The Washington Post this morning had a story about the political discontentment in Russia over the outcome of the 2014 Eurovision competition. Given that a few days ago, I outright said I’d personally emigrate were I living in Russia, this confluence of events is particularly timely. I’m going to use it as an excuse to talk about something known…
After dinner at Pierpont’s in Union Station, we made our way over to the symphony hall, arriving a few minutes before the orchestra took the stage. Tonight is a big departure from our usual Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Particularly of interest to us were the second and third groups on the program. The second was Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra, which was performed by Jiyeon Kim, a guitar virtuoso.
I’m going through the corporate bond filings of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly just out of curiosity. They have a huge patent cliff coming up, during which time as much as 40% of their revenue base will be exposed to generic competition. I wondered what it would do to the risk metrics on the senior bonds so I pulled the Moody’s rating and reading over the figures as I listen to an old 1970s song called Snookeroo.
Following the post on the Dies Irae Principle earlier, I started thinking about the role of sound in regulating mood. Thirteen years ago, I was sitting in my undergraduate freshman music theory class, having moved thousands of miles away from home to begin university. At the time, I had enrolled in the Bachelor of Music…
I’ve been thinking about how differently people see the world and how that influences their view of events. Something that rolls off one person’s back can cause another to spend a week sobbing in bed, barely able to contain their grief or embarrassment. What is a minor setback to one person can be a career-ending…
Mozart penned one of his greatest symphonies as a result of dire financial need – something he wouldn’t have had to if he would have humbled himself and admitted that someone he considered evil, Voltaire, had something to teach him when it came to wealth management.
Irony is one of those words you see misused all over the place. Most people think they know what it means, but they don’t. It’s irritating to those who care about the spirit of words, and has even prompted New York Times articles discussing the constant abuse the term endures at the hands of society. To spot, and utilize, irony, requires, as the paper puts it, “sophisticated writing” that the author “counts on the reader to recognize”. It takes skill. It is going to go over most people’s head a lot of the time.
There seems to be a misconception that ragtime music died along with the western saloons and brothels in which it reached its fruition. That isn’t true. If you grew up playing Nintendo, you may not even realize that you are a huge ragtime fan. You know dozens of ragtime hits and hearing them will probably…
We visited an upscale piano retailer this morning and a wonderful salesman allowed us into the back room to play the 9’+ Bosendorfer Imperial, Blunther, and Steingraber grand pianos. Out of all of them, both Aaron and my favorite was the Model 225 Bosendorfer, which is around 7.5 feet. I think I’d want it in the…
I’m going to just say it, Diana Damrau, both in terms of voice and acting portrayal, is the single best Queen of the Night in history. I don’t care what anyone else says. Her “Der Hölle Rache” is flawless. I mean, absolutely, cannot-be-improved-upon-in-your-face perfect. It starts at 2:09 into the video if you want to…
