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There are Thoughts which come >>> And Thoughts which go >>>
And so ...
The repetitive purple lines below, in my formatting of this page, are in Persian Cuneiform.
ARCHIVE 5 21st March 2003 to 20th June 2003 |
!! Equinox to Solstice !!
Friday 20th June 2003ad
Private Joke [phrase]: A Joke, which in itself, has no humour. The "Joke" works by its reference to words, ideas or circumstances, which are themselves humorous.
Therefore, the Private Joke is the odd occurence, where unless you already know the Joke, you can never get it. By nature, Private Jokes lack originality. And there has always been the question, as to whether they are actually funny at all, despite the laughter they commonly produce.
The point of the Private Joke, is that it confirms and strengthens the bonds of social groups. It is in essence, a secret code.
[Confession: I often partake of the social ritual of Private Jokes myself.]
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Thusday 19th June 2003ad
Tonight, I battled falling blood sugar & increasing tiredness, to thoroughly enjoy the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, in chamber mode, performing works by Joseph Bologne, Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
At the end of the final work - Mozart's 29th Symphony - a man behind me said "fantasic". I silently agreed.
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Wednesday 18th June 2003ad
This ASIO Bill, that the Australian Government seems determined to make law, will allow people who are not accused of any crime, to be locked up for a week, and then jailed for years if they do not answer all questions to the spooks' satisfaction.
It is a law for the jailing of investigative journalists who, by their integrity & dilligence, have annoyed the government. It is a law one would expect in a Fascist State.
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Tuesday 17th June 2003ad
They seek him here.
They seek him there.
Those Yankees
seek him everywhere.
Is he in Heaven?
Or is he in Hell?
...
Personally, I think "Heaven" is extremely unlikely!
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Monday 16th June 2003ad
Pole [noun]: A Russian speaking German
with a Jewish Grandmother.
This last is the lynchpin of that
people,
as Jewish Grandmothers
are the best of all possible Grandmothers!
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Sunday 15th June 2003ad
I feel the cold much more than I did, but a decade ago.
I feel the pain, much more, of non-success at desired goals.
Microsoft Window98's recurring
hourglass never empties.
Yet to my distress, mine so quickly indeed does.
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Saturday 14th June 2003ad
My old PC froze, circa 4.30pm. At about 10pm, it still was frozen, in the same precise way: an ominous black screen, sporting only a white mouse pointer & hour-glass, which moved when I moved the mouse. Yet nothing else could be made to happen.
Reluctantly, I switched the computer off, waited a minute, then switched it back on. I fully expected the machine not to function. This has been my experience with it since the "big crash". To my pleasant surprise, it hesistently, but eventually effectively, scanned itself and then uploaded Windows 98!
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Friday 13th June 2003ad
Last night I slept for some eleven hours, which seems quite excessive, and surely indicates some kind of infection within me. More likely it is bacterial than viral, since Garlic, Onion & Ginger do seem to help.
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Thursday 12th June 2003ad
Winter is well here. That it is June, is not in itself proof. The persisting cool daytime air & cold night air*, however, are the ultimate proof.
[* By Sydney's standards, that is.]
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Wednesday 11th June 2003ad
Actually completed a move in three Correspondence chess games and posted them today. It struck me quite by surprise, the way I have been feeling lately, that I could have managed this.
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Tuesday 10th June 2003ad
Yesterday, yet one more tooth filling crumbled to nothingness, after an all but insignificant bite! I seem to be out of warranty.
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This afternoon: Physical & Mental Energy = Zero. Sad.
I was due to be at the quarterly CCLA* meeting tonight, but to be there was quite beyond me.
[*Correspondence Ches League Of Australia.]
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Monday 9th June 2003ad
In New South Wales we celebrate the Queen's Birthday today, although it is nowhere near the real birthday of Her Majesty:
Queen Elizabeth Battenberg-Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
This birth date, I have heard, was actually that of one of the Hannoverian Monarchs, presumably George IV or William IV. Which date, it seems, the good citizens of this State never came round to updating.
Mind you, it is an occasion which we only celebrate by not going to work. The British Monarchy is of zero meaning to Australians generally. We possess no determined feeling above the grey of unconcern about that institution, one way or the other. It is but one more anachronism amongst many. We learn to dully tolerate such.
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Sunday 8th June 2003ad
Having finally completed the last of my 14 outstanding correspondence chess games, and having posted them by midday, I was left with a reaction to this labour of complete exertion, which nothing could dispel.
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Saturday 7th June 2003ad
4.30pm seems an odd time for a concert. The Concert Hall at the Opera House was only about a quarter full, which was embarassing. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra performed Mozart's 41st Symphony superbly. But after interval, their of Richard Strauss' Tone Poem: "A Hero's Life" was ... Well, I have never been the greatest fan of Richard Strauss, and this work of his was heretofore quite unknown to me; but this perforamnce just blew me away with its magnificence! I gave a standing ovation, which I had never done before, as I do no do so on principle. Sometimes a principle needs be abandoned!
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Friday 6th June 2003ad
Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Interesting to hear the original orchestration of "A Night On Bald Mountain" by Modest Mussorgsky himself. It is hard to fathom what is the problem with it
Sergei Prokokofievis not my favourite composer by any means. I find his work attractive, but it lacks depth. Julian Rachlin was superb on solo violin.
Jean Sibelius' 2nd Symphony I not one I had paid attention to. But the performance gained by respect for both the work and the Orchestra. The Hall was all but full, in one of four performances, which sits oddly with the 60% last night. It deserved to be full tonight, but perhaps even more so deserved to be full last night.
