Somewhere in Time

Listening Pleasure / Reveries 

Not all those who wander are lost...  


Somewhere in Time is a 1980 American romantic fantasy drama film directed by Jeannot Szwarc. It is a film adaptation of the 1975 novel Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson, who also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Plummer.  Reeve plays Richard Collier, a playwright who becomes obsessed with a photograph of a young woman at the Grand Hotel. Through self-hypnosis, he wishes himself back in time to the year 1912 to find love with actress Elise McKenna (portrayed by Seymour), but comes into conflict with Elise's manager, William Fawcett Robinson (portrayed by Plummer), who fears that romance will derail her career and resolves to stop him.

The film is known for its musical score composed by John Barry. The 18th variation of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini also appears several times.





Video Credit.

Maksim - Somewhere in Time. Uploaded by Mattyb2001uk. Accessed December 30, 2019.


Resource:

Somewhere in Time (Film). Wikipedia.  Accessed December 30, 2019. 



(c) Dec 2019. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 

Jacqueline du Pré plays von Paradis 'Sicilienne'

Listening Pleasure / Reflections 


Jacqueline du Pré (1945-1987) plays "Sicilienne", composed by Maria Theresia von Paradis. Accompanied by Gerald Moore on the piano.  (Note: Sicilienne in E-flat major for violin and piano is ascribed to Paradis. However it is dubious and possibly composed by its purported discoverer, Samuel Dushkin. [Wiki]

For this page, I'm not really after a debate on the actual composer, but I've created this page for my mood's listening pleasure and for reflections.   

Lonely is not being alone, it's the feeling that no one cares.



Uploaded by Jake. Accessed December 6, 2019. 



(c) Dec 6/2019. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 

Day's Quotes

Reflections

19 Nov 2019.

"I can see the sun, but even if I cannot see the sun, I know that it exists. And to know that the sun is there - that is living." ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Silences

"... See how nature  - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls." ~ Mother Teresa

Nature works in silence. Yet, the flow of the wind, the beautiful sky, trees, and flowers convey the most beautiful story without words when we just look at them.

The world of love that leaves me unspoken. The pains. The joys.

All creativity requires silence. The beauty is in the silences.


Photo:

Balmoral Beach. I took the photo in one of my drifts almost 20 years ago. Down memory lane...  when we used to be in this beach weekly, either Saturday or Sunday morning. A lovely quiet place to walk, stretch, meditate. Those were some of the most wonderful years I cherish. I visited Balmoral Beach one twilight Friday last year 2019; the place was too crowded, no longer a portion of space I'd rather be, although it's still one of the best where I'd relish 'fish n chips'. / Tel  


(c) Novembert 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reservd. 

Walk Away

Down Memory Lane


Music: Walk Away by Matt Monro

Lyrics

Walk away, please go
Before you throw your life away
A life that I could share for just a day
We should have met some years ago
For your sake I say
Walk away, just go.

Walk away, and live
A life that's full
With no regret
Don't look back at me
Just try to forget
Why build a dream that cannot come true
So be strong, reach the stars now
Walk away, walk on.

If I heard your voice
I'd beg you to stay
So don't say a word
Just run, run away.

Goodbye my love
My tears will fall
Now that you've gone
I can't help but cry
But I must go on
I'm sad that I after searching so long
Knew, I loved you, but I told you
Walk away, walk on, walk on

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Ramin Djawadi

Walk Away lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group


Video Credit:
Walk Away with Lyrics. Uploaded by Eliz MaLind. Accessed October 21, 2019. 



(c) October 21, 2019. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 

Moths and the lure of light

Moths are engaging!  Often they don't care when they see the flame ... and too late, when their wings are beaten.

In my readings, I vividly  recall something like moths navigate by the light of the moon. They then fling themselves into flames because they think they are headed toward the moon's light.

Well, at least they die in ecstacy!

Music in my mind:  'Tonight' from the musical romantic drama West Side Story, music by Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim. 


Today, the minutes seem like hours
The hours go so slowly
And still the sky is light
Oh moon, grow bright
And make this endless day endless night
Tonight! 






(c) October 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved

Autumn a second spring

"Autumn is a second spring, when every leaf is a flower." 

~ Albert Camus ~

Tchaikovsky's "Autumn Song" for meditation, from the Seasons (October), with Vladimir Tropp. Uploaded by pianoushko. Accessed 1 March 2019.  (It happens that in Australia the season of Autumn starts on March, a reason I created this post March, not October.)  

 Autumn, the mellower season!  I must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.



(c) March 1, 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Try to Remember

Listening Pleasure. Reveries.


