch and grabbed a rather large Swiss Army knife, to use one of its sharp blades. Sure enough the unthinkable happened and I almost lost my left thumb. Quickly applied pressure for twenty minutes or so reduced the bleeding but it took longer than that to wipe off all the blood from the table and floor. The left thumb is not very important when playing the violin; however I was happy to realize that no major nerve was damaged in spite of the deep cut. Although combining many features in one tool can be handy, it does none of its intended tasks well. Enclosed is a picture of a </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wenger</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> $1,400 monster with 87 implements and 141 functions. The <i>Giant Knife</i> weighs two pounds (almost a kilogram), so I don't think it would make a useful addition to my tool and knife collection. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Victorinox</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and Wenger are the two manufacturers of Swiss Army knives. After competing for a hundred years, the former bought the latter in 2005, promising to keep both brands alive.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We seem to be fascinated by products that perform multiple tasks. Today's cellular phones, especially smart phones, are a good example of this. Often it is necessary to read the manual before learning how to perform the primary function the phone: placing a call. If dialing is done with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, one needs a magnifying glass to see the numbers. Of course frequently called numbers can be turned into icons with a person's picture, but that is not an easy procedure for someone past 50. Countless times I've had to help people with muting the ringer or adjusting the volume. Naturally most manufacturers follow their own logic as to how this is done. Even turning the device on and off isn't always obvious.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Recently I read a study which claimed that today's younger people are shying away from actually talking to each other on the telephone. More often they prefer texting which forces the "conversation" to be short and the reply isn't usually immediate. Other option is to use a social network such as Facebook. A private message via that service has replaced emails for many. When electronic mail became common, advice for good etiquette was to keep messages short. Telegrams from your parents' era first became email, then instant messages and now texting. Instead of saying "you are so funny" or "I enjoy your sense of humor", a "lol" or a smiley will do. Most of us use a computer to access email and social networks but this all can be done with a smartphone. Again, it can and is done, but not with the same ease as with proper equipment. The phone has become today's Swiss knife, with more and more functions added in every new model. Finnish <i>Nokia</i> just introduced a 12 MP camera with the largest sensor in a phone. HD video has been taken for granted for some time.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Phones and other devices using Apple or Android systems do brisk business with small add-on programs or gadgets, taking a sizeable cut from paid purchases. These third party applications often leave a lot to be desired; also the same theme is repeated over and over again. How many HP12C emulators do we need? A stopwatch needs only one good design as its sole function is to measure time elapsed. Occasionally I use Nokia's Linux-based N800's tuner and metronome if nothing else is available and check the mail or the stock market on my 3rd Generation <i>iPod Touch</i>. Since I am blessed, or cursed, with perfect pitch and my inner pulse is almost as accurate as the electronic device for tempo, and I much prefer seeing text on a 25-inch screen than trying to make out words on the little device's less than four, none of this technology is any more essential than the corkscrew on the Swiss Army knife. I also have a collection of fine cameras and would use the one included in a phone only when a picture is important to have and there is no real camera at hand. It is impossible to attach a decent zoom lens to a slim phone body without the result looking like the knife pictured above. Yes, while killing time waiting at an airport, a little device might become handy to read the news, and in case the flight was delayed or canceled, finding alternate connections would help. I still wouldn't use the phone to purchase my tickets or make hotel reservations while planning a trip, although I admit having done that while on the road. Avatar, the popular film, looks amazingly vivid on my daughter's <i>Samsung Vibrant's</i> AMOLED screen, but four inches is still four inches and I have to keep the phone close to my face to enjoy the picture.</span> </div><div align="justify"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To a point a personal computer is also a Swiss knife of sorts, expected to perform all kinds of tasks, including music, photo and video editing. This has resulted in more and more complex operating systems. The first computers I had in early 1980s could not multi-task nor show graphics. Online services were few and they worked at snail's pace. Color wasn't available, neither was email as we know it. But the computers were also much simpler and crashed less often. Nobody expected to see what a document looked like until it came out of a noisy dot-matrix printer. <i>WYSIWYG</i> (What You See Is What You Get) didn't become a reality until few years later. Originally developed for XEROX, it was first adapted by Apple and later the PC camp. We early users didn't know what we were missing and yet the technology was exciting and life went on. It would be interesting to see today's youngsters stuck with an early computer: it would be a head-scratcher for sure. </span></div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But let's go back to the ever inflating operating systems: when I downloaded the upgrade to iPod Touch which made limited multitasking possible, the device became less reliable than before. <i>Windows</i> has always had its share of problems. I started with Version 2 which was useless in any practical sense. Much later Vista became an embarrassment to Microsoft and although Win 7 is a great improvement, I have never seen so many blue screens of death as in the two machines here that run it. While writing this a big chunk of text was lost to the blues: if I need to be certain that my text is safe, I either use an <i>XP</i> computer or a <i>Linux</i> one which almost never has issues on any kind. Her leaving for college any day now, I made sure my youngest got a nice <i>MacBook Pro</i>. Expensive, yes, but worth it for the lack of headaches.</span> </div><div align="justify"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A couple days ago, out came the SIM card from a fancy smartphone and went into a much simpler Nokia <i>N96</i>. Theoretically it provides the same benefits as its fancier cousins but it drains the battery much less and thus I don't have to recharge it every day. It has a two-way slide: one side for dedicated buttons for multimedia, the other for an old-fashioned dialing pad. I can still take 5 MP pictures if needed and browse the web. Texting isn't quite as convenient as with a full keyboard and the predictive mode only works for English. Minor annoyances: I can always send a regular email from a real computer or the iPod, using a portable MiFi hotspot.</span></div><div align="justify"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next time the real tools will come out instead of the Victorinox. The latter will be used for emergencies only. With the phones the jury is still out.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-60651574061833480472010-09-08T12:50:00.000-07:002010-09-08T13:00:53.936-07:00Musical Theater<span xmlns=""></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span xmlns=""></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TIfmctKNpxI/AAAAAAAAAt4/l-pv7ymtTCY/s1600/Andre_Rieu_South_Africa_015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TIfmctKNpxI/AAAAAAAAAt4/l-pv7ymtTCY/s200/Andre_Rieu_South_Africa_015.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;">Those readers who have followed this blog for a while may remember my initial excitement, or sense of curiosity, about the <i>Berlin Philharmonic</i>'s decision to make their concerts available to all via the Internet. Behind this obviously were the high-definition broadcasts of </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i>Metropolitan Opera</i> </span><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;">to movie theaters worldwide. Against many skeptical opinions they turned out to be a successful venture as far as audiences' interest was concerned, although I don't know if the financial picture has been equally rosy.<br />
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An orchestral experience is quite different from an opera with its scenery and acting, even if the latter has left a lot to be desired. A gigantic soprano hardly resembles a gazelle, after all. The French, who always have possessed an eye for beauty, solved this problem by inserting attractive ballet numbers in the midst of singing. So far an orchestra concert has been a rather boring affair visually. A listener can bring a pair of binoculars but normally sees a frumpy and grumpy looking group on stage. Without such optical aid, an eagle-like vision is not common with seniors who form a bulk of an audience.<br />