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Thursday 5th June 2003ad
Midweek Concerts do not usually get me in, as I needs be up early for work. But this is the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. So, if I did hear them performing Mendlesohn, Schumann & especially, Beethoven's 6th Symphony live tonight, I would not hear these live by them ever!
I was more than fully satisfied. Peter Wispelway, at half-time, followed Scumann's Cello Concerto with an èncore of a Cello Sonata, which sounded like J.S. Bach to me. While the èncore for Beethoven's 6th Symphony, which completed the advertised programme, was the Final Movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony.
Thus the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra demonstrated an extra purpose to an èncore: to demonstrate the range of the Orchestra by playing as an èncore, a piece of quite different emotion to the the set work.
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Wednesday 4th June 2003ad
I find it hard to believe that the ALP has made one, so inconsequential as Simon Crean, the Federal Opposition Leader.
I also find it hard to believe that Kim Beazley, having lost twice to Rainman Howard in elections, believes that has had a sudden inspiration that will allow him to win, as the cock crows.
But the hardest thing for me to try to comprehend, is that the ALP Federal Caucus believes that only these two people have the ability to lead the party. Odd that so many men & women have such low self esteem, that they see their own qualities in such negative light.
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Tuesday 3rd June 2003ad
Now Rainman Howard has declared himself "Prime Minister for Life". More and more the Banana Republic Australia inevitably becomes.
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Monday 2nd June 2003ad
Returning to work after my Holidays is a joyless occasion.
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Sunday 1st June 2003ad
The day of reckoning is nigh! The last day of my vacation always sees me despondent that my achievments fell so short of what I had hoped.
However, I was on this occasion struck sorely by the wrath of the Most Venal Computer God - a Vile Wraith if ever there was one.
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Saturday 31st May 2003ad
Goat Island by night. It is the largest of the Sydney Harbour Islands, and although I had seen it just west of the Bridge, exceedingly numerous times, this day saw the first time I ever set foot on it. The easterly facing trio of houses I knew, descending in size down the hill, with their frontal lane; likewise the waterfront cottage, which proved to have the view one would expect.
But much of the island is hidden fom the Bridge: the massive magazine, designed for 3,000 barrels of gunpowder; the high wall for keeping the convicts in; the elegant Georgian barracks; the still occasionally working shipyard.
And there are the points of closer inspection: the beautiful individual fireplaces in the Harbourmaster's large house; the two centuries old chiselled grafitti; the central hill, higher & steeper than I had realised; the charming circum-island paved & tarred track, leading close to the Balmain Peninsular at one point, and past the slight ledge where the wretched Charles Anderson was forced to live, chained to rock.
Goat Island, with its stunning Harbour views, was for some decades aorund 1800, a place of hell for most of its inhabitants.
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Friday 30th May 2003ad
I walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge this afternoon, from south to north. It was on an impulse. But one should do this at least once each half-decade. It takes only a short time, for the span is of no great length.
Interesting it is, that Bridges are given an importance, which on basis of scale alone, is quite out of proportion. Yet it is fair, as a Bridge joins.
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Thursday 29th May 2003ad
The Bush Administration's claim that Saddam's Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction", still remains without evidence. I am quite justified in regarding the entire case that Bush & company put for war, as essentially a fabrication: a concoction of lies and half-truths.
Little George should cease using the word: "truth". He clearly has absolutely no concept of what the word means.
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Wednesday 28th May 2003ad
Now my New Computer has completely lost its ability to open in Windows 98. In the shadowy world of MS-DOS, I can see that all the programmes and pictures and sounds and words ar still there. But I am unable to use them where they are.
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Tuesday 27th May 2003ad
The Inner Harbour is such calmness, be
it fine or storm.
The circumstance which this requires is so implausible,
that it may indeed prove that the Godhead is.
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Monday 26th May 2003ad
My New Computer crashed. I was able to only get in moving with the Restore CD, loading it from the start and losing all other data. Fortunately I had saved those important things. It works like new, except I am unable to shut it off; for that will lose all once more.
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Sunday 25th May 2003ad
Middle Head Forts.
These were 19th and early 20th Century Gun Emplacements. They were not little Cannon, but great metal monsters with over-horizon capacity, ever though the earlier ones were still muzzle loading. However their placement, with a clear close view of the entance twixt North Head and South Head, meant that any ship trying to run Sydney Harbour would be cut to shreds without laying a shot on the entrenched land Guns.
The Guns are gone, sold for scrap. But the Emplacements still survive, with their sunken pits; metal positioning rails; carefully contoured smooth rock backwalls; tar floored and blast doored magazines; and evn some old carved grafitti.
there are tunnels in the dank gloom with dripping walls, where little bent Wing Bats rest during daylight. One subterranean chamber has the infamous "Tiger Cages" where, during the Vietnam War, the Australian Army tortured its own Commandos as training. I saw these cages with my own eyes, with their corrugated iron and chicken wire, in their flood prone room. Still there.
Up above ground, the spectacular views of the North, Middle & Inner Harbour lay before us, while the scattered green of the Bush sprawled across the residue of lost defences. The guns were never fired in anger.
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Saturday 24th May 2003ad
This afternoon, on a walk, I arrived at Old Cremorne Wharf as the Ferry was about to dock. So I took a sea-ride on Mosman Bay's flat waters, rounding the point to Cremorne Wharf. From where I walked home along Cremorne Point's eastern foreshore. The entire foreshore is parkland, green with trees, etched against the saline lake.
