Saturday morning delight ... Mozart's lovely Trio KV 498

Listening pleasure on a cold and chilly Saturday morning down-under...


A wonderful performance by Martin Fröst, klarinet;  Roland Pöntinen, piano; Maxim Rysanov, altviool.  Recorded during Janine Jansen's International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht 2011.(YouTube, uploaded by AVROTROS klassiek. Accessed August 8, 2020.)





About this piece, and I'm quoting from a friend's insight: "The lovely Eb trio KV 498, in a crystalline and lyrical performance by Martin and friends, here with his longtime pianist Roland Pontinen and the great violist Maxim Rysanov. The KV 498 trio has been misnicknamed the "Kegelstatt" trio for over 200 years. In actuality, it was the KV 487 french duos that were composed two weeks earlier, "untern Kegelscheiben" ("while play skittles") by Mozart. This lovely Eb trio, KV 498 was not. Mozart writes on the autograph of KV 498 (now in Paris) very simply, "Ein Terzett fur Klavier, Klarinette, und Viola."- Dr. Vincent DeLuise, Mozartian and clarinettist. 


(c) August 8, 2020. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

I am... I said

Listening Pleasure / Reveries 

The past days I've been gravitating on this old song "I am... I said",  popularised by Neil Diamond. Self-isolating and physical-distancing due to Covid pandemic crisis have been challenging to many people living especially for one living alone. 


"I Am... I Said" is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond. Initially, it was quite unsuccessful, released as a single album (Stones)  on March 15, 1971. It slowly climbed the charts. 

Video Credit:

I am I said - Neil Diamond (with lyrics). YouTube. Uploaded by Jack Lim. Accessed August 6, 2020. Live performance at the Aquarius Theatre in Los Angeles. 1988.


Resource:

I Am... I Said. Wikipedia.  Accessed August 6, 2020.  



(c) August 2020. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.  

A moment of random thoughts

Random thoughts whilst resting from a day's practice of minimalism...

Sometimes silence can speak louder than words.

If you want to know the person, read what the person says themselves ...

When you have many ideas, writings go all over the place.

"Simplicity" is the secret of the success that everyone can understand.

Be forewarned. It's definitely not for those who cling to certain sacred cows --- Sorry, I can't pull off such premise.

"Anyone who hasn't really loved hasn't lived. ~ Agatha Christie, Sad Cypress.

If God exists, why does he allow human sufferings?

Seascape / Ocean.
The enthralling thing about the ocean is it chanages everyday, and much bigger than we are --- such magnificent creation of the Almighty.

Writers.
Some writers are just good at honeying their analysis with fantastic storytelling.

Starting Over.
It's never too late to start over. If you weren't happy with yesterday, try something different today. Don't stay stuck. Do better." 

If I had words

When I heard Camille Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 (Finale) played over at ABC Classics this morning, I found myself filled with emotions, further aggravated by a chilly winter morning and a bit downcast from some unwelcome body aches.

For a long time I've loved Camille Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 in C minor "Symphony with Organ", written in 1886. Then came the film Babe, with its theme song, "If I had words", a short but with beautiful heartwarming lyrics. It became even more significant when my memory drifted to one of my recent years' concert with  Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, "Music from the Movies", conducted by our warm-hearted conductor Liz Scott. Babe's song was included.

Brief history of the song: "If I had words" was first recorded in 1978, sung by Scott Fitzgerald as a duet with Yvonne Keeley. The lyrics and arrangement were by Jonathan Hodge, a prolific writer of TV jingles and movie themes, who also produced the single. The backing was by the St Thomas More Roman Catholic School Choir in Chelsea, London. I have no idea, but wonderfully strange enough, the music was adapted from the finale movement of Camille Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 in C minor.

The lyrics are indeed too short and simple, but my God, they're deeply profound to me, alongside Saint-Saëns's "organ symphony" music.

Link: "If I had Words" - Here. Sung by Yvonne Keeley and Scott Fitzgerald.

If I Had Words

If I had words
To make a day for you
I sing you a morning golden and new
I would make this day

Last for all time
Give you a night
Deep in moonshine.