30 Sept 2019. As September sunsets - a farewelling of my birth-month of ups and downs, sadness and joys, disappointments and realisations. And welcoming a new month. October. Second chances... new beginnings.

"Try To Remember", sung by Nana Mouskouri.

This song is about nostalgia from the musical comedy The Fantasticks. Lyrics written by lyricist & librettist Tom Jones.

Try to remember the kind of September when life was slow and oh, so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September when grass was green and grain was yellow
Try to remember the kind of September when you were a tender and callow fellow
Try to remember and if you remember then follow

Try to remember when life was so tender that no one wept except the willow
Try to remember when life was so tender that dreams were kept beside your pillow
Try to remember when life was so tender that love was an ember about to billow
Try to remember and if you remember then follow

Pondering over time past

"Memory is the way we keep telling ourselves our stories - 

and telling other people a somewhat different version of our stories."

 ~ Alice Munro ~

There's nothing more beautiful and calming than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline. All in my mind.

I poured myself a second cup of coffee and sipped it slowly, sitting up straight.

Time alone doesn't heal all wounds. It's how I spend my time that helps me heal or hold me back. 

The silence was now very loud.




(c) September 25, 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Musings amid excitements

Everytime I get home from our choral rehearsals I'm spent physically and emotionally. I feel like I've been running all day. Our rehearsals last until 9.30pm. UsuallyI get home half past 10pm, always spent and hungry put together. But fulfilled, thank God for the love of singing.    

The following day after choral rehearsals, I usually wake up late. The anxiety is especially pits during the tutti rehearsals, with the orchestra and the soloists. Everyone on our toes. Thank God for our dynamo of a conductor in Maestro Brett Weymark. On occasion, we are also conducted by Liz Scott, Music Director of SPC's VOX, the Young Adult group.  

Amid excitement, last minute preparation, my mind is brilliantly lit yet I can't stop thinking...  especially when much is expected of our performance.

Will it be a good full-house... they said they were selling tickets good but couldn't be sure ahead of time of a sellout.  Ah, I'm tingling all over with excitement. Something I usually feel in any of our performances, but the excitement is always exhilarating the moment I step inside the Concert Hall's Choir's Box.

Here's a snapshot of our Alto group, our last Sydney Philharmonia Choirs - Festival Chorus Concert due to the SOH's two-year renovation. We performed Dvorak's Requiem at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall last September 21, 2019. Just one performance this time. It's down memory lane now. Wonderful memories...   (I'm in front row, leftmost).  A haunting yet powerful piece of music.    

Let me see if I can find a good Dvorak Requiem performance in Youtube... Here:  I found one: performed by Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks with Mariss Jansons, conducting. Dvorak Requiem, uploaded by romanticism_is_not_dead. Accessed September 24, 2019.



(c) September 2109. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Comfort.

Composed by Paul Simon and performed as a solo by Art Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is a song about providing comfort for someone in need. 

Even when clouds are clearing and we are feeling better, a crisis may overwhelm. There are times when "friends just can't be found". When this happens I breathe deeply, look to my higher power for strength, keep faith and listen for nudges or messages that are coming through... it could be a help from someone unexpected or a situation that turns out as a blessing-in disguise. 

This song is a great comfort. 

Bridge over Troubled Water

By Simon & Garfunkel

"When you're weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all
I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

Golden Rules for making the best of golden years

I most probably have few more in mind . Here are salient ones I'd like to share to whoever reads this page from my self-reflections.  


My golden rules for making the best of my golden years, in no order:

• Just because I am "older" doesn't mean I am "old". 
• Immobility is my greatest enemy. Activity, my best ally. 
• I'm never too old to give moral support or to receive it.
• To exercise the mind as much as my body. 
• Retirement should mean activity, but with "complete" freedom. No more boss/bosses to deal. I plan my activities, do what I want to do or love to do. 
• To relax. Take it easy. It's my time. 

(c) September 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.  

Gift of Music

Sometimes I imagine what the choirs in heaven will be like. When Mozart, Bach and Handel, or Tchaikovsky, Schubert and Mahler are put to service.

Music is good for the soul; at times when my faith is on shaking ground I turn to listen to a choral music especially one I've sung before; very soon I'm filled with thankfulness for God's gift of music.

I'm thinking of Handel's Messiah in particular "And the Glory of the Lord" wherein we Altos start. I love that. I've sang Messiah few times: before joining Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and few times with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. I haven't any excerpt of our SPC performances to share but here's one I found and really like, performed by Bow Valley Chorus. Brilliant performance! Uploaded by jstumple. Accessed September 4, 2019.