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With televised concerts people have seen more than enough close-ups of certain principal players and the good-looking section players who fill the role of eye-candy. I'm not sure if this benefits the music which can be most enjoyable even if unseen, the case with recordings and radio broadcasts. All the concerts of the Berlin group I observed made me all too aware of which musicians took playing seriously and which ones preferred to fake. Too many close-ups made it difficult to pay attention to the music itself. This is the difference between a book and a movie: the former is captivating and the reader admires the author's clever and skillful choice of words. The film may follow the book closely but we really walk away remembering the plot, visual effects and faces of the actors but little else. A so-so book may be a box-office success; a television show is likely to be a hit if the script is dumb. In music the best-selling violinist is <i>André Rieu</i>, based on his successful specials on television and shows on large stages à la the <i>Three Tenors</i>. These performances in turn are popular to a great degree thanks to the attractive young ladies in his orchestra. Is he the best fiddler around? Hardly, but he produces a heck of a show. Music itself becomes secondary again.</span> </span><span style="color: black;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;">So, I lost interest in Berlin's broadcasts, at least as a season subscriber. But of course I wouldn't get a season ticket to hear any orchestra or opera, or watch every play a theater decides to offer. A ballet would interest me only occasionally. In Berlin's case I was also bothered by the rotation of principals. The orchestra never informed potential listeners who would be playing the flute or which one of the many concertmasters would be on stage. Take my word: they may all play adequately but naturally some are better than others. Seniority also enters into the picture, just like it does in education. Sometimes best classes are given by young and enthusiastic adjuncts, whereas lectures by burnt-out professors, anxiously awaiting their retirement, can be boring and dreaded by students.</span> </span><span style="color: black;"><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is no secret that these are trying economic times for many people, and the arts are certainly not immune to this. Actually the downward spiral for classical music has been occuring for a long time and is unrelated to economics. When recitals became unfashionable decades ago, it caused no big fuss. Who cared if a violinist or pianist worked his tail off and had just a handful of listeners in the audience? I remember a Finnish singer, who at some point was a Wagnerian soprano in demand at the Met, having had to cancel her voice recital in a town in her homeland because only four tickets had been sold in advance, and this was a long time ago. Now that big organizations, orchestras, opera and ballet companies and theaters are in trouble, the press and other media are reacting. Expenses have skyrocketed and incomes plummeted, a bad mix. Much of the blame lies on unsustainable contracts, diminished giving and above all, fancy new venues. The latter is not unique to the arts: today's New York Times has an article about </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/sports/08stadium.html" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">huge public debt</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> from sports stadiums that no longer exist. Here in Seattle, the Kingdome, at one time home for three professional sports teams, was demolished ten years ago but still has a debt burden of $83 million which has to be paid back in 2016.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;">Orchestras which are staying in their true and trusted auditoriums are generally much better off than their counterparts in new structures. Thus the <i>Boston Symphony</i> and the <i>Cleveland Orchestra</i> have an advantage to, let's say, the <i>Philadelphia Orchestra</i> which has seen an audience dwindle with their move to the <i>Kimmel Hall</i>, although the new building was supposed to do the opposite. Other orchestras in a similar situation initially saw an increase in attendance but a decade later a "been-there-seen-that" attitude has taken hold, especially if the hall is acoustically inferior. Typically when a new concert hall opens, the media praises it to high heavens and the problems that should have been obvious, surface much later. This is not much different from a doomed marriage: couples can find no fault in each other in the beginning but later wonder if they had a screw loose when they decided to get hitched.</span> </span><span style="color: black;"><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">The Philadelphia group is in a financial pickle, although not in as deep doo-doo as Detroit. During <i>Eugene Ormandy</i>'s long tenure their sound was legendary, which today seems humorous since they used to perform in an "inferior" <i>Academy of Music</i> for a whole century. Counting on this reputation they have decided to market themselves, in the style of the Met, in movie theaters across the country. This could be a gross miscalculation. They have to guarantee a minimum to the theaters which may or may not have a sizable number of people attending. If the model proves successful (the Berlin Philharmoniker is expanding the web series to theaters as well), other orchestras will no doubt follow. To an ordinary listener all decent orchestras sound pretty much the same and competition then would be won by the group with the most attractive musicians making the most appealing "moves" during close-ups. I think this all is a ploy to claim that the number of the groups' listeners has grown exponentially. This figure might be useful when raising funds but, in my humble opinion, will not produce a large increase in income. The worst result from Philadelphia's and Berlin's success would be a decrease in attending performances of a local orchestra and resulting slow and painful death.</span><span style="color: black;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;">I'll continue to listen to music at home. I don't have to see <i>Heifetz</i> live (it is far too late for that) to enjoy his amazing performances of such concertos as <i>Conus</i> and <i>Glazounov</i>. None of today's glamorous babes or handsome young dudes is able to approach that level of fiddling, although seeing them twenty times larger than life on a screen might do the trick for some. Too bad the mandatory world premiere is like a preview in the theater; at home I can listen to exactly what I want.</span></span></span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: right;"><span xmlns=""><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">André Rieu in South Africa</span></span></span></div><span xmlns=""></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-4181903577570979502010-08-31T20:05:00.000-07:002010-09-01T11:14:24.866-07:00Basics<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The key to education is in literacy. One cannot form any informed opinions without the skill of reading. And without reading the art of writing cannot exist.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TH2_eh1dFWI/AAAAAAAAAtY/2QTBRXAuVQE/s1600/DSCN0308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TH2_eh1dFWI/AAAAAAAAAtY/2QTBRXAuVQE/s320/DSCN0308.JPG" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Granted, we don't have to go very far back in history when even the mighty sovereign of the country needed to rely on outside help with documents of any kind. Especially writing was an art form and had to be done in fancy calligraphy, not an easy task. Generally speaking ordinary people did not read. Stories were passed on via oral tradition. With each memorization a word here or there was changed but it didn't really matter. The actors and actresses during Shakespeare's time had to be taught their lines through repetition, not so different from today's opera singers or, for that matter, most of young string players trained in the American Suzuki style. Music notation is another language, after all.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This method of memorizing one's part in a play meant that one had to actually relive the role during each performance. The role became the person and the person became the role, not necessarily a bad thing. If one forgot the exact wording, knowing the play intimately meant that the actor could substitute the line with something that could have been there in the first place.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That was then, today is now. We all go to school unless we live in a poor country where education is reserved for only chosen upper class members. A few countries, mainly sparsely populated Northern European ones, took pride in educating their children early on. Iceland with its tiny population and isolated existence is a fine example. Sagas based on Nordic heroes and, a little later, first inhabitants of the island were written some 800 years ago. As the Old Norse language changed very little over the centuries, it is said that today's schoolchildren can read the sagas with ease. In my home country, Finnish was considered a somewhat vulgar language for the lower class, and most writing was in Swedish, the official language of Sweden-Finland and spoken in the Finnish part by the "better" folks. Law books and other documents existed also in Latin. The first book in Finnish, based on western dialects as there was no "proper" form, was a translation of the New Testament by the Bishop Mikael Agricola, published in 1548. We are not as lucky as our Icelandic cousins, as although understanding that text is possible, it sounds and looks foreign with liberal use of alphabets not used in today's proper Finnish.