SAINT JOHN'S NIGHT

Let me do (for a change) some good promotion for the Portugues culture and its social enviroment. Let me share with you something beautiful that happened in the night from 23th to 24th of June in Porto, something that is so unique, that probably doesn't have any equivalent in the whole wolrd - the so called Night of Saint John is one of the most beautiful holidays I have ever experienced in my life. In the honor of the saint, who favours lovers, all the city goes down to the river, sharing joy and compassion in a very special way;
People (thousand and thousands of them) gently hit eachother's heads with the plastic hammers, which create thin and sizzling sound. The hammers can be replaced with the pink garlic flowers on long stalks (but these are a bit more disturbing then the first:)) Evening magic is complemented by beautiful coloured burning paper ballons, which are ascending (assumably together with the wishes and prayers) towards the spacious black sky, and magnificent long-lasting fire-works, launched from the three river boats anchored in the middle of River Douro.
The holiday is accompanied by many other activities and simbolisms (dinning of Sardine fish - Sardinhada, decorating city with the colourful ribbons and balls ext.), but once again, the best thing of the holiday is the gesture with the hammers, which brings people together (if only for one night) in a very unique way; while you are gently hitting other person's head with the plastic hammer and showing sincere smile on your face, you can not escape the alchemy that grows between you-two quickly and in a very special way. This is the only day, the only time when you are 'allowed' to give attention (love, compassion, joy of celebration) to anyone you wish, when ever and how many times you want. And what is even better, everyone is happy to recieve your affection, whether young or old, sophisticated or simple, poor or rich.

Wonderful holiday! If you go to Porto, go in the time of "São João"!:)

Brahms evening - kindly invited!

Johannes Brahms: “Straight-away the ideas flow in upon me, directly from God, and not only do I see distinct themes in my mind's eye, but they are clothed in the right forms, harmonies, and orchestration.”

Finals of famous Queen Elizabeth competition (with a taste of Korea)

http://www.cmireb.be/en/


You can listen pianists-finalists live, http://www.cmireb.be/en/p/2/12/143/147/finalisten.html

within a schedule as follows, http://www.cmireb.be/data/presse/Final%20programme-01.pdf

on this http adress: http://video.cmireb.be/live .

If you can't make it, you can listen to their recordings later, from the data-base of competition: http://video.cmireb.be/vod


I wish you a lot of pleasure!

In the name of...

Today marks one week and one day since the morning, when a strange silence woke me up. "What is this," I asked myself, "How can it be, that my street is empty at a time when usually it is teeming with people? What are all these low-flying helicopters doing above my head?" It seems as though we were just before the bombing." Then I think more and I remember...the Pope has arrived to the city.
Pope brings hope, they say. Great. I really didn't want to discuss about money, why the quality of positive human feelings (which elicit from admiration of the Pope and his presence among people) are unapproachably more valuable than material sacrifices required by his four-day visit. But come on, all has its limits! Portugal is in severe economic crisis (soon after Greece), threatened by financial meltdown. However, a clever government declared a national holiday everywhere, where the Holy Father pleased to step and give away his hope and compassion. If I'm not mistaken, in practice this meant at least two new festive days. You can imagine what does one day of inertion mean for the state economy, especially if it is in such dire straits ... No, no, this is something one sober individual can't understand.
I respect all catholic believers and I know that in their system of belief Pope represents someone who is closest to one, whom they aim to - to God (although, if I may, in this striving they all too often forget that the latter doesn't sit on the clouds, but they themselves are part of Him and therefore very much responsible for their actions), yet ...
The reality of today doens't speak in favor of Portugal. Let's say that the pope brought endless hope and love, that he brought together all the believers (ie the vast majority of the Portuguese) for four days - marked by the highest human values. Wonderful job! But what about the day after his departure? I haven't noticed any particular optimism, great hope, any refined human virtues, and even less a recrutial of the (poor) state economy. No, the streets were with same melody again and they hosted the same people and the same concerns (only one day older).
Why? Because; True human virtues can not be learned in such partial way (when the Pope comes, in the time of Christmas and at Easter...), conquest of them requires continous self-preoccupancy and finding your own truth (based on your own experiences and feelings). Then the hope (as well trust) comes by itself, it grows out from the vision that we can have control over our lives and creating, that the quality of our life depends mainly on ourselves and on what we think, what we do and how much are we in tune with our wishes and that, to which we devote our time, effort, our love and our life.