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Friday 23rd May 2003ad
Odd, how Mr. Alexander Downer [Australian Foreign Minister] readily urged international intervention in Iraq in response to internal villainy, and urges the same in Zimbabwe, but when faced with the Indonesian Army's policy of Genocide in Aceh, replies that this is "an internal matter for Indonesia".
My Dear Downer, consistency
is the cornerstone of credibility.
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On Helping Others: Just now, at 11.30am, as I repotted a very ill plant, I heard loud shrieking from the road. It seems an Indian Myna had been injured by a car. It was shreiking with pain. Four other Indian Mynas came to help, although they could clearly do nothing. Each time a car came, they scattered to the air, at the last moment. Then as soon as it left they returned to alight beside the injured bird. After less than a minute, a bus ran over it & I presume it was killed. All sound & movement from it ceased, and the other Mynas did not return.
While they roost together, Indian Mynas are territorial when feeding. So this was not necessarily attempted help by friends. And while it was futile, since there was absolutely nothing they could do to save the injured bird, the courage they displayed in the attempt, in a situation of severe danger to themselves was very moving: both uplifting and tragic at the same time.
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Thursday 22nd May 2003ad
I finally became a subscriber to 2MBS-FM this afternoon. Long overdue!
Also, I purchased two pots of Cat-Grass in Neutral Bay, for Helen's cat, Ricky Chat-Noir.
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Wednesday 21st May 2003ad
Any book, by whomever written, which urges foolish ones to kill themselves by self-explosion, along with innocent others, is clearly not the work of any Worthy Divinity.
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Tuesday 20th May 2003ad
Last night, the problem on the right side of my face resolved itself as an infected tooth problem, with the appropriate display of pain.
Sadly, unless someone cancels, I must wait until 3pm on Friday 30th May, to have the problem cured by dentistry.
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Monday 19th May 2003ad
I was in many places this afternoon: Town; Paddington; Woollahra; Bondi Junction; Town again. Travelling by Ferry, Train, Bus, and I even walked a lot! A book in Bondi Junction; CDs [one Tchaikovsky & one Joseph Haydn] at the ABC Shop in the QVB; but my first buy was the essential point of the outing: 2 bottles of Salt Tablets from John Bell's Pharmacy in Paddington. Such tablets should not be so hard to find!
Paddington had fewer Second Hand Bookshops than I remember [Larsen's seems sadly gone]; but even more Art Galleries. I saw dozens. Where do all the paintings hang? And all the sculptures stand?
This was the last day of my Weekly Red Travelpass. I am getting value. And, I am not finished yet!
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Sunday 18th May 2003ad
Just when I thought no greater calamity could fall upon me, courtesy of computers ...
Those chilling words on my older PC:
"Operating System not found".
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Saturday 17th May 2003ad
Fort Denison, alias Pinchgut.
In all my years in Sydney, I had seen this small island many times as I crossed the Harbour, over the Bridge or by Ferry. Yet today was the first I set foot on this mere slip of land. A rock-block encrusted slab, with its round and squat, menacing Martello Tower. I love it.
And in Sydney Cove, a Commorant was diving for food, around and under the ships & boats.
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Friday 16th May 2003ad
Quite by accident, I took in a free lunchtime concert at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. These were final year tertiary students: in order of appearance - Helen Chang [Piano]; Matthew Law [Flute]; Nicole Brady [Piano]; Laila Engle [Flute]. They were certainly worthy of a larger audience.
The quantity of talented, accomplished musicians is surely greater than the paid places available to them!
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Thursday 15th May 2003ad
John Howard?
Precedence for this name is for the talented actor.
The other one, the P.M.? He is Rain-Man Howard.
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Wednesday 14th May 2003ad
Woden or Wotan or Odin or Oðin.
However his name is spelt, He hung himself from the Tree of Life, to discover the Secret of Poetry, of the Runes.
Was it worth it, I wonder?
Is anything worth anything?
Or is it merely an empty gesture
In a shallow callous existence?
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Tuesday 13th May 2003ad
Circa 7.30am: At Cremorne Point Wharf, a Commorant sat on a sea girdled rock, flapping its wings in the recurrent rain, in an attempt to dry them. But the ferry trip was smooth, across the Harbour to Sydney Cove. The largest waves were but the wakes of other watercraft.
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Monday 12th May 2003ad
It rained overnight. I heard it not. But at dawning, the bitumen shimmered of a moist film, on the roads.
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Sunday 11th May 2003ad
It was a struggle to get there, but once there, I did enjoy most thoroughly the Australian Chamber Orchestra's matinee concert, "Bach & Sons", at the Sydney Opera House. Angela Hewitt directed from the Piano, both Grand and Forté.
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Saturday 10th May 2003ad
Mozart, tonight, was performed, appropriately, at Angel Place. This included the Flute and Harp Concerto, which in this series of concerts was performed for the first time in Australia, with precisely the same kind of instruments, as at the work's debut performance. Kate Clark used the Comté de Guines "new" Flute from London, a Classical Flute with more than one key, and therefore several extra low notes. Marshall McGuire played the Classical Harp, with one pedal [the Modern Harp has two] as was played by the Comté's daughter. The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, as always, were on period instruments. ... Excellent!!