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Statistics from 2007 </span><a href="http://education-portal.com/articles/Grim_Illiteracy_Statistics_Indicate_Americans_Have_a_Reading_Problem.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">show</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> that 42 million Americans cannot read at all and another 50 million read at 4th</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> grade level at best. 20% of graduating high school seniors is functionally illiterate at their graduation time. Illiteracy result is poverty and crime: majority of prison inmates do not know how to read. English may not be the easiest language to read as it is quite illogical with the way its spelling and pronunciation are related, but it is still written with the same easy-to-understand Latin alphabet as other European languages, other than those that use Cyrillic or Greek lettering. Finland's official literacy rate is 100% although with the large number of immigrants from places like Somalia the true number among adults may be somewhat lower. In America many prefer going to see the movie instead of reading the book it's based on. Back home it isn't an easy way out as all foreign films have subtitles and fluent reading is a must.</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is interesting how the Finns never pushed early reading. It is common that children don't read at all when they start school at the age of seven, yet by Christmas break most of them are fluent. I taught myself to read at three and also read music shortly thereafter. It was a shock to begin school and have the teacher start with alphabets, leading to simple syllables. By then, I had read our daily newspaper from Helsinki for at least a couple of years, and finished a sizeable amount of books. Some of those were quite thick; I loved encyclopedias and "How Things Work"-type of books, in addition to Moomin books and fairy tales. My first grade teacher was a dear and wonderful woman. During my first school day I had taken a pack of cards along and was playing solitaire outside during a recess. I could sense a certain worry or disappointment on my teacher's face. Perhaps she, as a religious person, connected cards to gambling and sinful lifestyle. After school I rushed to my mother's business and made her come with me to the local bookstore, in order to buy a small Bible. We found a beautiful one in powder blue and gold. The next day it was in my leather briefcase (I wouldn't use a backpack) and I showed it to the teacher, saying "I don't just have playing cards; I have this, too". I can still see her happy smile. Matilda Varama didn't believe in giving her students high grades: I got an equivalent to B- in both reading and music in my report card: to her it must have been like an A+.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Obviously the more one reads, the better the chances are that his/her writing is on a higher level. At times I make the error of reading comments and opinions which commonly follow an article online. The experience can be quite scary. Perhaps one in five is grammatically correct and without major spelling errors. Yes, as I wrote above, English is somewhat complicated. But how is it then that switching to a British site, most opinions are well written and thought out? Instead of blind rage, disagreements are just that, polite disagreements. Perhaps these sites sensor their content and don't publish the type of garbage so common on this side of the ocean. If so, the writer also knows that the rules and proper etiquette has to be followed in order to have his/her opinion read by others. Reluctantly I have to admit that foul comments and bad penmanship is all too common in today's Finland as well. I blame the culture of text messaging in part. People there are not likely to respond to an email, not to mention an actual letter on paper delivered via mail, but a short text will result in action. A former Prime Minister broke up with his girlfriend using texting: naturally she went public with it. Someone there wrote an entire book using his cellphone and such messages. I don't think such "progress" is good for a civilized society.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I intended to use this space to write about one of my pet peeves, the all-too-common musical illiteracy. However, it will have to wait for later as it warrants a long entry of its own.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">My daughter Sarah at her favorite activity</span></span></div></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-28994162417822149312010-08-20T17:35:00.000-07:002010-08-20T21:10:44.697-07:00Make It Fake<span xmlns=""></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TG8bWkrkHhI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/OEGvVTwzVXw/s1600/barogue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TG8bWkrkHhI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/OEGvVTwzVXw/s200/barogue.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I grew up loving the masters of the Baroque music<em>. J.S. Bach</em> was my favorite, of course, but I also studied and performed everything else I could get my hands on. This was in the 1950s and -60s and naturally many works were edited to suit the times. It hadn't been all that long from an era when Baroque was supposed to sound bombastic. Orchestral Bach often meant a <em>Stokowski</em> transcription; everyone was familiar with Disney's <em>Fantasia</em>. The big church in my home town had large Romantic organ, tuned to a pre-war A=435. It was pneumatic which meant that the organist was able to see what was happening in the church but the system also created a delay. I performed there with my friend the organist countless times and it was always an interesting experience as he had to play ahead of me. In a sense I was the accompanist as I had no choice but to follow him. We had to rehearse a lot as sight-reading would have been totally out of question. Much of our repertoire was from the Baroque era, but in our recitals we also played Negro Spirituals and quite a bit of Hebraic music. <span style="font-size: 8pt;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Years passed and all of a sudden it became clear that I wouldn't be allowed to perform old music again, as I supposedly played it all wrong. I had a beautiful vibrato and saw no reason why I couldn't or shouldn't use it in these works, especially in the slower movements. But the experts, who were popping up all over like mushrooms in a forest, claimed it was an absolute no-no. Baroque music had to be played and performed in an authentic manner. Naturally these experts couldn't quite agree with each other what authentic was, other than using no vibrato and lowering the pitch. In principal, I had nothing against this "new" way of playing but most of the people attracted to this fad were quite awful, mediocre at best. It was as if instead of becoming violists, they had decided to follow this newly discovered style. After all, it didn't require a vibrato or nimble fingers; as much as possible was played in the first position.<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">All the fun pieces edited by <em>David</em> or <em>Auer</em>, from <em>Vitali's Chaconne</em> to <em>Corelli's La Folia,</em> were off-limits, at least in concerts where a critic might be present. I had already been vilified for playing concertos by such composers as <em>Wieniawski</em> and <em>Glazounov</em>. I remember one review where the writer said that it was a pity I was wasting my talent on "Kreisler concertos". Many of the Vivaldi works I had learned were editions by Hungarian violinist <em>Tivadar Nachéz</em>, very popular at the time. My main mentor in Bach's solo sonatas and partitas was <em>Ricardo Odnoposoff</em>, himself a <em>Carl Flesch</em> student. I was using his teacher's edition, but I was told not to follow the 1920s fingerings although most of the interpretive markings made sense. This book comes with the original version printed underneath each line, so it is easy to see instantly where Flesch differs from the manuscript and understand why.<br />