Let's go to demonstrations!

The day before yesterday was a sad day for the history of higher education system in Slovenia. The mass of students (about 10,000 of them) ended their tumultuous demonstrations infront of the Parliament, in rather wretched way ...

I quote from the daily Slovenian newspaper Dnevnik (20. 5. 2010):
"...The facade of Parliament is bruised, almost all the windows smashed, broken glass of the front door. Angry crowd of student demonstrators who protested yesterday "to improve the social status of students and pupils" threw in the building everything they could lay in their hands first; eggs, toilet paper, bottles, beer cans and bottles, the granite blocks. Each time the glass was broken, the loud whistling and cries of "Yes" could be heard from a huge mass of young people. There was even one "Molotov", which flew towards Parliament and burned some bushes and a part of the facade. The protesters were finally surrounded by one hundred police officers (from special units), but this didn't stop them as well. They continued with pelting; first with stones, then with rocks and eggs, and finally with the bottles. "At least we've hurt one!" said proudly one hazy protester..."

It would be nice to have an insight into the statistics of how many of those students who participated on turbulent wednesday demonstrations, had actually experienced studying outside their native country for a longer period of time. I'm pretty sure that there weren't so many, since it would otherwise be clearly affirmed, how fierce and hard are the conditions for students abroad or. on the contrary - how privileged they are, in many areas of socio-cultural life, students in Slovenia. This insight would probably cause much grief to them, forwhy they would have to admit in evidence that they have made a big mistake; that they had to destroy a work of art in order to express the black-and-white belief of a crowd, a work of art, that has nothing to do with violence and destruction (even if the politics do) and on the contrary symbolizes their roots and embodies the highest humanistic values. Finally, that they have dishonoured an institution, which (despite all the controversial laws, which were and are still to come) raised up the possibility of quality education and worthy life in a country, where they had been born.

GABRIELA MONTERO: How couldn't I know about her?!?!

"When improvising," Gabriela says, "I connect to my audience in a completely unique way - and they connect with me. Because improvisation is such a huge part of who I am, it is the most natural and spontaneous way I can express myself. I have been improvising since my hands first touched the keyboard, but for many years I kept this aspect of my playing secret. Then Martha Argerich overheard me improvising one day and was ecstatic. In fact, it was Martha who persuaded me that it was possible to combine my career as a serious 'classical' artist with the side of me that is rather unique."

Everything else you can read here:

http://www.gabrielamontero.com/

Let's go to "Casa da Musica"!

Piano recital of EMANUEL AX: Porto, Casa da Musica, 15. 5. 2010

Beethoven: Sonata in C-major, op. 2, no. 3
---> Unforgettable, I understood every tone. What a differentiation in sound, what a clear structure and how much magical moments. And oh, that Beethoven! Bravo!

Kaija Saariaho: Ballade (for Manny)
---> what he did with this ballad is really nice.

Beethoven: Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 81a "Les Adieux"
---> Copying comment of the first sonata ... Bravo!

Chopin: Polonaise-Fantasie in A-flat major, Op. 61 --->
Good, understanadble, with magic, yet, Chopin would need a bit of another dimension of sound, for example some briliance.

Chopin: 3 Mazurkas
E-minor, Op. 41 No. 1 ---> I miss dancing, double stylisation,
C-major, op.21 No. 3 ---> Nice, some additional clarity in
ornamentation wouldn't do harm,
C-minor, Op. 56 No. 3 ---> Very stylized mazurka, but still ...

Thomas Ades: Three Mazurkas, Op. 27
---> Beautiful mazurkas, with obvious Chopinian impact, but still in their own language. Exploiting the extreme possibilites of piano. Very nice.

Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in b-flat minor, Op. 31
---> Really well. Everything in its place, only that brilliance at certain points... it could be the issue of pianism ...

An exceptional musician, this Ax! I highly recommend it!

INGRID HÄBLER - what a reference for Viennese classic and Schubert!