If I Had Words lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Music & Media Int'l, Inc

Video:  
Camille Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 “Organ Symphony” (Finale), performed by the Auckland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Thomas, with Timothy Noon on the Organ. From the concert "Organ Symphony" recorded November 2012 at the Auckland Town Hall. YouTube, accessed July 5, 2020.





Resource:

If I Had Words. en.wikipedia.org. 


(c) July 5, 2020. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

The Lost Chord

Earlier I was sorting out a box of uncategorised CDs I haven't touched in years when I found an old CD from my past, The Cliff Adams Singers: The Golden Years of Song. These are songs loved by our parents and influenced on us.  Upon review of the 20 tracks, I dawned upon few I'm familiar with and love to this day. One song in particular haunted me: The Lost Chord. With a bit of research, I realised the music is composed by no other than Arthur Sullivan, a setting of an 1858 poem by Adelaide Anne Procter. Sullivan composed it in 1877 whilst tending to his brother on his deathbed.

The Lost Chord was not written for public use but it quickly became a success, the subject of one of the first-ever phonograph recordings in 1888. It has been recorded by prominent singers at the time, including Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, and Nelson Eddy, among others. 

Below, the haunting but beautiful The Lost Chord, sung by Webster Booth, British Tenor. YouTube, BigTezza12. Accessed June 15, 2020. 



The Lost Chord 
Lyrics by Adelaide Anne Procter
Music composed by Arthur Sullivan. 

Seated one day at the organ
I was weary and ill at ease
And my fingers wandered idly
Over the noisy keys

I know not what I was playing
Or what I was dreaming then;
But I struck one chord of music
Like the sound of a great Amen
Like the sound of a great Amen

It flooded the crimson twilight
Like the close of an angel's psalm
And it lay on my fevered spirit
With a touch of infinite calm

Full Moon and Empty Arms

This post is inspired by full moon tonight. 

"Full Moon and Empty Arms" is a 1945 popular song by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman, based on Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. Frank Sinatra's version is the best-known recording of the song.

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, is a concerto for piano and orchestra composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff between the autumn of 1900 and April 1901 The second and third movements were first performed with the composer himself as soloist on 2 December 1900. The complete work was premiered, again with the composer as soloist, on 27 October 1901, with his cousin Alexander Siloti conducting.




Hélène Grimaud plays beautifully movements 3 (Allegro scherzando), of this emotionally charged piece of music. YouTube, uploaded by StupeurAlice. Accessed June 5, 2020.

The second movement (adagio sostenuto theme) appears in Eric Carmen's 1975 ballad "All by Myself". The 3rd movement (allegro scherzando) which is featured in this video provides the basis for Frank Sinatra's 1945 "Full Moon and Empty Arms".

For the complete Piano Concerto No.2, I decided to listen to Van Cliburn, with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin, conducting. Youtube, uploaded by classicalrarities.

The soundtrack of the 1945 classic movie "Brief Encounter", starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard, which centers on the lives of two happily married man and woman who fall in love with each other after a chance encounter at a train station, features a musical score based on this Piano Concerto. It's refreshing to find a classic romance without meet-cutes and pathetic attempts to be clever, with two adults who know what is happening to them, feeling passion which they may have thought was lost for good, by the same token both know their undertaking is unwise and know, within their realities, what needs to be done.

This piece is one of Rachmaninoff's most enduring popular compositions, and established his fame as a concerto composer.



c) June 5, 2020, 6pm. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

Morning Mood

"Morning Mood" (Norwegian: Morgenstemning i ørkenen, 'Morning mood in the desert') is part of Edvard Grieg's famous Peer Gynt, Op. 23, written in 1875 as incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play of the same name. It was also included as the first of four movements in Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46.

Beautiful!

Pensive. Today is anothre one of those dark and seemingly gloomy Sunday. But just because the skies are falling and I'm social distancing doesn't mean I have to sit around doing nothing... I'm blissing out on some of my favourite easy listening classic music. Here's one:  Grieg's "Morning Mood". 




Got to give this day the chance to become another beautiful day in a life...


(c) May 2020. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

Good-bye again

We have loved and gave too much but nothing seemed good enough. I'm reminded of something a great South American poet Pablo Neruda said in one of his poems on Farewell and sorrows ... 