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How was it that after 250+ years we all of a sudden knew for certain how Baroque music was intended to be like, and a bit later, Classical works? Having used gut strings and no shoulder rest, mandatory requirements in the <em>Heifetz</em> class, I knew how different a violin sounded when its volume wasn't boosted to the maximum. I especially loved the sweetness of gut E-strings, although they would always snap if one played aggressively. Yet at the same time violinists from the Soviet Union were all the rage and I knew that they used nothing but all-steel strings, to produce a loud and piercing tone. Talk about a paradox! Many chamber orchestras suffered greatly from not being "allowed" to play anything from Baroque's treasure chest. Some symphony orchestras had Baroque and Classical series: they would often feature guest conductors who opposed vibrato. It was easier said than done. Especially Russian-trained violinists didn't know how to comply, and often a concert would sound ridiculous with half the people playing straight tone and the other half vibrating madly. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">All the research I did on the topic made me less than sure that these new discoveries had solid foundations. Although some pianists would use a fortepiano for older music, no famous virtuoso would switch the shiny black <em>Steinwa</em>y grand with a smaller and intimate sounding piano. Yet we knew that Chopin's favorite instrument was a French <em>Pleyel</em>, with only two strings for each treble key, and that was the timbre the composer-pianist had in mind when he wrote his <em>Nocturnes</em> and other great works for the piano. Orchestras had become increasingly large in size; woodwind and brass players simply didn't know how to play softly as normally they were expected to carry over a gigantic string section. How did we know what Bach would have preferred? His organ works certainly were loud; those poor men who were pumping air in the midst of the pipes must have gone deaf. But Bach didn't have the use of thirty-something violins, only a small fraction of them. Across the English Channel, at the same time, <em>Händel</em> certainly was fond of loudness and generally had access to better musicians than his fellow German on the continent. <em>Joachim</em>, who popularized Bach's solo works, didn't use vibrato in them but this was true with his entire repertoire. <em>Pablo Casals</em> resurrected the cello suites and he played them from his heart. Many experts snicker today at his interpretations but they bring tears to my eyes. Bach, unlike many other Baroque composers, did not write wallpaper music; I always felt he was a Romantic far ahead of his time.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">We are almost anal in trying to replicate the sound and style of Baroque and Classical music, although even the best efforts are no closer to the truth than, let's say, a film describing the life of Louis XIV of France. We can build new instruments resembling old ones, the latter having been converted to modern needs. It is said that Stradivari would not recognize any of his instruments today, due to the differently angled longer necks, silver- and aluminum-wound strings, chin rests and most importantly, the shiny hard new varnish that makes the instruments glitter like they came from a furniture store. The new-old instruments equipped with gut strings most likely sound more like the ones from the great makers once did, but we really don't have much to compare them to. Tuning to a lower pitch seems to be mandatory although we know that the frequency of an A varied widely in both directions. We can be quite certain that vibrato was not used as frequently as today but it did exist, of course.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">However, no one seems to pay attention to the only historic style we certainly know about, the early recordings. Violinists dismiss the artistry of<em> Fritz Kreisler </em>as "old-fashioned", even in his own compositions, simply stating that one can't play like that today. I look at it differently: "cannot" becomes "is not able". Developing a required skill to produce such exquisite tone and vibrato varying both in speed and width, not to mention shifting using <em>glissandi</em> unique to each performer, is all a lost art form. Kreisler was said to be the first one to use continuous vibrato. That probably was not the case as others such as <em>Eugene Ysaÿe</em> experimented with the style before him, the vibrato being faster and tighter, almost sewing-machine-like. Kreisler had other contemporaries who adopted his principles, starting with the great French <em>Jaques Thibaud</em> and Leopold Auer's first truly successful student <em>Mischa Elman</em>.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">In other art forms we have a visual record, be it architecture, painting or literature. Part of an artist's training is (or was) studying the history of famous painters, their styles and technics very carefully. They were expected to know each master's special tricks and paint replicas of their canvases. I can remember going to art museums long time ago and see young people at work. Reproduction of paintings on paper did not do justice, so sitting in front of the actual artwork was required. Most authors of books are well versed in literature and composers have analyzed great masters' compositions carefully, or at least they should have. Performing musicians, on the other hand, often have little or no historical knowledge of the styles of the last 110 years, although much of it has been recorded and later transferred to digital form. Yes, in spite of all the filtering and magic the older recordings still hiss and pop and the high notes are almost impossible to hear. But the essence of the style and the very soul of musicianship are present underneath the surface noise.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Building a replica on a Roman villa will resemble the original in every detail. Yet most new buildings are truly modern as our demands for space have changed greatly. We have contemporary museums, yet the art in them is old. Nobody is demanding that such structures should look as old as the paintings. Granted, the <em>Getty Villa</em> is a gorgeous setting for it statues, but most art museums don't look like that. Yet we are aware that the building in Malibu is a fake, a rather modern copy.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Where do we stop with imitating the past? Do we dress up in period clothing, both performers and listeners? Do we not bathe for weeks before a concert and cover body odor with perfume? Powdered wigs are a given, again both with the artists and their audience. Candles would be lovely for illumination but what would the fire officials say? Should we allow violinists to gyrate furiously, as often seen, or do we stick to the proper behavior where only the hands move?</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Yes, today I play Baroque differently from decades ago. Same is true with my Mozart and Beethoven. I admire the true masters of the "authentic" style, even if it isn't genuine, as it presents new palette of colors and makes it possible to hear inner voices, so often covered under blaring "music for the deaf". Learning is a lifelong process. One doesn't have to agree with something in order to admire and appreciate it. I don't attempt to copy something I've heard: it is still my very own interpretation.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-40158817422244037532010-08-04T14:54:00.000-07:002010-08-04T19:09:03.489-07:00End of an Era<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"></span></span></span><br />
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<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX134353312" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX134353312" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: normal !important;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TFnk5Hpd9QI/AAAAAAAAAtA/Ms8peou6Ehc/s1600/retirement-elliott-shoemaker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TFnk5Hpd9QI/AAAAAAAAAtA/Ms8peou6Ehc/s200/retirement-elliott-shoemaker.jpg" width="158" /></a>Last weekend I suddenly felt my age as if I had moved from middle age to senior years. Reasons were simple to understand: our youngest, Sarah, was off to her Summer Start orientation at Western Washington University and I felt that my 40+ years of parenting was approaching its end. The other cause for feeling like I did was having filled and signed retirement forms. The monetary value of said benefit amounts to little more than pocket change. The Scandinavian and generally European pension system, luxurious compared to ours in monetary terms, was initially created because people had on average 5-10 years of "golden years" left. These days, of course, people live longer and it remains to be seen how long the benefits can stay at current levels. Take my father as an example: he left work at a mandatory retirement age of 65. In two years his pension had climbed to a higher amount than his salary had been and today he is enjoying his thirty-fifth year of ever increasing pension. Now that he needs permanent care, the system takes a set percentage of his net income; in other words he ends up paying more than someone with a lower earnings for the exact same care.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
In my youth I knew many people who passed away soon after their mandatory retirement. Although people knew they would be taken care of, many felt utterly useless being forced away from their jobs, and as a result their health would deteriorate. This "broken heart" syndrome is an unfortunate byproduct of the European system. Many people, for example those in education, are in the middle of their most productive years. Some are able to continue their creativity: my father started writing and doing research more vigorously than before. A large history book was commissioned and he was paid handsomely for years, on top of his pension. My pianist in Finland was a professor in the Sibelius Academy with an excellent class. He, too, had to leave, but at least the employer was able to hire him as an hourly instructor. He would also travel within the country performing and giving master classes and private lessons. Feeling useful, he reached his 90s. Part of the logic behind the mandatory retirement is to provide young people with job opportunities. </div><br />