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Friday 9th May 2003ad
At the Tap Gallery in Darlinghurst tonight, I saw Paula Vogel's play: "Desdemona". It is a three-hander, which re-casts Desdemona, Emilia & Bianca from Shakespeare's "Othello". Although I have never seen nor read "Othello", I gather that Vogel cast their characters in rather a different light, than the Bard's.
The performance was by The Factory Space, and directed by Roz Riley. Dimity Raftos was excellent as Emilia; while Kristy Kiloh as Desdemona and Madelaine James as Bianca were both good.
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Thursday 8th May 2003ad
I read about Afghanistan in Newspapers; hear about it on Radio news; see & hear of it on Television news; likewise, read its woes expanded on news via the Internet, from Australia, UK, India, USA and other countries.
They may be small items, but they can always be sought out. The overall story is one of continuing dismay. The Government still has no effective control outside Kabul and the Turkic areas in the north. Through most of the country, warlords rule. In the south-west, these brigands are styling themselves "Taliban" once more.
And what does the USA government do? Nag the Afghan authorites to do better, without giving them the funds needed for this. It smells of hopelessness.
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Wednesday 7th May 2003ad
Today I received from Jefferson City in Missouri, by e-mail, pictures of the tornado destruction in Gladstone in Missouri.
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Quite considerable damage! And each mangled house is a personal tragedy. Thanks to Adele Graham for sending me the photographs, and for Rande McCrary who took them.
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Tuesday 6th May 2003ad
"Tuesday's dead". Thus saith the Moody Blues. Well, not dead, but at times dead boring: an anti-climatic day, following one's survival of monday. But as I am on holidays, this should be irrelevant. It seems unfair too, to Tiw, for whom the day is named. As God of War, he may not have been at all pleasant, but he was certainly not boring.
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Monday 5th May 2003ad
If the Australian Governor-General, Mr Hollingworth had any respect for his Nation, his Office or his Family, let alone Himself, he would have resigned long ago.
Evidence of his appalling lack of judgement, when he was an Anglican Archbishop, continue to weep copiously from the witnesses to this past.
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Sunday 4th May 2003ad
Chess. Uhhh! Tell Me what its good for. ...*
Sometimes I do wonder! But at least over the last two days I have posted moves for twelve of the fifteen corespondence chess games, which piled up over the last week through lack of my time to deal with them.
[* With apologies to the late Edwin Star.]
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Saturday 3rd May 2003ad
Tonight in the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House, there was an excellent performance by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, of Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto & 5th Symphony, as conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti.
The unsylphlike Italian, at the end of the performance received, instead of the usual flowers, a substantial hamper.
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Friday 2nd May 2003ad
My Chronic Low Blood Pressure is so problematical that I have just has to lie down for hours, after returning from work.
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Thursday 1st May 2003ad
Iraq just drags on. Any conflict between the US forces and antagonistic locals, which leads to injuries and death, lends itself to two discrete accounts, one from either side, which seem not to be of the same incident. Poles apart versions, which suggest that attempting to seek the actual truth of what had happened, will be as likely to suceed as a search for a still-existing Garden of Eden, beside the ruins of the Saracen City of..
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Wednesday 30th April 2003ad
The sudden crash of Pan Pharmaceuticals, with mass recalls of many of its herbal remedy pills, is the page one news in Australia today.
I, for one, have no surprise at this demise.
Self-Regulation = No Regulation!
Economic Rationalism = The End of Quality.
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Tuesday 29th April 2003ad
Yesterday mid-morning, as I walked for my work, it was the 2nd Movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony playing in my head. I had played this CD recently [recorded by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra], & I played it again, soon after returning home.
Today mid-morning, as I walked for my work, it was the 1st Movement of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto playing in my head. This CD I had not played recently, but I did play it shortly after I arrived home. The latter recording is by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with Harold Wright on Clarinet.
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Monday 28th April 2003ad
Small black ants swarmed today on the letterboxes of Waverton. It has rained on & off in recent days.
But why is a brick wall containing metal letterboxes a preferred place to launch winged ants, as opposed to a plain brick wall? This question is one I know not the answer to!
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Sunday 27th April 2003ad
I stood on a Honey Bee this morning; on my front balcony at ~6.30am. It caught me quite by surprise, when I felt a small wet squish on the sole of my right foot. I raised my foot to see the Bee in its death throes.
The accident seems to have surprised the Bee too, as it made no attempt to sting my foot.
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Saturday 26th April 2003ad
Last night's concert, appropriate as it was to have German music conducted by an Italian on such a day, left me with sore legs, especially the right*. The Mozart Piano Concerto Number 24, of the first half, was not so much the problem; as was Mahler's 1st Symphony which followed the Interval.
Mahler is a gifted composer, I admit, but his addiction to Symphony length and Orchestra size, would make even Beethoven seem parsimonious in these matters - at least in my imagination.
Leider, this soreness of the lower limbs has plagued me all day, sapping what little enthusiasm I may have had.
[* This is due to Chronic Low Blood
Pressure, and especially,
as I did not rest enough during the day, prior to the concert.]
My review of the Concert is here.
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Friday 25th April 2003ad
Anzac Day is unusual, for this Australasian Public Holiday celebrates a biscuit.
It is also of historical interest, since it recalls a time when an Australian Prime Minister would behave with dignity & respect towards New Zealand, and not like a cowardly cad.
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Thursday 24th April 2003ad
Early in the dark-morning, I woke with this dream.
