Spirituality

A reflection of my spiritual philosophy...  


I take my spirituality seriously. At this point in time in my life - autumn I suppose - I refuse to be preached upon nor do I preach. Through the years there are events and occurrences I can't really put a name to; in fact, to some of them I no longer bother finding out 'why'. One of these is experiencing God, and relating with him. As it happens to me, I know what I feel... But if I try to describe it to anyone else - my thoughts and words will always be inadequate, and can only take me to a certain point. 

I firmly believe in God, the Father, Creator of all things, who so loved the world that he gave his only son. When I sing hymns and sacred songs I'm passionate about, they are my prayers and I feel closest to him.

"Sunset & Evening Star", is a beautiful poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, made into a hymn that I've treasured and sung through the years. I would very much love this piece rendered when my breath becomes air.




SUNSET & EVENING STAR

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

 

Sunset and evening star,

      And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

      When I put out to sea,

   But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

      Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

      Turns again home.

   Twilight and evening bell,

      And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

      When I embark;

   For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place

      The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

      When I have crost the bar.

Note: I grew up in a tightly-knit evangelical Christian faith, nightly family service, Sunday School, hymn-singing, Bible studies, Daily Vacation Bible School, leader in Christian youth groups, Campus Crusade for Christ, and all these... At the autumn of my life, I'm no longer religious, rather, Spiritual But Not Religious.

Ladies in Lavender

Listening Pleasure / Reveries 

We are never too old to dream a new dream. Imagination has no age. Dreams are forever.  After all, it's not the years in a life that counts, but how these years have been lived.  


A romantic and beautiful music poignantly played by violinist Joshua Bell. It's from the film Ladies in Lavender starring Dame Judi Dench (Ursula Widdington) and Dame Maggie Smith (Janet Widdington), with Daniel Brühl as Andrea Marowski. The film's original soundtrack was written by Nigel Hessby (Nominated for Classical BRIT Awards) and all performed by Joshua Bell and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, including compositions by favourite composers F. Mendelssohn, N. Paganini, J. Massenet, C. Debussy, P de Sarasate and J.S. Bach.





Video Credit:
Ladies in Lavender - Joshua Bell, Violinist. YouTube, uploaded by xyCuriosityxy. Accessed August 4, 2018.

Resource:
Ladies in Lavender (Film). en.wikipedia.org. Accessed August 4, 2018



(c) 2018. Tel Asiado.  Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.  

Plaisir d'Amour

Listening Pleasure / Reverie

What am I doing? What am I living behind? Each time I relate with someone is important because the interaction I have with them could change me or them in a way we may not be aware of.

Thinking through.

Letting go. The"cargo" I've been hanging on to that has been bringing unnecessary pressure.

Plaisir d'Amour. The joys and pains of love.





Video Credit: 
Plaisir d'Amour - Main theme from the film "Man, Woman and Child."  YouTube, uploaded by Francisco Lopez. Accessed July 21, 2018.  (Film sountrack composed by George Delerue)



(c) 2018. Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved.    

The gentler self

"I prefer by far the warmth and softness to mere brilliancy and coldness. 

Some people remind me of sharp dazzling diamonds. 

Valuable but lifeless and loveless."  

~ Anaïs Nin ~

I'm at that point in time in my life when I prefer warmth and softness... peace and quiet and open air.

We mellow with time. 




(c) July 2018. Tel. Autumn Reflection. All rights reserved.

Tchaikovsky Melody Gems

Listening Pleasures & Reveries


Sometimes our struggles with circumstances take their toll on us, the barriers that get in the way... including relationships, decisions to make, and health issues. They push us to behaviours not of our liking ...  What then?

To let go and back off,  to not be thwarted by people or by situation.  I'm grateful for music that appeases. You're right, Piotr.

“Truly there would be reason to go mad were it not for music.” ... Tchaikovsky





Above is Tchaikovsky's "Serenade Melancolique, Op26" played by Itzhak Perlman.
YouTube, uploaded by ballettheatre. Accessed August 7, 2018.   




(c) 2018.  Tel Asiado.  Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 

Mozart's Adagio and Rondo in C minor, K.617

Listening Pleasures / Reveries

Adagio and Rondo for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola & cello in C minor, K.617 (1791)

This splendid quintet, scored for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus in Vienna, May 23, 1791, less than seven months before his death. This work was composed for Marianne Kirchgäßner. It was first performed in concert at the Burgtheater on August 19, 1791.