"So play the waltz of the serene moon,
the barcarole in the water of the guitar,
until my head lolls dreaming:

that all the sleeplessness in my life weaved
this arbour where your hand lives and flies
watching over night of the sleeping traveller."

We learn to leave softly and quietly. Move on from where we are not appreciated. I will no longer impose myself where my shadow is not needed.   

Listening pleasure: 

Since my youth, many moons ago, I've loved this piece.  Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 3, Op. 90 "Poco allegretto" 3rd movement. Uploaded by Jack Gibbons. Accessed May 7, 2018.  With the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, recorded December 1967. Another version of this 3rd movement is performed by SNU Symphony Orchestra.

Soundtrack from movie Goodbye Again (1961). "Say no more, it's Good-bye", sung by Diahann Carol. Music by Georges Auric and Johannes Brahms. Lyrics by Dory Previn. 

Say no more its goodbye 

As before its goodbye 

Every move, every sigh 

Seems to prove its goodbye again.

Say no more its goodbye 

As before its goodbye 

I can tell, save the lie 

Its farewell and goodbye again my love.

So why deny you will leave me

You have in the past 

If it isn't the first time 

It wont be the last.

Say no more its goodbye 

As before its goodbye 

Every move, every sigh 

Seems to prove its goodbye again 

Say no more its goodbye 

As before its goodbye 

Its my fate, this I know 

I must wait 'til you say hello again.

Note: Aimez-vous Brahms (Do you like Brahms?) is a novel by Françoise Sagan, first published in 1959. It was published in English in 1960, and was made into a film under the title Goodbye Again in 1961 starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Perkins.

(c) May 2018. Updated May 7, 2020. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

From travels and sorrows

"From travels and sorrows I returned, my love,
to your voice, to your hand flying on the guitar,
to the fire that with kisses interrupts the Fall,
to the circling of the night in the sky.

For all men I ask for bread and kingdom,
I ask for land for the farmer without fortune,
let no one expect respite from my blood or my song.

But I cannot quit your love without dying.

So play the waltz of the serene moon,
the barcarole in the water of the guitar,
until my head lolls dreaming:

that all the sleeplessness in my life weaved
this arbour where your hand lives and flies
watching over night of the sleeping traveller."

~ Pablo Neruda ~

Thanks to a Swiss friend, Ilse, who shared this poem at Facebook.


(c) May 2020.  Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

Silence is not an absence of sound

"Silence is not an absence of sound 

but rather a shifting of attention 

toward sounds that speak to the soul."  

- Thomas Moore -

Today is the birthday of Thomas Moore, Irish poet, singer and songwriter, and famous for that poignant song "The Last Rose of Summer". He was also a good friend of Lord Byron and Shelley. Sir John Stevenson set the poem to its widely known melody, which was published in December 1813.

"The Last Rose of Summer" is a poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. He wrote it in 1805, while staying at Jenkinstown Park in County Kilkenny, Ireland, where he was said to have been inspired by a specimen of Rosa 'Old Blush'. The poem is set to a traditional tune called "Aislean an Oigfear", or "The Young Man's Dream", which was transcribed by Edward Bunting in 1792, based on a performance by harper Denis Hempson (Donnchadh Ó hAmhsaigh) at the Belfast Harp Festival. The poem and the tune together were published in December 1813 in volume 5 of Thomas Moore's A Selection of Irish Melodies. The original piano accompaniment was written by John Andrew Stevenson, several other arrangements followed in the 19th and 20th centuries. [Wiki]

The lyrics of the poem compares the last rose of summer of our twilight years... a poignant  reminder of the passing of time.   

The Last Rose of Summer

'Tis the last rose of summer,
    Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
    Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
    No rose-bud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes
    To give sigh for sigh!

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one.
    To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
    Go, sleep thou with them;
Thus kindly I scatter
    Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
    Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,
    When friendships decay,
And from love's shining circle
    The gems drop away!
When true hearts lie wither'd,
    And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
    This bleak world alone?

(c) April 2020. Tel.  Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved. 

Enjoy open-handed blessings

I hear it. I read it all over the written forms. Lots in social media too. This comparison of anything, or of some celebrities. Who is better. Who is best.