A couple days ago the New York Times had a<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/03unemployed.html"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">heartbreaking story</span></a> of "99ers", people who have exhausted their now-extended unemployment benefits and who have nothing but despair to look forward to. Yesterday's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/opinion/03tue3.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">editorial</span></a> touched the topic of our Supreme Court nominee <i>Elena Kagan</i> paying too much attention to laws of other countries. This seems to annoy many Republican hardliners. On one hand we are eager to promote the American system as an ideal one for other nations to follow, yet we don't want to allow others criticize faults in ours, no matter how educated and civilized the people are. Basic human rights should be universal and they include education for all and taking care of the sick and less fortunate. Americans cry "Socialism" whenever such ideas are discussed; they could as well blame "Christianity" as those principles are well established in that religion which majority of Americans claim to follow. <br />
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Understandably this "milestone" in my life affected my dreams and death was very much present in them. Waking up in the middle of the night I decided that I would try to outlive certain other people, to have their obituaries appear before mine. No tears would be shed and I know that we wouldn't end up in the same place, assuming afterlife exists. First thing in the morning I went to check my email, fearing that something had happened to my dad. Nothing alarming appeared in my inbox to my relief, but later during the day I saw a headline <i>Local Conductor Killed in a Crash</i>. For a split second Schadenfreude took over until I learned the identity of the previous night's victim. <i>George Shangrow</i> was one of this city's and state's most gifted musicians. His show on a local radio station, "Live by George", was so popular that many people tuned in just to hear him talk, not necessarily to listen to the music. <br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TFnlMeVq9II/AAAAAAAAAtI/0vVkTSpJc5E/s1600/Shangrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="173" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TFnlMeVq9II/AAAAAAAAAtI/0vVkTSpJc5E/s200/Shangrow.jpg" width="200" /></a>Then Seattle did what it excels in, getting rid of the top talent and promoting mediocrity instead. This has happened over and over again, in academia, arts and probably in many other fields. We build fancy temples for very average sports or arts groups and then we call these organizations "world class". Media's PR machinery does its best to elevate the not-so-gifted while destroying the lives of those truly deserving. Someone (no name here) decided that George was too popular and witty, and it was time to have him fired from the radio station. I remember him sitting by our dining table not long afterward, still feeling like lightning had struck him. He was worried about finances and told how he had visited his doctor (whom I knew well) to get medications to help him cope. He had told the doctor about his disastrous situation and was shocked when a bill came in the mail. I said "George, this is America: you can't expect anything for nothing" but he was too upset to comprehend this fact. Of course he had his <i>Orchestra Seattle</i> and other gigs, but his pride and the former feeling of certain security in life had been smashed for good. </div><br />
George was an extraordinary multi-talented musician who was equally at ease in front of the microphone, at the keyboard of a harpsichord or piano or on the podium. Many years ago he was conducting a couple school concerts with a local orchestra. I had never seen kids so excited: he turned the concert into a funny, entertaining but informative show. Needless to say, he was never invited back to conduct (to my knowledge), although his incredible ability of reading a continuo line with the left and improvising with the right hand was acceptable to the same organization numerous times, as it would have been hard to find someone else locally. He was a true pro: my father, a critical music lover himself, was present at one of George's live broadcasts when one or both of us appeared as guests, and my dad didn't stop praising the host's incredible ease with the microphone. Rumors are that a local string player recently needed a dozen takes during a recording of a most standard work: George on the keyboard would have been perfect with just one. <br />
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After he was ousted we stopped listening to the classical station. Yesterday I was driving toward the Canadian border, to pick our little one up from her orientation in Bellingham. Normally I like to tune in to the station in B.C. transmitting in Quebecoise French but for some reason yesterday's conditions were not the best for listening. Scanning through the dial I realized that the same Seattle station which had turned George's life upside down was trying to cash in by repeatedly playing music he had recorded with his orchestra and chorus. Since his abrupt departure the station's popularity has gone downhill: I found it ironic that George was resurrected from the dead to help them. Of course there were many listeners who were grateful to hear his music making one more time, but I wish the circumstances had been different.<br />
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You will live on in our memories, George.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">“Retirement” © Elliot Shoemaker<br />
George Shangrow © John Cornicello</span></div><br />
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<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX134353312" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="Paragraph SCX134353312" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; height: auto; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto; word-wrap: normal !important;" xml:lang="EN-US"><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.9720477036209442" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"></span></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-29400003337711848672010-07-29T14:48:00.000-07:002010-07-29T14:59:40.390-07:00Life Without Man?<div style="text-align: justify;">A recent issue of Scientific American told us how early <i>Homo sapiens</i> <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=when-the-sea-saved-humanity"><span style="color: blue;">almost became extinct</span></a> long time ago, due to a very hostile climate. Only a small number of humans survived in the caves of Southern Africa, around <i>Pinnacle Point</i> on the coastline. We are supposedly all descendants of these few hundred early people, who managed by eating clams and other seafood, provided to them by an ocean rich in nutrients. They also dug up the bulbs of many plants that are unique to the region, getting their carbohydrates that way. On the SciAm website there is also an <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=interactive-seas-saved-humanity"><span style="color: blue;">interactive feature</span></a> shedding light to the research.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As we may be heading toward another period of intolerable climate change, it is a good time to wonder what would have happened if humans hadn’t survived. It is possible that another subspecies of Homo might have been better protected against the hot, arid climate or survived in the Arctic regions. Other apes or advanced monkeys might have developed an intelligence similar to ours, or life would have moved to the seas and oceans. There are plenty of animals with very complex brains living even at present, although we have done a remarkable job in destroying them to the point of near extinction. It is an interesting quality in the human nature to make sure that no other life form with advanced brains is allowed to succeed and multiply in peace. Only with a large pool of such animals would mutations favoring superior intelligence be allowed to happen.</div><br />