Another version I've included: 'Adagio and Rondo for harp, flute, oboe, viola, cello' performed by Ensemble Wien-Berlin, uploaded by Night Visitor. Refer to 'video credit' below.) 




Video Credit:

Mozart's Adagio and Rondo for Glass Harmonica in C minor, K. 617. YouTube, uploaded by ComposersByNumbers.  Accessed May 28, 2018. (Composed in Vienna and dated May 23, 1791. For Marianne Kirchgäßner. First performed in concert at the Burgtheater on August 19, 1791. Performers: Bruno Hoffmann, glass harmonica; K. H. Ulrich, flute; Helmut Hucke, oboe; Ernst Nippes, viola; Hans Plumacher, cello.).

Mozart's Adagio and Rondo for harp, flute, oboe, viola and cello, in C minor, K.617.  YouTube, uploaded by Night Visitor. Accessed May 28, 2018. (Mozart's ADAGIO & RONDO from Ensemble Wien-Berlin: Suss (harp), Schulz (flute), Schellenberger (oboe), Christ (viola), Faust (violoncello). Parts: 1- Adagio 2-Rondo:Allegretto.)




(c) May 2018.  Tel a.k.a.  Inspired Pen. Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved.

Throwing back

My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane.



(c) July 2018. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Goodbye Again

Down Memory Lane / Soundtrack

An all-time favourite piece of music, Brahms Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op.90 - III. Poco allegretto, has just been played at Fine Music 102.5, a radio station I often listen to. So poignant. So heartwarming. Memories came creeping into my otherwise quite turbulent mind.

This piece is used as soundtrack of a 1961 classic romantic drama movie entitled Goodbye Again, starring Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins and Yves Montand. It was released in Europe as Aimez-vous Brahms?, adapted from a novel by Francoise Sagan, first published in French in 1959, and published in English the following year.

Incidentally, today, 7th of May, marks the birthday of Johannes Brahms, as well as Pyotr Tchaikovsky, two favourites.  


Below is a video of Brahms Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op.90 - III. Poco allegretto, with Maestro Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic.  (YouTube, uploaded by Nathaniel Adams. Accessed 7 May 2018.) 

"Say no more it’s goodbye
As before it’s goodbye
Every move, every sigh
Seems to prove it’s goodbye again."

Timely reflections through this piece of music as I decide to take an indefinite break from Facebook, a place I've freely given my time and efforts. Overly...  Distanced silences greatly help get things get into perspective.  

(c) 2018.  Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

Life is about balance

To relax, breathe deeply, when I sense I'm getting overrun by outside influences and losing my feelings.

We need time to lighten up defuse. We need time to contemplate, to reflect.  Just as in sleep our mental faculties relax, at some time in the day... so I need to disconnect from the moment's anxiety, before I can reconnect.  

Life is about balance. To trust but not be deceived. To be kind but not be abused. To never stop from improving.




(c) May 2018. Tel. Autumn Self-Reflections. All rights reserved.

Make Someone Happy

Randon Thoughts / Listening Pleasures

It's a wonderful feeling when we make someone happy.


This lovely popular song "Make Someone Happy" is introduced in the musical Do Re Mi with with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and a book by Garson Kanin, who also directed the original 1960 Broadway production. The plot is about a minor-league con man who decides to go straight by going into the business of juke boxes and music promotion.

Below, the song  is beautifully interpreted by Monica Ramey, singer, and Beegie Adair, pianist.  I first heard this beautiful song sung by Jimmy Durante in the film "Sleepless in Seattle." 

Make Someone Happy

Songwriters: Adolph Green / Betty Comden / Jule Styne

Make Someone Happy lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

It's so important to make someone happy,
Make just one someone happy;
Make just one heart the heart you sing to.
One smile that cheers you,
One face that lights when it nears you,
One girl you're ev'rything to.

Fame if you win it,
Comes and goes in a minute.
Where's the real stuff in life to cling to?
Love is the answer,
Someone to love is the answer.
Once you've found her, build your world around her.

Make someone happy, make just one someone happy,
And you will be happy, too.

Related Links / Resources:

Do Re Mi (Musical). en.wikipedia.org 




Video Credit:

Monica Ramey with Beegie Adair - Make Someone Happy. YouTube, uploaded by MLRJazz. Accessed May 1, 2018. 




(c) 2018.  Tel Asiado.  Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved.

Ebb Tide

When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just sitting and looking at the sea? Highs and lows? The waves dance to the music of its melodies. Lately, I've been consistently wanting soft currents in my own waves. (I took this picture during my few days' holiday in Sunshine Coast before Christmas 2017.)