Let's enjoy benevolent blessings instead of comparing them unnecessarily - be it songs, poems, inventions, composers, musicians, writers... you know what I mean. Okay, I confess I'm a die-hard Mozartian, but this doesn't necessarily mean I don't love Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Beethoven, Mendelssohn or Bach. And many more...  


Franz Liszt's Liebestraum No. 3 ("Dream of Love")



There's hardly any day I'm not in YouTube searching for a video that I can feature in my blogs.

These strong comments relating disagreements about different renditions! We are fortunate in having so many fantastic pianist, cellist and violinists, to name few talents, and brilliantly playing the same sonata in different ways. And they're free. As to performances, for example, a Mahler symphony to that of Haydn's. Or a Chopin to that of Liszt. Or in conducting, Bernstein to that of Karajan. In a way, it's what makes a composer brilliant - when their work is subject to many views or interpretation.


Frederic Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu (Op. 66)



It's likely that even the composer himself might not have played his work the same way every time. We have heard of great composers revising their work few times. 

All great musicians are good and listening to them and their versions is certainly a pleasure.  Let's enjoy and savour each note that vibrates into the air!  




Video Credit: 

Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu (Op.66). Uploaded by Rousseau. Accessed May 30, 2020.

Franz Liszt's Liebestraum ("Dream of Love"). Uploaded by Rousseau. Accessed May 30, 2020. 




(c) April 2020. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.   

The Dangling Conversation

I've enjoyed songs of Simon & Garfunkel but there are three in particular I've loved through the years: The Sound of Silence, The Boxer and The Dangling Conversation.

It's The Dangling Conversation I'm listening to now...


The Dangling Conversation is a song written by Paul Simon, first released in September 1966 as a Simon and Garfunkel single “The Dangling Conversation”/“The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine”. Apparently the song never made it onto the UK charts. Simon was surprised that it was not a bigger hit. It was released a month later as a recording on the Simon and Garfunkel album more popular Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.


The theme of The Dangling Conversation is a failed communication between lovers. It starts in a room washed by shadows from the sun slanting through the lace curtains and ends with the room “softly faded”. The lovers now read from different poet: Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost, two of my favourite poets. Wonderful mention for anyone familiar with these two great poets.


Simon has compared this song to The Sound of Silence, but says The Dangling Conversation is more personal. Indeed, it is... 

Below, Simon & Garfunkel Through the Years - The Dangling Conversation (Live In Concert).  (Accessed April 27, 2020.)  Thank you very much, Simon & Garfunkel. 




(1)
It's a still life water color
Of a now late afternoon
As the sun shines through the curtained lace
And shadows wash the room
And we sit and drink our coffee
Couched in our indifference
Like shells upon the shore
You can hear the ocean roar
In the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs
The borders of our lives

(2)
And you read your Emily Dickinson
And I my Robert Frost
And we note our place with book markers
That measure what we've lost
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm
Couplets out of rhyme
In syncopated time
And the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs
Are the borders of our lives

(3)
Yes, we speak of things that matter
With words that must be said
"Can analysis be worthwhile?"
"Is the theater really dead?"
And how the room is softly faded
And I only kiss your shadow
I cannot feel your hand
You're a stranger now unto me
Lost in the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs
In the borders of our lives



(c) April 2020. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

I'll take you home again, Kathleen

An old loved song came rushing by. All because I wanted to listen to Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, 2nd movement ...


"I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" is a popular song written by Thomas P. Westendorf in 1875. The music is loosely based on Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Flat Minor Opus 64 Second Movement. In spite its German-American origins, it is widely mistaken to be an Irish ballad. In fact, for many years it's what I thought too.

Westendorf, then teaching at the reform school known as the Indiana House of Refuge for Juvenile Offenders in Hendricks County, Indiana, wrote it – apparently – for his wife, whose name was Jennie, ot Kathleen. In a way, it's a kind of "answer" to a popular ballad of the time, "Barney, Take Me Home Again," composed by Westendorf’s close friend, George W. Brown, writing under the nom de plume of George W. Persley.

Melancholy... full of memories.  




Video Credit:

 Jim Finnegan - I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen. Uploaded by mihaireal. Accessd April 26, 2020

Resources: 

I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen. Wikipedia. Accessed April 26, 2020. 