I was in this dusty, steep sided valley, quite devoid of vegetation. As I walked up the valley, I saw flood waters coming over the horizon from the mountain source of this river bed. Then almost immediately later, another torrent came over the mountain just to my left of the main flood; and briefly after that, the same from the other side of the main flood. I knew that I could be drowned. So I climbed up the steep & high side of the valley to my right, and was almost instantly at its top [this is a dream!]. However, it was a narrow ridge in a divided river bed. So I took hold of the dust of this ridge, just behind its rocky pinnacle, which faced the torrent. The flood waters swept all around me. Every bit of land was under water, except the pinnacle and the small dusty stretch behind it, where I clung. But even this was washed over briefly at times, by surges in the flood. I realised I would have been swept away and drowned, if I had not made it to the ridge. Then, shortly later, the flood began to subside.
At this point, I woke up & looked at the clock, whose dial read 3.13am. I was only awake for a few seconds, before returning to sleep. Yet in those few seconds I was fully awake, and this is why I remember the dream.
I had woken, without any emotion. Nor had there been any fear during the dream, as I was always well aware that I was dreaming. Even though the water washed over me, I felt neither its wetness, nor its temperature. I saw the dust, but did not smell it, nor feel it. It was day in the dream, but I saw just a small arc of blue sky above the mountains; with no sun, nor clouds. In short, it was purely a visual dream, with no other senses involved: no sound; no touch; no sense of warmth nor cold.
Why my subconscious woke me briefly, so that I would remember this dream, is a bit mysterious. Exactly what this dream really means is likewise mysterious.
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Wednesday 23rd April 2003ad
Last year, Meningitis killed 1,700 people in the West African state of Bukino Fasso. In this year to date, 900 more have died from it.
More deadly than SARS, but far less popular, media wise. With Meningitis, the deaths stay in West Africa. They come not our way.
But this tragedy scored a brief mention in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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Tuesday 22nd April 2003ad
Film of Shi'ite men on pilgrimage, in Iraq. Many cut their forehead with a sword; then beat it repeatedly with their hands, until the blood covers their whole head.
This affectation disgusts me!
It shows how far I am distanced from the Mediaeval Mindset. And also, that they have never left it.
There is no common ground.
Nor can there ever be.
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Monday 21st April 2003ad
At 9.20am, I discovered that the Pharmacy in Neutral Bay, at the corner of Wycombe Road & Military Road, did not open till 10.00am. As I possessed a weekly Red Travelpass, my method of waiting was to take a bus to the Hayes Street Wharf, then a ferry to Circular Quay. After 5 minutes ashore, I took the return ferry & bus to arrive back at the now open Pharmacy.
A very enjoyable way of waiting it was!
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Saturday 19th April 2003ad
Interesting to see & hear, two Violas da Gamba and two Theorbos, in an Orchestra tonight.
The Viola da Gamba looks superficially like a Cello. However, it has six strings rather than four; a more curved fret; a slightly narrower but deeper body; while the bowing is quite different, being done backhand! That is, whilst a Cello bow is held, more or less as one would hold a knife, with ones knuckle facing forward; in playing the Viola da Gamba, the palm faces forward.
I have read, that having a Cello play a Viola da Gamba part, has been known to happen. But this is absurd! The Viola da Gamba has a quite different sound, being higher, and what I describe as a "melodic whining". That sounds cruel, although it is not meant to! Enough to say, that whereas the Cellos play a J.S. Bach bassline with the Double Bass; the Violas da Gamba play mostly the melody, with the Violins & Violas. The amount of time that the Viola da Gamba players spent tuning, suggests that it is not an easy instrument.
The Theorbo looks something like a cross between a Lute and a Sittar; except that explains not those white keys, partway along the very long fret! And nor does it explain the separation of the strings into two groups, one of which almost never seems to be touched. The Theorbos played mostly with the Cellos and Double Bass. The sound is somewhat like a Lute, but is deeper and more resonant to my ear.
This same Orchestra, that is the Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra, I have witnessed using Bassett Horns in a previous performance. This was at 8pm on Saturday, 2nd March, 2002. That performance was of Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate and his Requiem, with Voice by the Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir, plus Soloists.
For the record: The performance tonight was Johann Sebastian Bach's composition of music for the Passion of Saint Mark. A day late, but wonderful all the same. The Voice was by the Sydney Philharmonia Choir in its Motet mode, plus Soloists.
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Friday 18th April 2003ad
The weather continues skittish, as yesterday.
A torrential downpour may suddenly cease after ten minutes. While five minutes past that, the sun may shine, however briefly. It is these low clouds, which are blown in rapid transit, from the south east; in which direction, if one travels far enough beyond the Tasman Sea, is the Southern Ocean. And this Ocean, which encircles the ice-bound massifs of Antarctica, is formidable in its energy.
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Thursday 17th April 2003ad
It was on a whim, that I went to the concert at Angel Place: the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as a Chamber Ensemble. Thoroughly enjoyable! A short concert which will hopefully ease My Mind to a productive weekend.
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Wednesday 16th April 2003ad
For some reason - decadent creature, c'est moi - I am greatly troubled by the wanton destruction in Baghdad, of the Museum of Antiquities, and the National Library.
The Iraqi secular minority could not
stop it.
The U.S. Armed Forces would not stop it.
And, if ever one needed proof of the incipient lack of mind, which is the soul of the mob, then this is surely it.
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Tuesday 15th April 2003ad
Emptiness [Noun]: A feeling you get used to.
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Monday 14th April 2003ad
"In Egypt this day was the
Festival of Ba'ath".