Matt Monro sings "Ebb Tide," one of my favourite popular songs down memory lane. Composed by Robert Maxwell and lyrics by Carl Sigman.




Video Credit:
Ebb Tide by Matt Monro. YouTube, uploaded by 65Seasons. Accessed April 21, 2018.



(c) 2018. Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved.    

Clara Wieck Schumann's Trio Für Violine, Cello and Piano, Op. 17

"Why hurry over beautiful things? Why not linger and enjoy them?"
~ Clara Wieck Schumann

Why hurry over beautiful things? Why not linger and enjoy them?
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/clara_schumann

Over a cup of coffee (loving the smell of Rosabaya Nespresso), I'm enjoying an early Saturday cool morning with Clara Schumann's music, Trio in G-minor, Op. 17. Clara Wieck Schumann is one of my most admired woman composers of all time.

Beautiful composition.

Robert Schumann was fortunate in having such a dutiful and talented wife giving up her musical talent, composition in particular, for marriage. Such creative energies lost but we're still blest to capture some of her delightful works. 

Video Credit:

Clara Schuman - Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano, G-minor, Op. 17. YouTube, uploaded by Yuliya Debedenko. Accessed April 14, 2018.



(c) 2018.  Tel Asiado.  Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved.

The Mystery of Your Gift

Reveries / Listening Pleasures

"It's the courage to turn when the pages have burned
And your story now seems at an end.
Seasons stay and seasons go
Sending your memories adrift.
It's the beautiful longing, embrace the unknown
That's the mystery of your gift."


This beautiful song "The Mystery of Your Gift" is featured in the film BoyChoir released in 2015. Josh Groban recorded and co-wrote it with Brian Byrne, featuring The American Boychoir. After watching the film, I was blown away by the song. As one passionate for choral singing, a choir member since I was a child and now a chorister with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in the autumn of life, I find the lyrics extremely meaningful and the tender singing by Josh Groban poignantly touches my soul.

It's not important to me that the movie has inaccuracies, for example, about Handel's Messiah. Contrary to what the movie implied that there were no boy soprano parts, Handel actually wrote the soprano arias for boys and those parts were sung in Dublin and at the Coram Benefit Concert. 

The BoyChoir (film) and its featured "The Mystery of Your Gift" (song), offer an inspiring message on growth, change, and the love that binds us together. "Seasons stay and seasons go, sending your memories adrift... and the lessons you gave to me: before you can fly, you must fall. It's the beautiful longing, embrace the unknown, that's the mystery of your gift." 





The Mystery of Your Gift (Lyrics) 

A single note passes out of the ashes
A flickering ember begins
It's the courage to turn when the pages have burned
And your story now seems at an end.

Seasons stay and seasons go
Sending your memories adrift.

It's the beautiful longing, embrace the unknown
That's the mystery of your gift.

And the echoes of your melody will always live in these walls
And the lessons that you gave to me, before you can fly, you must fall
It's the beautiful longing, embrace the unknown
That's the mystery of your gift.

There's a voice in the shadow calling for more
There's a rhythm that beats from within
Lending your voice to the warmth of the song
There's a strength in the choir of one
Pure as the voice that sees the place where the weight of your past may now lift
It's the beautiful longing, embrace the unknown
That's the mystery of your gift.

And the echoes of your melody will always live in these walls
And the lessons that you gave to me, before you can fly you must fall
So sing higher & higher, a thousand new voices ring through
If you sing out of the fire, the courage you need comes from you.


Related Links / Resources:

The Mystery of your Gift (original) by Josh Groban. Choir: American BoyChoir. Accessed April 2, 2018.

The Mystery of Your Gifts (Lyrics).  www.metrolyrics.com. Accessed April 2, 2018.

The Mystery of Your Gift. www.jwpepper.com. Accessed April 2, 2018.



Video Credit:

The Mystery of Your Gift. YouTube, uploaded by TUPIC. Accessed April 2, 2018. 




(c) 2018.  Inspired Pen. Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved.

Thais Meditation

Twilight meditation.

An all-time favourite piece by French composer Jules Massenet, "Méditation",  a profoundly heart-warming symphonic intermezzo from his opera Thaïs, written for solo violin and orchestra.

Sometimes what we know deep in our hearts are clouded over by doubts due to other people's opinions.  I need to clear away these clouds, and listen to my heart. Way to keep peace with myself.           