(c) April 2020. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Sniffed out from my past journals (2)

Something worthwhile I've done, and still doing, whilst in social distancing due to COVID-19. I've managed to clean-up and re-organise my 21 journals, including to-dos, rumblings, quotes, moment-outburst, raw notes, all sorts... nota bene. This will be an on-going activity, but hereon, better organised. In this post, I have sniffed them out from these past journals as a process of re-organising - my own thoughts, and quotes from my readings, from watching TV or from listening to a favourite radio program.

There's nothing satisfying hearing someone say something exactly what we want to say, or reading the right words that reinforces what we believe in. Or letting out pent-up sentiments. Liberating. Healing.


Continued from 'Sniffed out from my past journals, Part 1'

When you read a line that is so well-written, you just close the book and stare at the wall for a minute... I don't know with you, my mind occasionally go wild with fantasies, other times, I'm stilled, quieted at the thought of what becomes of the character I so relate to.

Nowadays, I find life getting more complicated. We can only hope for the best. I'm rapt listening to one of my favourite Tchaikovsky music Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique". This particular music is sad, melancholy. It makes me think about life, myself, what I've done... where I am going. In musical  terms, thank God for the beautiful adagio in the first movement that brings gentle harmony to the chaos of living represented by molto allegro and more turbulent allegro vivace in the succeeding movements. When my emotions overwhelms, I rumble a lot, and takes a while to quiet down. Like Tchaikovsky's music, I look forward  relishing the Finale's 'adagio lamentoso', mournful, yes, but still a beautiful adagio.     

Some music touch us in powerful ways and leave an impression that makes us change our outlook in life. The various musical movements goad me to rethink and re-evaluate my life  journey. For instance, Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" parallels to my journey, dramatic twists and turns in life. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the moment, and grabbing the inspiration from this beloved maestro's enchanting creation that has meant much through the years.   

Listening:

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 "Pathétique" / hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra) ∙ Lionel Bringuier, Dirigent ∙ Accessed April 27, 2020.   

Inspired Pen rests... 

(c) April 13, 2020. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

(c) April 2020. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

Sniffed out from my past journals (1)

Something worthwhile I've done, and still doing, whilst in social distancing due to COVID-19. I've managed to clean-up and re-organise my 21 journals, including to-dos, rumblings, quotes, moment-outburst, raw notes, all sorts... nota bene. This will be an on-going activity, but hereon, better organised. In this post, I have sniffed them out from these past journals as a process of re-organising - my own thoughts, and quotes from my readings, from watching TV or from listening to a favourite radio program.

There's nothing satisfying hearing someone say something exactly what we want to say, or reading the right words that reinforces what we believe in. Or letting out pent-up sentiments. Liberating. Healing. 


* The true profession of a man is to find his way to himself..." - Hermann Hesse

* Time is like a river. You cannot touch the same water twice because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment of your life.

* Gene Kelly did it best! Walking and singing in the rain is fun especially with rain a bit warm. Or running away from the waves on the beach one lovely day. Sensations! That's what makes it fun. Simply enjoy. Don't think.

* Voltaire: "Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats."  

When a loved one dies, we don't want to let go, but we have to let go. We move on, for our life is for the living, BUT we don't forget, for they are loved ones who left us.

The beautiful  thing about memories is that they are ours whether they are good or bad. They belong to us, no matter where we are now. 

*Friendship. True pleasure consists not in the multitude of friends, but in the worth and choice.

* Every one and then, we deserve some fun. How much fun choco is! Instead of how to lose those pounds in two weeks.  

Mark Twain:

"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."

"Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience. This is the ideal life."

Colin Powell: "A dream doesn't become reality through magic, it takes sweat, determination and hard work."

Maya Angelou: "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive, and to do so with (some) passion, (some) compassion, (some) humor, and (some) style.

The sea. The relentless sea! Not just the beach but the ocean - simultaneously calming and energising, inspiring and rejuvenating. (Whilst musing over the sea, allow me to indulge my senses with one of my favourite concerts with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs: A Sea Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams, based from the poem of the same name, by famous American poet - Walt Whitman. Here's a link from YouTube - A Sea Symphony.  Unfortunately our performance has no video recording. (Thanks to uploader Colin). 