The words are from the Roman Calendar website.
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Sunday 13th April 2003ad
At 6.20am, I was walking up Murdoch Street, when I saw an increasing flock of Magpie Currawongs taking interest in an empty deep-fried chips container. It must have smelt right, but it contained no actual food beyond the grease stain. The group rapidly grew to a dozen. They all were surely pre-adult, as otherwise they would be in settled pairs, defending their territory to the death. The younger grey birds kept to the outer, whilst the bigger birds, already with their adult black & white plumage, fought it out over the cardboard & paper. Their calls, usually lyrical, became increasingly raucous & aggressive, as they realised they were dudded.
Then two came sharply to blows. One knocked his or her opponent down, then stood on the other's chest and aimed vicious looking beak stabs at the loser's face. The victim struggled free and on to the road, then raced back to threaten the oppressor, in the fearless and aggressive manner which these birds are famous for.
By this time, there were half a dozen Pied Currawongs and two Crows in a tree, which overlooked the squabblers on the ground. The aboreal birds seemed to take intense interest in the ground birds. But eventually, there was a general acceptance there was no food to fight over, and all gradually drifted away.
[Magpie Currawongs & Pied Currawongs are in size, between a Crow and a Pidgeon. Pied Currawongs are very Crow-like in shape; and are mostly black, with only small touches of white under the tail and the wings. Magpie Currawongs are taller, but more slender; have a beak like a dagger; and while they are mostly black, they are almost a third white. Currawongs are an indigenous Australian relative of the Crows, but unlike Crows, are noted songbirds.]
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Saturday 12th April 2003ad
Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Conducted by Elizabeth Wallfisch.
Conducting from the Violin.
Sydney Opera House.
Georg Handel: Concerto Grosso in A
Major.
Opus 6, Number 11.
Very characteristic Handel, and as I find Handel's work delightful, I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Antonio Vivaldi: Oboe Concerto in A
Minor
RV461.
Antony Chesterman guested on the Oboe. This is one of the many works that Vivaldi composed for the girl's orphanage, the Pietá. Characteristic Vivaldi, which I enjoyed very much.
Henry Purcell: Fantasia On One Note
Z.745.
A curious and interesting short work. The "One Note" is Middle C. The Programme Notes state that: "One part plays middle-C throughout". I think it was the two Cellos. What could have been merely a mathematical exercise, is given great charm due to Purcell's talent.
Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto Grosso
in D Major. Opus 6, Number 7.
I am no expert on Corelli, but this Concerto Grosso has that sound which I associate with his name. Very good indeed!
INTERVAL
Johannes Brahms: String Sextet
in G Major. Opus 36.
This was was the ring-in, I suppose, although "Baroque To Brahms" was the Concert's name. If I heard this Sextet blind, I would not have known it as Brahms; but then I am not the biggest fan of Brahms, although I would not agree with Tchaikovsky's damning indictment, of the work of the pathologically shy German.
Although it has the undeniable Romantic sweep of sound; the underpinning Baroque ideas, which the Programme Notes asked me to search for, did seem present. The composition as a whole, was texturely very complex, but never jarring. This, I suppose, is characteristic of Brahms. It is a very beautiful work!
The notes also outlined the personal life of Brahms, with his inhibiting shyness; and how this Sextet was composed to make his inner peace with Agathe von Siebold, with whom he had almost been engaged. They did exchange rings.
Final Thought Fragments
I have said that the Compositions were of a high order of excellence throughout; but naturally, such an assessment is only possible if the musical playing is also of a high order of excellence throughout!
This night the Symphony Hall was ~ 3/4 full in front of the musicians, but only ~ 1/4 full behind them. I, in the Choir to the right, had ample room to stretch out as I sat. This was excellent, as I was seriously tired. My tiredness increased progressively after interval; such that I would have fallen asleep, except that the melodic beauty of the Brahms Sextet lured my mind to a wakefullness, even when I closed my eyes. Making it home later; by ferry; then by bus; then by feet*; was a struggle indeed!
[* "by feet", rather than "by foot", as I am in the habit of using both of the appendages at the extremity of my legs, in a co-ordinated manner, when I wish to progress geographically, under my own personal locomotive power.]
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Friday 11th April 2003ad
The United States Air Force has a new name:
"Friendly Fire Is Us".
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Thursday 10th April 2003ad
Cheering crowds in Iraqi cities? Means nothing!
The British troops, when they first entered Belfast, were greeted by cheering crowds of Catholics.
The Israelis, when they first entered Lebanon and expelled the PLO, were met by cheering crowds of Lebanese, Muslims & Christians alike.
My Enemy may be Your Enemy too, but this will not on its own, make Us Friends, beyond the immediate present.
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Wednesday 9th April 2003ad
Lest we forget: the reason why the religious minorities in Iraq - such as Christians, Mandeaens & Yezidi - are found in the north, is that the Shi'ites are found in the south.
Note to the USA: Religious Intolerance always fractures the Bedrock of Democracy.
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Tuesday 8th April 2003ad
Today, by the Ancient Roman Calendar, is the 6th Day of the Megalesia, the Great Games. These are in Honour of the Magna Mater, the Great Mother [Goddess].
I approve. Without Your Mother, You would not be! And surely that is worth a celebration.
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Monday 7th April 2003ad
If Saddam is "irrelevant" as George and Donald and Colin keep saying, why do they keep going to great lengths to try to kill him?