<div style="border: medium none; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TFHxO8FReaI/AAAAAAAAAsg/AaNuNqiQdRs/s1600/blue%2520whale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TFHxO8FReaI/AAAAAAAAAsg/AaNuNqiQdRs/s200/blue%2520whale.jpg" width="160" /></a>Whales and dolphins possess large brains and are amazing in many ways. However, the largest animal of all, <i>Balaenoptera musculus</i> or the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_whale"><span style="color: blue;">blue whale</span></a> is so few in numbers that it is lucky if it can find a mate. Yes, its super-Wagnerian singing can carry truly long distances in water, but remembering how vast the oceans are, the calls often go unheard. Only the Japanese and some native people eat whale meat and we certainly do not depend on oil from whales which at some point might have been an important source for light and heat. These krill-eaters were once common in all the oceans. Today’s blue whale population, estimated between five and twelve thousand, is a small fraction of pre-whaling numbers of 200-300,000. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin"><span style="color: blue;">Dolphins</span></a> are seldom caught for food except in the <i>Faroe Islands</i> in Northern Atlantic and part of Japan. However, humans pose the greatest threat to them, partially because of fishing nets. We have all seen cans of tuna being advertised as dolphin-safe, yet the animals continue to die in high numbers. Being on top of the food chain as predators, these playful mammals also ingest unhealthy amounts of human-origin heavy metals.</div><div style="border: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border: medium none; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TFH1ojUne4I/AAAAAAAAAso/s551j2ao3fM/s1600/Thaumoctopus_mimicus1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TFH1ojUne4I/AAAAAAAAAso/s551j2ao3fM/s200/Thaumoctopus_mimicus1.jpg" width="145" /></a></div>Intelligence does not belong to mammals alone. Many species of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus"><span style="color: blue;">octopus</span></a> have more complicated brains than us humans. That is required to change their coloring to match that of the sea bottom in an instant. Their behavior is also remarkable: they are often very playful and even flirtatious with people studying them. One named Paul became a celebrity in a German aquarium during this summers World Cup in soccer as it correctly managed to pick Germany as the winner in all the games until the final round when it correctly chose Spain as the gold medalist. This, of course, was not a show of intelligence as the octopus didn’t watch the games, but many Germans felt it managed to jinx the final game and became very angry, wanting to grill it an a punishment. About ten years ago a new species was found in Indonesia: the two-foot long <i><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/09/0920_octopusmimic.html"><span style="color: blue;">Mimic Octopus</span></a></i> is not only able to change its color but also its shape in a split second, turning into the worst nightmare for the predator that sees a meal in it, resembling a sea snake or a poisonous fish or another very dangerous creature.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">What animals do with their intelligence is different from us humans. But is our variety really the best kind? A gigantic blue whale doesn’t hurt anyone, yet is able to dive to great depths and back with one gulp of air and no dangerous bubbles in its blood stream. It is far too big to have any natural enemies (stories of orcas attacking it do exist) other than we the people. If a dolphin is able to entertain us with its circus tricks, there must thousands of complicated things it is capable of accomplishing which we are not aware of. Make a waterproof computer and teach an octopus what it can do and those eight tentacles just might go to work. In return it might teach us how to change our appearance, for instance automatically turning bright red when lying.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">For many decades we have made one of our ancestors, the <i>Neanderthal man</i>, the butt of jokes for his alleged stupidity and looks. Hitler’s propaganda machine had its artists draw caricatures of Jewish people with features resembling the cave man. Those who suggested that the “modern” human and the Neanderthal co-existed and even interbred were ridiculed until very recently. Actually the “primitive” cousin had a very large brain and possessed many traits that made him succeed in the less than hospitable world of that day. The latest studies show that all of us have a small inheritance from that gene pool; we are all part Neanderthal, other than the native people of the African continent. Since the world’s greatest thinkers are not usually pure African, it must be assumed that the mixture wasn’t for the worse. At least this writer is proud of his “cave man” past.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Last weekend went to a beach in nearby Discovery Park with my wife and youngest daughter. We go to an area which is almost private as very few want to make a 45 minutes hike and climb 400 feet down and up. There we were enjoying the sunshine that has been in short supply here this summer. While the rest of Northern Hemisphere is suffering from the hottest summer in recorded history, Seattle has been unusually cool. Back in my native Finland today an all-time new record of 99°F (37.2°C) was reached; here it is the afternoon but we are barely at 56°F (13°C). Anyway, that day was heavenly and we enjoyed the beautiful combination of nature, water and sun. It made me realize that even if the human race would not have survived, the place would look exactly the same, other than all the boats and ships of varying sizes in the distance or the nearby lighthouse. Yes, life would have gone on without us. Another species might have become a dominating one, or probably there would have been a nice balance which we have done our best to upset. The world’s problems would be quite different. There would be plenty of cruelty among the animals but no one can be as cruel as a human. A wolf will attack a deer, usually in a pack, but the death is swift and the victim will help the predators to survive. Often the killed would be the old or sick and thus they were saved from unnecessary suffering. No beast will make plans to make another one’s life miserable and there are no Bernie Madoffs among the bears.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Nature is the most fabulous sculptor and designer. She can also produce glorious music, be it bird or whale songs, waves crashing onto a shore or wind howling. That is one symphony truly worth hearing. I don’t know if saving those few hundred lives long ago was such a good idea, after all. Perhaps we will have to withdraw to our caves one day again. Obviously it won’t be all the billions on us; future of mankind may be in the hands of a few one more time.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">in photos: blue whale, mimic octopus (</span><i style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thaumoctopus mimicus</i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">) </span></span></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-16863898763447516782010-07-18T19:54:00.000-07:002010-07-18T20:07:27.296-07:00Deflating Bubbles<span xmlns=""></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;">In America the word deflation has a similar ring to it as <i>socialism</i> or <i>universal healthcare</i>. In other words, we have to avoid it at all costs. Deflation would stunt growth which we have to pursue. But isn't growth often just another term for a bubble? Are we never satisfied with what we have?</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TEO6eZQH6gI/AAAAAAAAAsY/gnMaGrsow1k/s1600/german+woman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" hw="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TEO6eZQH6gI/AAAAAAAAAsY/gnMaGrsow1k/s200/german+woman.jpg" width="145" /></a>Anyone who has experienced out of control hyperinflation would welcome deflation over it without a second thought. As a little boy I was collecting stamps and was amazed by old German ones which had a value expressed in milliards. Americans are in love with large numbers and base their unit system on thousands after a million, in contrast to European million millions. We lack a milliard (10<sup>9</sup>) and call it a billion. Their billion equals an American trillion (10<sup>12</sup>). Confusing but perhaps this makes us feel richer. Runaway inflation at its extreme is scary as money loses its value faster than new bills can be printed. Prices go up daily: a simple bus fare in the afternoon may be higher than it was in the morning. People start using a barter system instead of a monetary one, or if the latter is a must, it will be done in another currency, such as the U.S. dollar. Above is a picture of a German woman using totally depreciated paper notes for cooking in 1923: it gave more heat than using the same money to buy any kind of fuel. The worst hyperinflation took place in post-war Hungary where prices tripled every day. In 1946 a bank note of <i>100 million billion pengő</i> was issued and a couple months later a new currency was issued. One new <i>forint</i> equaled four hundred (our) octillion, or 4x10<sup>29</sup> old pengő. For those who are not comfortable with exponents, the enormously large number looks like this:<br />
400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;">I came back from Argentina in early 1980s as a millionaire many times over. I bought Marjorie a beautiful pair of amethyst earrings but had to pay for those in U.S. dollars. Much of Latin America suffered from hyperinflation and the governments had to print ever increasing quantities of paper bills to pay for their financial obligations. Israel had its share of similar woes and lately Zimbabwe had 98% inflation per day. With Communism's collapse the ruble suffered the same fate. In 1992 alone the inflation rate was 2,520%. Russians resorted to the old barter system. A plumber would come to fix your leaking faucet and in return you gave him a piece of paper promising five music lessons. He would use it to get groceries and the merchant would pass it on. One day a mother would show up at your door with her child and the promissory note which might have changed hands fifty or more times, and five piano lessons would be given.