This writing pen deserves a rest to withdraw from seemingly tireless thoughts.

(c) April 2020. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

A friend to me

... is someone who sees
sorrow behind my smile,
love behind my anger,
reason behind my silence.

... is convenient when it is, and when it is not. 

... stands by, present or not. 

... is authentic.

... honest. 

... shares common interests, not merely a taker but also exposes me to new things. 

Basically, a friend is someone who makes life a little better and sometimes a whole lot better! 

Before I can have a friend, I have to be a friend first. 

Not everyone can be! 


(c) March 2020. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.  

Dealing with signs

When something keeps happening over and over again, I consider it a sign that it needs to be dealt with, but often I tend to ignore the signs as nothing to worry about, "it will pass"; other times, I simply procrastinate to act on. 

Hindsight, it's really not always a negative message. It could just be a gentle reminder, a nudge, that I've got some work to do! 



Note: Apparent signs for me concerns health and people-related. 


(c) March 2020. Tel. Autumn Reflections. All rights reserved.

Tchaikovsky Symphony 5 in E minor, "Andante cantabile"

Listening Pleasures / Reveries

My memories seem to live through music. As time goes by, it's becoming more pronounced.
   

Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza

This heart-warming "Andante cantabile" is the second movement of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's loved Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64, in four movements (I. Andante – Allegro con anima II. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza, III.  Valse, Allegro moderato, and IV. Finale: Andante maestoso).


Below video, Maestro Leonard Bernstein conducts Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5 in E minor - II Movement, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.



Through the years, Pyotr's "Andante cantabile" remain in my heart amongst my other favourite and best loved romantic music. It was composed by Tchaikovsky between May and August 1888 and was first performed in St Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre on November 17 of that same year with the composer himself conducting.

There's a poignant love song "Moon Love" popularised by the late Frank Sinatra actually adapted from Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, lyrics written by Mack David, Mack Davis and Andre Kostelanetz. It was recorded by Frank Sinatra twice, first in 1939 with Harry James, and in 1966 in the album “Moonlight Sinatra“, arranged by Nelson Riddle (Reprise Records). If I remember right, I think Glenn Miller Orchestra also made recording of  this wonderful "Moon Love" piece.




Moon Love (Lyrics)

Will this be moon love, nothing but moon love
Will you be gone when the dawn comes stealing through
Are these just moon dreams, grand while the moon beams
But when the moon fades away, will my dreams come true

Much as I love you, don’t let me love you
If I must pay for your kiss with lonely tears, say it’s not moon love
Tell me it’s true love, say you’ll be mine when the moon disappears.



Video Credit:

Frank Sinatra: Moon Love. thefranksinatra.com. Accessed 17 November 2019.

Harry James & His Orchestra, featuring Frank Sinatra. Accessed 17 November 2019.

Leonard Bernstein - Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5 in E minor - II Movement. Uploaded by Nelson Zapata. Accessed 19 February 2020.  Boston Symphony Orchestra.


Resource:

Symphony No. 5 Tchaikovsky (Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64). Wikipedia. Accessed 17 November 2019.



(c) 17 November 2019.  Updated 14 February 2020. Tel. Leaves from my Musings.  All rights reserved.

Mahler's "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen"

Reveries / Music to Reflect on

Jessye Norman sings "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" (O garish world, long since thou hast lost me ) - from Rückert Lieder

Rückert-Lieder (Songs after Rückert) is a collection of five Lieder for voice and orchestra or piano by composer Gustav Mahler, based on poems written by Friedrich Rückert. The songs were first published in Sieben Lieder aus letzter Zeit (Seven Songs of Latter Days). 

This is recorded at Avery Fisher Hall with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic. Performed at the opening of the 1989-90 season. (Note: In Wikipedia, Ich bin der Welt adhanden gekommen is the third song and not the fifth, as mentioned in the caption.)

Lyrics:
(Source: Musixmatch)

Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,
Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben,
Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen,
Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!

Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen,
Ob sie mich für gestorben hält,
Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen,
Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.

Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel,
Und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet!
Ich leb' allein in meinem Himmel,
In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied!