Ingrid Haebler was born in Vienna (Austria) on June 20, 1929. She studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum, Vienna Music Academy, Geneva Conservatory (Nikita Magaloff) and privately in Paris with Marguerite Long. She toured worldwide, but is best known for a series of recordings from the 1950s to 1980s. Her complete recording of Mozart's piano sonatas for the Denon label are still regarded as among the finest sets. Haebler also recorded all of Mozart's piano concertos (almost all of them twice) - often with her own cadenzas - and all of Schubert's sonatas. She was one of several Austrian musicians to experiment early with period instruments, having recorded music of J. C. Bach on a fortepiano. Her recordings of Beethoven with violinist Henryk Szeryng are particularly prized.

Mozart: Sonata in A-minor, KV 310

Schubert: Sonata in A-major, D 664

Why the hell this shoes?!

I guess it is illegal to make anti-advertisment for shoes, so I will try to avoid photographic material. Though, there are plenty of shoes to see - shoes, that have nothing to do with aesthetics.

I have always been attracted to detail. That doesn't change here, in Porto, where I've come across one funny "General Shoesy Surprise."
Sometimes the sun is very strong, and that diffuse light before the spring-shower forces me to look towards the ground and find a moment of peace for my eyes. But look, the devil, then I see all those shoes ...
Then I see young people wearing this multi-beloved sneakers that are a bit wider and higher, so they can stuck their trousers inside. And then there are those, how do we call them?, yellow and hairy half-cowboy ones (which, I thought, died out decades ago), then there are ALLSTAR shoes (which are legendary, but they don't go so well together with the black trousers or linseed skirt, which you have bought in Zara), and of course, then there are Nike sneakers of all types or even ordinary sport slippers, which we used to wear in lessons of physical education - comfortable but ugly as hell... Well, ofcourse you can find people that doens't hurt the eye too much, although they have maybe inherited the foot-wear habits from their grandfathers.
Nevertheless, these shoes are not the worse thing. Worse then the shoes is a combination of shoes and clothing, why shoes (which are somehow more old-fashioned or infantile) almost never blend with the dress, the materials and colors which currently dominate the global ready-made fashion (by the way, also worthy of consideration). Of course, men are generally slightly less aesthetic then women, but that is mostly the guilt of global clothing industry, which offers to women ten times greater selection of clothes. However, I have to admit that woman are surprising me more in negative then in positive direction as well. In my opinion the most aesthetically arranged and most consistent with their clothing is older population who has maintained and preserved that good measure from old days.

After all, why do I care? But I do. I always care about everything and I can not pretend that I don't see. And I have special affinity for nice shoes ... I'm sorry, I am just about to make a horrible generalization again, but it's is obvious: Portuguese general "Foot-wear Taste" (if not a general taste for dressing) is worse than I was accustomed to. When you look at a being in those shoes, in that outfit ... No. Things just don't go together. It's not the best.

Long live exceptions, long live the children with their fairytale-shoes! :)

Schostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2: Children's music or a piece of a great value?

Today is Maxim Schostakovich's 72nd birthday. 10th of May 1957 was also the day, when the latter earned his Moscow Conservatory diploma by performing the premiére of father's (Dmitri Schostakovich's) 2nd Piano Concerto - dedicated to his son.

Dmitri Schostakovich on his 2nd piano concerto: "...I compose badly. Have just finished a piano concerto of absolutely no artistic or idealistic value."

Well, I don't know if I can agree on that strong self-critisism. It is true that the Second Piano Concerto is simpler then then other concertos, it's true that it is not calling for typical Schostakovich's sarcasm and satire (though there are very evident conflict points, as well as lots of humour in 1st and last movement). It's true that it is written in neoclasical style, in conventional thre-movement sonata form of an Allegro followed by romanticly inspired and melancholic middle movement closing with a joyful last movement. However, inspite of all this we must not overlook the fact, that its classical language is developed to the highest level (in derivation of motives, skilful use of poliphony, creation of characters and coulours, in building an unique musical thoughts and unit) and that in the same time it represents marvellous pedagogic tool - why it is accessible to many young people.


Yefim Bronfman, piano