Video Credit:

Fritz Kreisler plays Thaïs-Meditation. Uploaded by bwv1064. Accessed March 17, 2018.


(c) 2018.  Tel Asiado.  Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved.

Reverie on a Sunday afternoon

One beautiful thing about our memories is that they are ours whether they are happy or sad, good or bad. So to my memories. They belong to me wherever I am now.

Earlier, I was lazing around when from the radio slowly wafted Claude Debussy's Reverie. This was a favourite of a loved one gone. Memories came creeping down my past lane. This beautiful heartwarming piece has escaped me for years. 

Three days from now it will be another season. Autumn, where I live. I love autumn. Season after season, we sustain our life through the next. I can do the same with memories. By keeping the good times deep within, my present is sustained when I'm feeling low.




Video Credit:
Debussy: Reverie for piano. Youtube, uploaded by Reza Touserkani. Accessed February 25, 2018.


(c) 2018.  Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved.

Serenade at Midnight

Listening Pleasures

"Nobody had ever measured, not even poets, how much a heart can hold." 

~ Zelda Fitzgerald

Down Memory Lane: 

My serenade 
(Sung by The Platters).
Here are the lyrics:

My serenade begins in the night, Plays the strings of my heart.
My serenade becomes a delight, Your kisses help play the part.
Sweet and strong love plays it soft,  And our hearts begin to glow.
As it plays our serenade, It's music with thrill to love.

This is my serenade.  My serenade. My serenade.
This is my serenade.  My serenade.

Music based on Franz Schubert's 'Serenade'
Lyrics: Peter E. Luedemann and Giuseppe Solera

Note: Franz Schubert composed a number of works known as "Ständchen" (meaning: serenade) The music here is one of the most popular.


Video Credit:

Schubert's Violin Adagios. YouTube, uploaded by makhfii. Accessed February 14, 2018.

Another version of  Schubert's "Serenade" uploaded by LonelyMoonRise. Accessed February 20, 2018


(c) 2018.  Tel Asiado.  Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved. 

Theme from Mahogany (Song)

Random Thoughts / Listening Pleasures

Reflection comes from one of my all-time favourite poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
A Psalm of Life - What the heart of the young man said to the psalmist.

I got an email that initially upset me. No longer. Taking this moment to look back at the last binge ... the past year. Rest assured I am moving forward.

Listening: The haunting song "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" written by Michael Masser and Gerald Goffin. It was recorded by American singer Thelma Houston in 1973, then most notably popularized by Diana Ross as the theme to the 1975 movie Mahogany produced by Motown/Paramount in 1975.

A Psalm of Life

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

   Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

   And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

   And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

   Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

   Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

   Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

   And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

   Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,

   In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

   Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!

   Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act,— act in the living Present!

   Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

   We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

   Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

   Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

   Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

   With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

   Learn to labor and to wait."


Poem Credit:
Poetry Foundation. Accessed January 23, 2018.

Video Credit:
Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To). Youtube, uploaded by Shooofly. Accessed JAnuary 23, 2018.



(c) 2018. Inspired Pen. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

On Wings of Song

Listening Pleasures for Meditation

There are many ways of breaking a heart. We all know that ... but what really breaks one is taking away its dream, whatever that dream might be.   


What I'm listening to in reflection? An all-time favourite short piece "Auf Flügeln des Gesanges" (English: "On Wings of Song"), by composer Felix Mendelssohn. This lovely piece of music was dedicated by the composer to his beloved sister, Fanny Mendelssohn, also a composer.

The poet Heinrich Heine created the lyrics (1835) for its well-known operatic version. The video provides images of  various paintings from artists Chagall, Homer, O'keefe, Pissarro, Sargent, and Spadecaller portraying the beautiful night garden, where love is transported by the "Wings of Song." It's a Spadecaller Video: Mendelssohn's "Auf Flugeln des Gesanges." On the piano is Peter Nagy.   (Accessed January 20, 2018.)






Resource:

Mendelssohn - Lieder, S547/R217 (7 Lieder from Mendelssohn, Op, 19a, 34, 47): Mendelssohn - Auf Flugeln des Gesanges (On Wings of Song) (from Op. 34, No. 2), S547/R217, No. 1 by Péter Nagy.

(c) 2018. Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

A writing life

Random Thoughts

If you're a writer, how's your writing life lately?  Although I don't buy a lot of "How to Write" books any longer, I still enjoy revisiting the select few I've kept.