(bit more English translation) 

I am lost to the world,  
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,

With which I used to waste a lot of time,  
Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben,

It hasn't heard from me for so long  
Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen,

It may think that I died! 
Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!

I don't care at all  
Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen,

Whether I'm thought to be dead  
Ob sie mich für gestorben hält,

I also can't say anything against  
Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen,

Because I really died in the world. 
Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.

I died in the middle of the world,  
Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel,

And rest in a quiet area!  
Und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet!

I live alone in my sky  
Ich leb' allein in meinem Himmel,

In my love, in my song! 
In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied!

***

I am lost to the world  
with which I used to waste so much time,
It has heard nothing from me for so long
that it may very well believe I am dead!

It is of no consequence to me whether it thinks me dead;
I cannot deny it,
for I really am dead to the world. 

I am dead to the world's tumult,
And I rest in a quiet realm!
I live alone in my heaven,  
In my love and in my song!

Video Credit:

Jessye Norman "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" Ruckert Lieder 5/5.  Uploaded by Gr8hopio. Accessed January 17, 2020.

Resource:

Rückert-Lieder. Wikipedia. Accessed January 17, 2020. 


(c) January 17, 2020. Leaves from my Musings. Tel. All rights reserved. 

New Year 2020 Reflections

Reflections  / Musings

Passing end-of-year reflections while looking forward to a new year

I respect the wonderful memories of my past, but most especially at this point in time of my life,  I refuse to cling to it, for in doing so I make myself unavailable to the present.  

Listening:  

Joni Mitchell - Both Sides, Now [Original Studio Version, 1969].  Accessed January 2, 2020.
Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days - 1968. Accessed January 2, 2020. 


A new year is upon us once again. This time it's 2020. New decade too. New beginning. A chance to make things right.

Was it a year ago, and other years before that we fought our to-dos including over-spending and gluttony - and miserably failed? Oh, those moments' motivated resolutions to be better... only to break them in a matter of time, some less than a day or two.

Through the festive season I started to spend time reflecting on the past year, and the lessons it may teach me. This year, I've learned few but significant things from those experiences and messages, thanks in part, to Facebook.  Events and interactions certainly have been suitable pointers. Enormous waste of time and energies, dealing with the wrong people and group/s, not to mention stressors. Even common interests don't warrant true friendships.   

Lesson?  To not take anything for granted.

Know thyself and really know what you want, where your sense of comfort lies.

If we can truly reflect on our past year, on the things we treasure and the values we hold, do something about them, we are moving towards a better, fulfilling new year.  N'est ce pas?


(c) January 2020. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

Tracks for Thoughts and Insights

Quotable Quote:

"When you get near people who are pursuing their heart's desire,

you can see the intensity in their face. 

Life is too short to live without that kind of focus."  

~ Barbara Sher, Author,

'I Could Do Anything
If I Only Knew What It was' ~

*  Most people are as happy as they make up their minds to be. It is not what happens to us in life that determines our happiness, so much as, the way we react to what happens. Happiness is a decision, not an event. 

Being creative

Ah, creativity! 

Let's look around our home. 

Notice some items just taking up space?
We can think of new uses for them.

Unlike driving, we can make the rules in life ... to avoid following other people's complicated plans unless we thoroughly understand and agree or prefer their logic.
Let's devise your own plan, whenever possible. 

* The spice of life is in doing new things, in forging something from our substance. 

"It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity;

they must have action and they will make it if they cannot find it." 

~Charlotte Bronte, Author~

"The price we pay for the complexity of life is too high. When you think of all the effort you have to put in - telephonic, technological and relational - and to alter even the slightest bit of behavior in this strange world we call social life, you are left pining for the straightforwardness of primitive peoples and their physical work."  ~ Jean Baudrillard,  French Sociologist, Philosopher and Cultural Theorist. ~  

Tips & Ideas in keeping life simple:

1. Learning to enjoy what's in front of us.

2. Creating time for what we care about.

3. Increasing stress tolerance.

Note: 'Tracks for thoughts & insights' were originally published in my website "Web Sparklers" at Netscape, December 2000. I picked up some insights to include for this post. / Tel. 

(c) 2000. Tel.  Leaves from my musings. All rights reserved.