Each and every comment of theirs, is echoed by their Lapdog, Yankie John of Kirribilli. But this is always at least half a day later. The Master speaks first. The Toy Poodle is allowed to bark, only later.
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Sunday 6th April 2003ad
At ~7.15am, at the top end of Murdoch Street, I saw the flower/fruit soft cones from a tree, together with leafy branch tips, scattered on the footpath. Some five minutes later, I understood the reason. I saw a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo in the tree's canopy. Then, also immediately, I spied a second in the same tree. As I watched, the first of these large parrots broke off a cone. As it stood securely on its right foot, it grasped the cone with its left foot and proceeded to carefully dissect it, blithely dropping whatever it decided was inedible.
Sulphur Crested Cockatoos are one of the largest Australian Parrots. They are pure white, except for their sulphur-yellow crest. They are as likely to feed on the ground, digging up roots or eating flowers, as to feed in the trees. They are not native to Sydney, instead inhabiting the open woodland further north. But escaped pets have established a substantial population here.
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Saturday 5th April 2003ad
"Moscow Radio Symphony
Orchestra"
now known as
"Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra
Of Moscow Radio"
Conducted by Vladimir Fedosayev.
Sydney Opera House.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
This Orchestra has a very strong sound. The gentle parts of this work had a touching sorrow, while the loud sections were truly tempestuous. It is the best I have heard this oft played work.
Sergie Rachmaninov - Symphonic Dances
A work I was unfamiliar with. If Tchaikovsky turned the light-hearted Austrian dance, called the Waltz, into something tragically passionate; then Sergei in the Second Movement of this work has delved even more darkly than Pyotr. In all three Movements, the music oscillates from sorrow to joy, from despair to gentle humour; all in a cloud of remembrance of a Russia he had lost forever.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - 4th Symphony
I heard Pyotr's 4th Symphony last year, in a superb performance by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. But tonight's performance was even better! The tempests were even more heightened; while the self-imploding of the inner torment of certain of the quieter moments, was an unclosed deep despair!
The second and third Movements had the pause between them competely crushed; while the latter's pizzicato was astonishingly fluid. The final Movement saw, at one crucial point, the strings passed the music to the wind & brass with an exquisite seamlessness. And the final crescendo was an anguished dragon in his death throes.
Some Final Thoughts
[1] Oddly, the seats behind the Orchestra were at least three quarters full, whilst those in front were only a quarter full. True, it was a minimum cost of $75.00 a seat, but such a superb Orchestra should have been better appreciated by Sydneysiders
[2] It seems to take enormous tenacity to play the Timpani in a Russian Orchestra. The Bass Drum, also, seemed liable to be destroyed, it shook so much at times. Yet, at other times, the playing of both was so gentle.
[3] Conducter, Vladimir Fedosayev, was so well unfazed by the small audience. He had the Orchestra play two encores, both of which I think, were orchestrations of Russian Folk Songs, but I do not know the name of either. It seems that Vladimir is with the great Georgian Actor, Kaz; whom, at a performance at the Belvoir Street Theatre in the late 1980s, assured the small audience that he would rather enthrall a hundred people, than bore a thousand. Vladimir & the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Of Moscow Radio certainly did enthrall.
[4] If you think that what I wrote above is way over the top, an indulgence in purple prose; well, as you see, I have considered this possibility. Considered it, but rejected it. I must write how this evening's music moved me, as best I can, no matter how poorly or gauche that may transpire when cast into my words. Better to fail and fall in a blizzard of untempered tempest; than to be too fearful, too timidly tepid, to trace what One's Soul has felt.
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Friday 4th April 2003ad
My March Dental Appointment is followed today, by my April Dental Appointment. I feel, tonight, better for it. I do so hope it lasts this time. It seems to me that certain untouched teeth from March, jealous of the attention to others, developed their own problems, so to gain centre stage in April.
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Thursday 3rd April 2003ad
A question in the Queensland State Parliament today, included the nonsensical phrase: "victims of alleged abuse". It should of course be: "alleged victims of abuse".
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Wednesday 2nd April 2003ad
I am proud to be not of a religion, which sees everything in shades of pure black & pure white. No Sons of Darkness versus Sons Of Light for me! We are all mottled.
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Tuesday 1st April 2003ad
This morning, I had the most unpleasantly massive hypoglycaemia. I felt my blood sugar seemingly low, and ate jelly beans. Then ate more. And more again! If I had not been in blood sugar free-fall, it would have made me feel rather sick. But despite this intensive eating, I still ended up with that unpleasant cold sweat through my hair & across my torso. It was cold enough to make me feel chill, once I had recovered, despite the warm day. And I had to continue at work with that unpleasant sticky residue, that a hypo-cold-sweat leaves one with. It remained, until I showered when I got home!
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Monday 31st March 2003ad
The Festival of Luna, according to
Ancient Rome.
Approprate, that it should fall on a Monday.
Auspicious, one might even say.
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Sunday 30th March 2003ad
That hour of daylight was returned to me overnight. Sadly, I seem not a trice more lively for it.
I may just complain to Salus, Roman Goddess of Public Safety & Welfare. It is her day, after all!
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Saturday 29th March 2003ad
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Edo de Waart.
Sydney Opera House.
Richard Wagner - Siegried Idyll.
This was only about 20 minutes long, & then we had the interval. This is the quickest I can recall an interval. The work, which Wagner wrote for his wife as she recovered from childbirth, is serene. I liked it very much.
Richard Wagner - The Valkyrie: Act III.