My best friend and soul mate, and writing support, gone now, once told me that if I have lost my moment's inspiration, it's probably in the tip of my pen. She was my staunchest critic and same-time greatest encourager who never gave up on me especially when my pen seemed dried up.

I enjoy reading my fellow writer-friends' works. They inspire. 

How far can we as writers tell stories without as much revealing of ourselves? How much do we want to unveil of ourselves in the first place?

In sensitive wanderings, through range of narratives, how much can we show with freedom and candour our thoughts from our inner world, and our memories, fill our yearnings to let go those creative juices?

Oh this writing life!

Tchaikovsky Nocturne in D minor for Cello

Listening Pleasures

Tchaikovsky's Nocturne (The Tchaikovsky Handbook 'TH' 64), No. 4 of his Six Pieces, Op. 19, for piano (1873), was arranged for solo cello and orchestra by the composer for a concert in February 1888. The orchestra consists of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B-flat), 2 bassoons + 2 horns (in F) + violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses. 

There is only one movement: Andante (D minor, 60 bars), lasting approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

Below is a video of Tchaikovsky's Nocturne in D minor for cello, performed by Julian Lloyd Webber and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maxim Shostakovich.





Composition.  Tchaikovsky arranged Nocturne for a performance by Anatoly Brandukov in Paris, in February 1888.  The orchestral version was transposed to the key of D major, but the piano piece is set in C-sharp minor.



Video Credit:

Tchaikovsky's Nocturne in D minor for cello. Youtube, uploaded by JLWFan1. Accessed January 10, 2018.

Resource:

Nocturne (Tchaikovsky Research).



(c) 2018. Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

Backing down and letting go

How do you feel when the day got to you? That is, from your ego’s point of view. A pricked self-esteem...  when the very "professional" people who are meant to provide the anodyne are the ones who let you down.

I’ve heard that before, they’re just doing their job, right? Please help, my collar pain is re-visiting.

Or people who profess to be our friends yet whose actions are far from caring.

We do need to practice the quieting and containing of ourselves for our own sake, you know, those times when things don’t seem to come together.

We need to just quiet down - even if that something is aversion and hurting the very values we hold on to.

Quieting down can take a while. Even many months. This month I've started cleaning up my Address Book. It feels good. Can't wait to clean-up my Facebook 'friends' who are never friends.

Who said life is a bowl of cherries. It can be, but not always.

To keep peace, we usually put on that ultra-flexibility, that is, not insisting our way, even if we should have. But then, there comes a point when, in the face of other people’s intransigent, unreasonable attitudes, we are challenged. That point when we can still give our piece of mind even if it means a bit of boat-rocking.

Giving one's peace of mind doesn't have to be always verbal. It can be an action signifying "enough is enough."

Sometimes, refusing to back down has its own rewards. It can even mean a breakthrough.

A point in time. 



(c) 2018. Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 

Mozart's Serenade for 13 Winds in B-flat major, K. 361

Music Appreciation Hour /




Serenade No. 10 for 13 Winds in B-flat major, K 361/370a "Gran Partita" (1781-82)

00:00 - Largo. Allegro molto
09:14 - Menuetto - Trio I - Trio II
19:31 - Adagio
25:02 - Menuetto. Allegretto - Trio I - Trio II
30:24 - Romanze. Adagio - Allegretto - Adagio
37:45 - Thema mit Variationen
47:18 - Rondo. Allegro molto

Performed by the Orchestra of St. Luke, with conductor Sir Charles Mackerras. Oboe - Stephen Taylor (principal) & Melanie Field Clarinet - William Blount (principal) & Daniel Olsen Bassett Horn - Gary Koch (principal) & Mitchell Weiss Horn - Stewart Rose (principal), Scott Temple, William Purvis, and Russell Rizner Bassoon - Dennis Godburn (principal) & Marc Goldberg String Bass - John Feeney.  (Recorded by Telarc in 1994)

Painting: Gesellschaft in den Gärten der Villa d'Este, Johann Wilhelm Baur

As my intent is an hour of music appreciation, for more information about this music by Mozart, go to Wikipedia.org's Serenade No. 10 (Mozart).


Video Credit:

Mozart / Serenade for 13 Winds in B-flat major, K. 361 "Gran Partita" (Mackerras). Youtube, uploaded by scrymgeour34. Accessed 7 January 2018.


(c) 2018. Inspired Pen. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 

A Life Quote

Sometimes our lives have to be completely shaken up, changed, and rearranged to relocate us to the place we are meant to be.