(c) September 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Relationships Quotes

"Relationships are never airtight. They have empty spaces and when things are mostly good you don't notice those spaces.  But then something happens, and someone comes along and fills some of those spaces. They make you realise they were there in the first place. How wonderful if feels they're not empty anymore." ~ Anon

Self-Esteem Quotes

Give. But don't allow yourself to be used.  
Love. But don't allow yourself to be abuse.
Trust. But don't be naive.  
Listen. But don't lose your own voice.

"Find your passion.
Without passion, you don't have energy.
Without energy, you have nothing." ~ Warren Buffet

On appreciating

People may not say 'thank you' or "like" in Facebook. I may not get the credit for my efforts I deserve. It's fine. Somehow, I'd like to think that when I share to others or serve them, there is applause for me in heaven. Almighty sees to that.   



(c) August 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved. 

One misty morning

Except that the trees were bare, I love the misty morning.



(c) August 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved. 

Positive Perspective

Quotes I treasure through time.

"Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tide and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire." ~ Teilhard de Chardin. 

Tracking reflections

Mesmerising quote. Discussions. Arguments.
Discussions are always better then arguments, because an argument is to find out who is right, and a discussion is to find what is right. 

Balance. Life.
Life is about balance. Be kind, but don't let people abuse you. Trust, but don't be deceived. Be content, but never stop improving yourself. - Necole Stephens. 

Positive Outlook.
"No matter how badly people treat you, never drop down to their level. Choose to keep your peac and walk away."

Hope. Recovery. Love. Light. Laughter.
Hope in Recovery through Love, Light and Laughter.
"I'm not a perfect person. I make a lot of mistakes. But I reallyy appreciate those people who stay with me afer knowing how I really am."

Success. Success is doing ordinary things extraordinary well." - Jim Rohm.

Self-righteous Comments.
"Too full of  yourself"??
You've just made a ridiculuos claim tgat a performance by Janet Baker and Murray Perahia, two great artists particularly noted for performing Schubert's music  - a very amorphous and unspecific criticism - and then you accuse my friend of being full of himself for having the temerity to disagree with you? That's a knee-slapper.
Now, why don't you demonstrate your superior Schubert chops and enlighten us all as to just what is wrong with this performance...

Holding on to something annoyances

Do you ever want to say something that's annoying you off, but you know it could start trouble or an argument, so you hold inside and let it drive you crazy? Oh yes! 






(c) July 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Pondering on The Dream of Gerontius

Languishing...
Longing for something whilst contemplating as Gerontius travels from his mortal soul.

Intense soul searching looking for something hungering within.

Nothing beats listening to Dame Janet Baker sing "Softly and Gently" from Sir Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, Op 38. Janet Baker--Mezzo-soprano. Sir John Barbirolli--Conductor. Hallé Orchestra.  Uploaded by liederoperagreats. Accessed July 7, 2019.







(c) July 2017. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Abigail's Song

When you're alone, silence is all you know.  

What a beautiful song! Out of the blue, I thought about it today and simply wanted to listen to the sound of it.   

Abigail's Song is significant to me. It was included in our Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' Carols at the House 2014.




 

When you're alone, silence is all you see.
When you're alone, silence is all you'll be.
Give me your hand and come to me.

When you are here, music is all around.
When you are near, music is all around.
Open your eyes, don't make a sound.

Let me in the shadow, Let me in the shadow.
Let me in the light of your shadow.

Let me in the shadow, Let me in the shadow.
Let me in the light of your shadow.


Katherine Jenkins sings Abigail's Song (Silence is all you Know).
Song from Doctor Who Christmas Special 2010, A Christmas Carol.
Lyrics by Murray Gold.
Uploaded by Ilenia83. Accessed July 5, 2019.




 (c) April 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Pondering

"Open your eyes. The whole world is filled with God." 

~ Johann Wolfgang Goethe ~

 (c) January 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Twilight Reverie with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 "Adagio un poco mosso"

Reveries, Listening Pleasures


I found this music by piano music by Beethoven soothing and calming for quite a dreary twilight winter. 

Sometimes feeling alone and lonely heightens fears of inadequacy. We need that sense of belonging:  belonging to a group we call friends.  Knowing that we belong fosters inner warmth that accompanies well-being... security that somehow melts fears of the unknown. 




Video Credit:

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 Adagio Un Poco Mosso. Youtube, uploaded by Ibakaya. (Apology, I'm not sure of the performers.) Accessed June 25, 2019.

Another link - here.

Note:  The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E♭ major, Op. 73, by Ludwig van Beethoven, popularly known as the Emperor Concerto, was his last completed piano concerto. It was written between 1809 and 1811 in Vienna, and was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven's patron and pupil. The video above contains the second movement, "Adagio un poco mosso" which I listen to in one of my reflective moments... where B major forms a quiet nocturne for the solo piano, muted strings, and wind instruments that converse with the solo piano. Beautiful!


