Wednesday 30 November 2016

Thought 401: Is Popularity a Measure of Quality?


No, if we consider
how unpopular quality
generally is as compared
to what is convenient
and addictive.

Tuesday 29 November 2016

Thought 400: God


'I am that I am.'

—(Un)Holy Bible,
Old Testament,
Exodus 3:14

God is infallible
and therefore
something
we can trust
in through faith:
our oldest consolation.

The God concept
comes at a price:
it falsifies reality.

Monday 28 November 2016

Thought 399: Freedom in Peril


'Freedom is in peril.
Defend it with all
your might.'

Freedom
isn't free.

Sunday 27 November 2016

Thought 398: My Drug


Abstract thinking is my drug.

Saturday 26 November 2016

Thought 397: No Money in Philosophy


Who trusts philosophers?

Friday 25 November 2016

Thought 396: Chubby Women


Chubbiness and fat on women are attractive.
Below is the ancient Venus of Willendorf 
fertility symbol to show that this
is a time-honoured view.

 

Thursday 24 November 2016

Thought 395: Magnanimous Squandering


The magnanimous
often squander themselves
for the larger picture.

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Thought 394: What We Care about Can Destroy Us


What we care about
can be our undoing.

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Thought 393: Life's Too Long...


...to waste it.

Monday 21 November 2016

Sunday 20 November 2016

Thought 391: (Wo)man



Men should rule
the world but
women should
rule the men.

Saturday 19 November 2016

Thought 390: Know Thyself—My Example


390 down, 276 to go.

Friday 18 November 2016

Thought 389: On Being Well


Not being in hell.

Thursday 17 November 2016

Thought 388: On Mental Immunity



All amounts to zero.

Wednesday 16 November 2016

Tuesday 15 November 2016

Thought 386: Money's Liberating Enslavement


Money liberates
by enslaving.

Monday 14 November 2016

Thought 385: I Love Generalisations


I love sweeping generalisations 
but this too, of course, is a 
sweeping generalisation. 

Sunday 13 November 2016

Thought 384: My Anti-Conformity


I would conform
if I could.

Saturday 12 November 2016

Thought 383: What Is Madness?


Measurelessness.

Friday 11 November 2016

Thought 382: What Is News?


The same old.

Thursday 10 November 2016

Wednesday 9 November 2016

Thought 380: Overcoming Nervous Tension


Allow yourself
to relax.

Tuesday 8 November 2016

Thought 379: My Thinking Style



Condensed compositional simplicity.

Monday 7 November 2016

Sunday 6 November 2016

Saturday 5 November 2016

Thought 376: Favourite Writer


Heraclitus.

Friday 4 November 2016

Review 9: Friedrich Gulda's Second Cycle of the Beethoven Sonatas


Gulda does it again!—A review of Friedrich Gulda's 
recording of Beethoven's piano sonatas.

Friedrich Gulda's recording of the so-called Old Testament of classical keyboard in the shape of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier almost instantly became my definitive interpretation of the preludes and fugues contained therein, short of recording them all myself. 

Having never until now found a satisfactory Beethoven piano cycle, I naturally looked to Gulda's recording, despite it not being available for digital download, once I was made aware of its existence—which was no mean feat. 

To be succinct, I will say that just as Gulda mesmerised me with his Old Testament rendering, so his performance of the New Testament in the shape of Beethoven's piano sonatas is now my go-to favourite. 

I have explored interpretations of these sonatas for many years, owning the cycles by Artur Schnabel, Wilhelm Kempff (mono and stereo), Maurizio Pollini, Richard Goode, Alfred Brendel (second cycle), Paul Lewis, Annie Fischer, as well as odd sonatas played by Glenn Gould, Rudolf Serkin, and Emil Gilels.

None of the above was I truly happy with, for the reason that many of the lesser known sonatas made me feel bored and I was often in disagreement with the way the greater sonatas were played. 

Moreover, the quality over the entire cycle either wavered (Pollini and Goode) or failed to captivate (Brendel and Kempff), and listening to the whole corpus was, in the case of these aforementioned interpreters, more of a chore than a pleasure (the sound quality of the Schnabel set is too poor for me to be fully happy with it, much as I adore his playing and spirit). 

Not anymore. 

Gulda's fiery, immediate, un-belaboured, non-deferential, un-romantic, quick-witted approach to these piano monuments has made them all a pleasure to listen to, almost without exception, and his performance of the named sonatas is also much to my liking, e.g. the first movement of the Waldstein

Gulda was called a 'terrorist' pianist for a reason in so far as he was keyboard maverick with little time for the ostentation and preciousness (not to say pretentiousness) of the classical music world, openly preferring jazz in some cases, and having the decency to also compose which is not the case of many pianists schooled in the classical tradition. 

In my opinion, these elements of his pianistic temperament are perfect for Beethoven, a keen improviser himself with little time for common public perception, and, unlike the ponderous Kempff or the uneven Pollini, Gulda makes these works exciting and arguably as fresh as when they were first conceived, which is quite an achievement given how familiar I am with all of them. 

Now I am aware that this is a matter of taste as I doubt Gulda will be to everyone's liking, but it is a joy in my case to finally find a pianist who corresponds largely with my musical sensibility and has managed to deliver the goods in the case of giants Bach and Beethoven (I do also like his Mozart). 

I have not taken the trouble to listen to the concerti included in this box set as they were not the reason I purchased it, but rest assured that the piano solo works covering the first nine discs are brilliantly done justice, if of a vigorous and irreverential kind. 

Thursday 3 November 2016

Thought 375: The Long Road to Well-Being


Learning to harmonise one's 
psyche with the laws of nature.

Wednesday 2 November 2016

Thought 374: The Police and the Military


The police and the military cannot help
but be the guardians and executors
of those who order them.

Tuesday 1 November 2016

Thought 373: Alexander and Aristotle


Aristotle: spiritual power.
Alexander: temporal power.