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;">For investors who like to gamble, rampant inflation is an opportunity, even if a risky one. But deflation puts an end to speculation. People want to hold onto their money, either in cash or in a bank even if it doesn't earn interest. Japan has lived with deflation since 1990s and people are not exactly suffering. Our country went through deflation during the Great Depression and we might be in a similar situation presently. Economists like to talk about deflationary spiral, yet there is no actual proof that it can happen. The stock market and speculative gambling would suffer, but people would still invest in something they see as worthy. Fewer mansions would be built but who really needs them? Taking a deep breath for a few years would do us no harm. Salaries for professions that are overpaid would correct themselves, others would go up. The former includes spectacle sports and all forms of entertainment. Let musicians, dancers and actors earn what audiences are willing to pay: forget a parasitic lifestyle. A doctor can heal people for a lot less, just as those working for <i>Doctors without Borders</i> do. Do away with malpractice lawsuits but publish the names of bad doctors instead. Train more primary care givers; we already have far too many specialists. Increase the number of nurse practitioners and midwives who in many cases do a better job than a doctor and for a lot less. Make teaching regain the respect it deserves, but throw out union contracts that make it next to impossible to fire bad instructors. Let Americans learn how to manufacture goods again, instead of depending on Chinese imports. Let working hard become again a virtue and base an income on that, not on crooked betting.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;">Growth has its limits. A pyramid scheme soon collapses as it is impossible to sustain. Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme lasted as long as it did because investors believed in the phony statements that made them seem rich on paper. A country's economy automatically grows if its population does. Yes, we can find capable leaders for a company or a bank for a lot less than their present CEOs demand. The head of Wal-Mart makes <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/walmart-ceo-pay-hour-workers-year/story?id=11067470"><span style="color: blue;">more in an hour what the workers earn in a year</span></a>. Perhaps my value system seems strange but to me that is crazy. It is also nuts that an orchestra's conductor, titled "music director", would earn <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/arts/music/17phil.html"><span style="color: blue;">as much as 25 musicians</span></a> and he does only a fraction of the yearly work. Yet many would argue that said musicians are already grossly overpaid. Is it not possible to find a stage hand for Carnegie Hall for less than the $500,000 or close to it <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/10/22/2009-10-22_carnegie_stagehand_raked_in_over_500g.html"><span style="color: blue;">five of them</span></a> make? The purpose of labor unions was to guarantee people a living wage, not to rip off the system.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;">Even in physiology a growth cannot continue forever. In a malignant case it will kill the patient, and itself, unless a surgical or other medical intervention will result in a remission. In a few cases a gigantic non-malignant tumor can grow to an enormous size. In 1991 a multicystic mass of an ovary weighing 303 lbs (about 138 kg) was successfully removed. Needless to say, without the operation the woman's life span would have been shortened quite a bit. We don't know if our present economic tumor is a killer but it is clear that surgery will be needed.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Time for a witch's brew: <i>bubble, bubble, toil and trouble…</i></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-52239845093398967492010-07-08T15:35:00.000-07:002010-07-08T15:57:09.614-07:00Un opéra sensuel<span xmlns=""></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">It is no secret that in spite of getting trained in expensive colleges and universities, musicians receive a very limited education. As a result they befriend other musicians, talk shop and know preciously little about anything else.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;">Three decades ago I decided that a certain young woman was not going to be like most of our colleagues. I had every intention of sharing my life with her and I did not want to end up with a music nerd. It wasn't an easy task, but after all these years my better half is well versed in literature, philosophy and even history. Geography is going to be next on the list, although already she is far more knowledgeable than most Americans in this subject.</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;">Because of my native country's bloody history with its gigantic neighbor, I hardly qualify as a Russophile. Yet some of my favorite creative artists have come from there and thus my first attempts to introduce the young lovely lady to great literature were with Russian authors. The world they describe is closely related to the one in Yiddish literature, after all, and she could learn about her own roots. Later the literary discoveries were followed by German greats, and finally the French which my spouse has developed a real fondness of. After <em>Stendhal</em> and <em>Proust</em> came <em>Anatole France</em>. I wasn't surprised to find a library DVD of <em>Massenet</em>'s opera <em>Tha<span style="font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB';">ï</span>s</em> in the house the other day. The libretto by <em>Louis Gallet</em> is based on France's book and the author thought that it followed his story exceptionally well, even though the name of the male protagonist, monk <em>Paphnuce</em>, was changed to <em>Athanaël</em>. Soon Massenet's glorious melodies and harmonies made my wife fall asleep, so I watched the video myself. Actually it was a short nap and we enjoyed most of the opera together.</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TDZNSBxg9zI/AAAAAAAAAsI/NZemZ0Fx9bA/s1600/Thais.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" rw="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TDZNSBxg9zI/AAAAAAAAAsI/NZemZ0Fx9bA/s200/Thais.png" width="156" /></a></div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;">This is a beautifully executed Italian production, recorded in Venice eight years ago. Like in every good French opera, ballet plays a pivotal role in Tha<span style="font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB';">ï</span>s. In this staging much of it includes nudity, but it isn't offensive in the least bit, and the plot is sexually strongly charged anyway. When the famous <em>Meditation</em> melodie is played for the first time by the solo violin (excellent <em>Roberto Baraldi</em>), the beautiful prima ballerina (<em>Letizia Giuliani</em>) performs a most seductive dance. I wish America wasn't such a prudish place; otherwise I would make every student working on the piece watch this scene. Yes, everyone's eyes would no doubt pop out, but the meaning of the gorgeous Meditation would become instantly clear.</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;">Massenet wrote the lead role for an American soprano <i>Sybil Sanderson</i>, from Sacramento. Her voice must have been quite incredible as she had a range of three octaves and could double as a coloratura with ease. A true Frenchman, Massenet soon became the 20+-year-old's lover. In this production the role of Tha<span style="font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB';">ï</span>s is sung by <em>Eva Mei </em>who performs it quite beautifully except for the very highest register which tends to sound a bit forced. <em>Michele Pertusi</em> as Athanaël is most convincing with a fabulous bass-baritone, and portrays like a great actor the monk's eventual mad lust for the former priestess of Venus. Their roles have been completely reversed as she has now found eternal love in Christianity and is waiting to enter Heaven.</div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;">All in all this video is so well done that it is hard to believe one is watching a live performance. The orchestra of <em>Teatro La Fenice di Venezia</em> plays the way only an Italian pit orchestra can. If the violins are slightly unsure of their pitch when the music has lots of flats in the key signature, the overall spirit and joy of musicianship more than makes up for it. The conductor, <em>Marcello Viotti</em>, shares his surname with one of the greatest violinist-composers in history and is well worth the expectations such a name causes. The chorus and the ballerinas are truly World Class (how I hate that expression!) and again prove how essential it is that the ballet corps is part of the opera company. The French would not have it any other way and in most European opera houses this is a reality. Naturally the ballet can perform outside of opera productions and not every opera calls for dancers, but even then the groups can share a great pit orchestra.</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;">Although some of the greatest music has been written for it, in general I am not a great fan of opera. Perhaps this has to do with my dislike of the people who come to a production premiere just to show off their latest dresses, furs and other signs of a pretentious lifestyle. Often they have absolutely no interest in the singing and playing. My first experience with opera was a very pleasant one: as a boy I saw <em>Cos<span style="font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB';">ì </span>fan tutte</em> in Stockholm on a small stage of a royal castle. It was utterly charming and the little orchestra, wearing powdered wigs, played quite well. The other extreme was a long time ago at the Met in New York. I was in the audience with a well-known European conductor who had never been to that opera house before. It was Mozart again but this time <em>Don Giovanni</em>. It was definitely an off-afternoon for the company: if anything could go wrong, it did. In the second act a technical glitch caused an additional intermission of over 20 minutes. Singing was substandard and all wrong for Mozart; my knowledgeable guests were most disappointed, almost angry. Mozart is tricky: it has to be just right in order to be enjoyable.