(c) June 2019.  Tel. Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved.

Retirement

Retirement is leaving one's job and ceasing to work. My tasks and activities continue except I now do them with complete freedom pursuing things I love.  





 (c) June 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Starry, Starry Night

Listening Pleasure / Reverie

"Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, 
they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will."




"Vincent" is a song written by singer-songwriter Don McLean as a tribute to famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. It is also known by its opening line, "Starry Starry Night", a reference to the Dutch post-impressionist painter Van Gogh's 1889 painting The Starry Night, an oil on canvas. 

Keeping with his reputation as a crazy artist, Van Gogh was committed to a mental health asylum in Arles after the ear incident with Gauguin. History has it that Van Gogh painted Starry Night while in the mental hospital, and that the landscape in the painting depicts a dreamy interpretation of the view Van Gogh had from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, just before sunrise, with the addition of an ideal village.  

In Starry Night painting, contoured forms are a means of expression and they are used to convey emotion. Many feel that van Gogh´s turbulent quest to overcome his illness is reflected in the dimness of the night sky. The village is painted with dark colors but the brightly lit windows create a sense of comfort.


Don McLean wrote the lyrics of this famous song in 1971 after reading a book about the life of van Gogh. It's poignantly beautiful.

Starry, Starry Night 

Artist: Don McLean, Singer-Songwriter

American Pie Released: 1971

Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land.

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now.

Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now.

For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life, as lovers often do
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.

Starry, starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget
Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in the ragged clothes
The silver thorn, a bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.

Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will.

Songwriters: Don McLean

Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Video Credit: 

Don McLean - Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) with Lyrics. Uploaded by wysty67. Accessed June 10, 2019.

Resource:

Vincent (Song). en.wikipedia.org.  Accessed June 10, 2019. 



(c) 2018. Updated June 10, 2019. Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved.    

The ideal woman

How the great fashion & clothing designer Giorgio Armani embodies the ideal woman: serene, confident, elegant, at ease with herself and with the world."




(c) June 2019. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Self-Worth Quotes

Boldly and lightly face up, but never give up!

Some people add warmth to each new day, by the smiles and love they give away.

Life is a series of moments.

Through the Eyes of a Child (revisited)

Inspired Pen. Musings.


"We could sometimes see our days,
as through the eyes of a child."

We all love children's innocence, laughter and giggles through their no-cares-of-the-world pranks. And most of all, look through their eyes. How we miss those years, those wonderful childhood fond memories that Mark Twain talked about in his famous children's books.


I've loved this song Through the Eyes of a Child many moons ago. I posted about it five years back - here. In recent years, the song started creeping within after I felt affinity with a toddler I've spotted in his wonderful mother's loving arms on her online profile. Little by little, this kind of 'kinship' from a distance has been slowly unraveling. Now, he has grown up to be a winsome child and my soft spot remains... for you, Ned. (29 April 2019)

THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD

Performed by Percy Faith & Female Chorus 

Music by: Émile Stern,  Lyrics by: Eddy Marnay 

The wide eyes of a child

Look upon a world reborn

See the glory of a rose

That never bears a thorn.

The wide eyes of a child

Can invent a laughing moon

And the orange sun leaps high

Just as a floating toy balloon.

He clearly sees

The flower and the bird

Whose thoughts he knows

Without needing any word.

And any child can hear

Ringing laughter from a stream

Hear the music of the heart

To us a half-forgotten dream.

(In sleep he hears

The star's distant song

Oh, may its wonder last

For his whole life long...)

If we had vision too

As we stumble on our ways

We could sometimes see our days

As through the eyes of a child.

(Originally recorded by Frida Boccara in French, "Un Jour, Un Enfant". )

Video Credit:
Through the Eyes of a Child. Percy Faith and Female chorus. Youtube uploaded by Jokarilon. Accessed 29 April 2019.          


Photo Courtesy:
Ned Williams  by Liz Scott.  April 29, 2019.


(c) April 29, 2019. Tel / Inspired Pen. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 

Peace Piece (Piano Music)

Music / Reveries


Bill Evans's "Peace Piece" is an unrehearsed modal composition that he recorded for his "Everybody Digs Bill Evans" LP in 1958. It is hailed as one of the most beautiful and evocative solo piano improvisations ever recorded.  Virtual Museum Exhibit: Pasos Peace Museum.




Video Credit:

Bill Evans' "Peace Piece".  YouTube, uploaded April 14, 2019. All rights reserved.
Visit: www. pasospeacemuseum.org.




(c) April 14, 2019. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.