It opened with those well known dramatic strains; the only Wagner with which I am fully familiar. But then those eight black dressed "chorus" Valkyries appeared, directly afore me in my front row seat, whilst behind them were the cellos & double basses. At this short distance, the power of a well trained voice is almost like a shock wave. At the other end of the stage front, appeared the "starring" Valkyries: to wit, Brünnhilde & Sieglinde. Also appearing there was the rather testy God, Wotan.
The chorus were impressive. To my mind, Wagner very cleverly scored their "intersecting solos". Bruce Martin, who filled in at short notice for Peteris Eglitis in the role of Wotan, was very good. Elizabeth Connell, who did seem a little portly for a Battle Maiden, sang superbly as Brünnhilde. Margaret Medlyn was exceptional as Sieglinde; and she gained the greatest applause from those in the expensive seats, a few metres behind me. Very noisy in applause they were; with also stamping feet & whooping.
But an evening it was not for everyone. As I strained my neck for the occasional glance up to the surtitle screen, high above the stage, I caught out of the corner of my left eye, two couples, separated about four seats from each other. With each pair, the wife was on the left with intense gaze & ears to the stage. The husband was sitting with hands folded across the chest, in a universally understood gesture! One wife occasionally rubbed her husband's arm in consolation.
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Friday 28th March 2003ad
Today I saved seven bushes, which had been uprooted and dumped on a kerb. After three days of sitting on the grass, with just a few clods of earth attached to their roots, they persisted to grow. Such little trojans surely deserve to live. To my surprise, I was easily able to give six away, keeping just the one for my balcony.
They are, I believe, a Sydney foreshore native. I have seen them growing with Coastal Rosemary. They look like some kind of Grevillea.
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Thursday 27th March 2003ad
A wondrous scent of vanilla there was this morning, in 100 Walker Street in North Sydney. Many floors enthused it from one end to the other! This was due to the liquid used for cleaning the fridges.
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Wednesday 26th March 2003ad
Early this evening I was phoned by a market research company, and agreed to do a 15-20 minute survey about "sport". After a number of questions about beer, which established that I did not drink any "tap" beer, and only consumed the occasional stubby of Cascade or Coopers "Special Stout", the interview terminated after only 5 minutes. And that without any questions approaching anything about sport; unless of course, one considers consumption of beer as a sport. Some do!
=============================
Last night, I had hoped to go to Angel Place, purchase a ticket, and hear a piano recital by Olli Mustonen. Unfortunately, I was too ill.
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Tuesday 25th March 2003ad
Chillish it has been at night, for several days; while even the sunned hours have been less than very warm. Late this afternoon I had my first warm shower, since early January. Albeit, it was rather brief, and I finished with a cold rinse. An indulgence which, I dare say, I may well repeat with increasing frequency, as the daylight hours continue to shorten. A small indulgence, perhaps.
[For a eulogy on cold showers, written at a
warmer time ...]
[ Tony
Sims - Occasional Thought -
For The Day - Archive
4 .]
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Monday 24th March 2003ad
Nasiriya.
If two weeks ago, one had mentioned the name of this small city, few outside of Iraq would have ever heard of it. Now, probably more than half the people in the world know its name. And this, for what is merely a skirmish. Hard fought by both sides, it is true, but still, very very minor, in the seemingly endless history of bloody war on this planet.
For sure, most residents of Nasiriya would prefer to be know for some other datum.
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Sunday 23rd March 2003ad
We have a new Government today in New South Wales, which is the same as the old Government. They lost a few seats to the Opposition, but won a few seats from them.
Independents seem to have prised perhaps two more seats from the Opposition; one each from the Nationals & Liberals.
The Greens cornered about 1 in 10 votes, but despite running second in several seats, could win none in the Lower House. However, they seem set to score well in the Upper House.
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Saturday 22nd March 2003ad
Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Conducted by Edo de Waart.
Sydney Opera House.
Mozart's 31st Symphony - The Paris.
A delight, no matter what Wolfgang thought about Parisian audiences. To accomodate their tastes he put dramatic changes from soft to loud & vice versa, into the Symphony. I was in the front row, & from the expression on the violinists' faces, they very much enjoyed playing it.
Rachmaninov's Rhaspody On A Theme by Paganini.
I have heard this live before. To play the piano for anything by Sergei is difficult, as he wrote piano scores for himself. Olli Mustonen is a superb pianist. He even wipes his brow in complete harmony with the music. Olli also, at times, flutters his fingers before placing them on to the keys; and often a last key is spirally screwed down by a single adroit finger, most often the small finger on his left hand, & this in a beautifully formed movement. The violinists were very impressed by Olli's playing; their faces saying it all.
Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony.
It is a shame that Camille gave up the composing of Symphonies after this effort. Over the top it may be, but it is magnificent; especially as we pass into the last half of the second movement, the Pipe Organ thundering dramtically, while the whole Orchestra plays at high volume.
======================================
It was not just me who was impressed by the evening, as the audience applause was long & passionate. And, showing their knowledge, not a speck of applause occurred between any movements!
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Friday 21st March 2003ad
Today is the Equinox, which means that the day and night are of equal length, if we measure them with mathematics. By observation, however, they are not. It seems that visual distortions of the setting of the sun cause this curious discrepency.
[I am indebted to today's Sydney Morning Herald for this advice.]
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THE END IS NEAR
INDEED, IT IS HERE !!
©TONY SIMS, 2002 ad; 2003 ad- Text, Formatting & Ego.
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