</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify" style="text-align: justify;">So, I don't follow the news about the world of opera religiously. I did, however, read ten days ago a well-thought-out article by <i>Anne Midgette</i> in the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/24/AR2010062406932.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Washington Post</span></a>. In it she laments the fact that completely new operas are an increasingly endangered species as they are too expensive for the demand. A production recently on this coast of the continent became very costly to the company, forcing them to save on staging performances this coming season. Many of the few remaining critics of classical music are advocates for new music and loudly complain about the "safe" programming of late. Yes, one can insert a world premiere as a part of an orchestra concert but no conductor or manager would be foolish enough to dedicate an entire subscription program to new music. It has its fans, among others composer-wannabees, but it is difficult to gather more than a few hundred listeners for such an event. Today's composers also like their music loud, in a "bang-bang, tank-you-Mam" style, requiring extra players and not fully utilizing the existing ones, such as large string sections. Orchestras and groups perform such repertoire in smaller halls. Perhaps opera companies should venture outside of their large auditoriums and do similar versions in suitable locations. Most universities with sizeable music departments have such venues; I don't see any reason why they would refuse to share that space, especially if the professional company would produce something utilizing some the school's talent, both faculty and students.</div><br />
Time to take out the violin and play the Meditation, this time with new images in my head!<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Eva Mei as Thaïs © Dynamic slr</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11348368.post-52729894340312038862010-06-29T17:59:00.000-07:002010-06-29T18:43:20.130-07:00Sounds in the Northwest<span xmlns=""></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TCqVEGbCkJI/AAAAAAAAAsA/54iFDqecNA4/s1600/DSC01465+wide.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__fNwlx_au8w/TCqVEGbCkJI/AAAAAAAAAsA/54iFDqecNA4/s400/DSC01465+wide.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 12pt;">The Pacific Northwest is an area of contrasts. From lush evergreen forests and an annual rainfall of well over 100 inches in some coastal mountain slopes we can travel to desert areas receiving less than 10 inches annually. Temperatures are mild year round in Oregon's Banana Belt around Brookings, but it gets almost as hot as Phoenix, Arizona, during the summer months in many locations and with the mountains subzero readings are not unusual in the winter. Our home in Seattle benefits from the short Olympic Mountains range which prevents fierce storms from the Pacific Ocean from hitting this city. Although sunshine is not exactly abundant, neither is rainfall which is less than any outsider is willing to believe. Travel sixty miles up or down the coast and conditions are very different.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 16px;">This past Sunday we decided to remind ourselves of this variety by driving down to Oregon's largest city Portland, little more than three hours away. As it happened, this was the third time within a month for Marjorie, but I hadn't spent time in that place for many years, just driven through. Sun was out, the city looked beautiful and the 85-degree temperature felt soothing. We had a reason for the trip as the Oregon Bach Festival had sent their troops up from Eugene to perform Verdi's mighty Requiem in Portland's Arlene Schnitzer Hall that afternoon. I had expected such a concert to sell out even in the summer and bought tickets plenty in advance, printing them out but still having to pay Ticketmaster ridiculous fees. Later I saw notices online that discounts were available, an indication that advance sales were not filling the house. However, they were only discounted by 15% for Portland whereas an online search revealed up to 50% off in Eugene itself for the same production. Whatever the ticket prices ended up being, the hall was almost packed.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 12pt;">The Schnitzer auditorium was a pleasant surprise, after a number of years of not being there. I have always sat near the front of the balcony but this time we were on the main floor, in an area than in many halls is a dead spot. This was not the case there. The strings sounded smooth and silky, the brass and percussion was never deafening like in some modern echo chambers. I believe the chorus was amplified but discreetly so. All in all the balance was fine except for the four vocal soloists and the concertmaster in her short solo. Solo violin carries through very well up to the balcony and I assume the same is true with any soloist. However, I seem to remember there having been some balance problems with different orchestral sections, but this was not noticeable where we were seated. I much prefer old concert halls to new ones for their beauty and ambience and certainly Oregonians can be proud of this 1928 landmark. While I don't believe classical music should be performed in an almost 2,800-seat hall, Schnitzer fares no worse than any other such auditorium. The venue is reason enough to make sure that the Oregon Symphony will survive this financially difficult time. At least their expenses are far smaller than most other orchestras in their league as the musician salaries are down to earth. Portland's location would make the ensemble an ideal one for touring both in Oregon and southern parts of Washington State. Many cities fall within a 2+ hour radius from the orchestra's home base, from Eugene to Olympia. Unless I remember incorrectly, the group used to come regularly to perform all the way up to Tacoma a decade or so ago.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 12pt;">I didn't have high expectations for the orchestra as I knew they would be local Eugene musicians, augmented with principals mainly from the Los Angeles area. But the fine playing in the quiet beginning of <em>Requiem aeternam</em> made me feel at ease and the bloopers were very few throughout the long work. Even the off-stage trumpets were fine: I have never taken part in a performance where perfection was achieved. The larger the hall, the more complicated the situation becomes. The inner voices in the strings came through beautifully (having the seconds sit next to the firsts was a good choice) and the woodwinds were a pleasure to listen to for the most part. An announcement was made before the concert, trying to explain why so many sopranos had been advertised as singing the solo part. The audience was informed that the previous couple weeks had been rather hectic for the festival's management. One can only speculate the reasons behind the situation and come to the probable conclusion that the singers and the conductor<em>, Helmuth Rilling</em>, didn't see eye to eye as far as how Verdi's heavenly music should be interpreted. Luckily the third choice, <em>Tamara Wilson</em>, proved to have a beautiful voice and was the strongest member of the vocal quartet. At least to these ears, her high G-flat was gorgeous. Singers, no matter how great, usually possess only a few truly extraordinarily beautiful pitches. The difficult opening of <em>Agnus Dei </em>for soprano and alto in octaves was quite lovely: occasionally the alto, <em>Marietta Simpson</em>, vibrated too much, creating some intonation problems.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 12pt;">Mr. Rilling, of course, is best known for his work in J.S. Bach's music. A few "experts" may disagree with some of his musical opinions, but no one can argue about his incredible knowledge of Bach. Personally, I feel like he has taught me more about this great composer than anyone. His interpretations of the B-minor Mass and St. Matthew Passion will always stay in my mind as the ultimate experiences. Mr. Rilling's forays to later choral/orchestral works have sometimes been criticized, but at least this Requiem was fabulously and faultlessly done. Naturally he conducted from memory as every measure of the music filled his mind: for the moment nothing else mattered. Verdi would have been pleased.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 12pt;">It took an hour to drive a few miles </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 16px;">in a traffic jam </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 16px;">on I-5 to the bridge crossing the Columbia River but we enjoyed each other's company. By the time we approached Seattle, it was drizzling and temperature was almost twenty degrees cooler. Still, our home town surrounded by all that water and mountains looked more beautiful than ever.</span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Oregon Bach Festival in Portland – photo by talvi</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12070119726510156185noreply@blogger.com