Emil Gilels plays Balakirev «Islamey»

EMIL GILELS plays Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 21, in C major, Op. 53 (Waldstein)

00:00 – Allegro con brio
10:52 – Introduzione. Adagio molto
14:41 – Rondo. Allegretto

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

The opening, driving motive

The Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53, also known as the Waldstein, is considered to be one of Beethoven‘s greatest piano sonatas, as well as one of the three particularly notable sonatas of his middle period (the other two being the Appassionata sonata, Op. 57, and Les Adieux, Op. 81a). The sonata was completed in the summer of 1804. The work has a scope that surpasses Beethoven’s previous piano sonatas, and is notably one of his most technically challenging compositions. The most difficult being the section involving a continuous trill plus melody line on the right, with scales on the left matching the trill speed. It is a key work early in his ‘Heroic’ decade (1803-1812) and set the stage for piano compositions in the grand manner both in Beethoven’s later work and all future composers.

The Waldstein receives its name from Beethoven’s dedication to Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein of Vienna, a patron as well as a close personal friend of Beethoven. Like the Archduke Trio (one of many pieces dedicated to Archduke Rudolph), this one bears Waldstein’s name though there are other works dedicated to him. This sonata is also known as ‘L’Aurora’ (The Dawn) in Italian, for the sonority of the opening chords of the third movement, which conjures an image of daybreak.                 (More)

Emil Grigoryevich Gilels (Ukrainian: Емі́ль Григо́рович Гі́лельс, Russian: Эми́ль Григо́рьевич Ги́лельс, Emiľ Grigoriević Gileľs; October 19, 1916 – October 14, 1985) was a Soviet pianist, widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. His last name is sometimes transliterated Hilels.^[1][2]

Gilels was born in Odessa, Russian Empire (now part of Ukraine) to a Jewish family with no direct musical background that nevertheless owned a piano.^[3] He began studying the piano at the age of five^[4] under Yakov Tkach, who was a student of the French pianists Raoul Pugno^[5] and Alexander Villoing^[4] Thus, through Tkach, Gilels had a pedagogical genealogy stretching back to Frédéric Chopin, via Pugno, and to Muzio Clementi, via Villoing. Tkach was a stern disciplinarian who emphasized scales and studies. Gilels later credited this strict training for establishing the foundation of his technique.^[4]                          

 

Gilels made his public debut at the age of 12 in June 1929 with a well-received program of Beethoven, Scarlatti, Chopin, and Schumann.^[4] In 1930, Gilels entered the Odessa Conservatorywhere he was coached by Berta Reingbald, whom Gilels credited as a formative influence. Also in Odessa Conservatory Gilels studied special harmony and polyphony with professor Mykola Vilinsky.^[6]

 

After graduating from the Odessa Conservatory in 1935, he moved to Moscow where he studied under Heinrich Neuhaus until 1937. Neuhaus was a student of Aleksander Michałowski, who had studied with Carl Mikuli, Chopin’s student, assistant and editor. (More)

Human of the Year – Regina Spektor

Album version, Lyrix:
Hello, hello
Calling a Karl Projectorinski
To the front, over the cathedral
You have won, dear sir
May I congratulate you first
Oh what an honor

Human, human of the year
You won…You won….

Why are you so scared
You stand their shaking in your pew
The icons are whispering to you
They’re just old men
Like on the benches in the park
Except their balding spots are glistening with gold

Human, human of the year
You won… You won…
You have won

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Outside the cars are beeping
Out a song
Just in your honor
And though they do not know it
All mankind are now your brothers
And as the cathedral has spoken
Wishing well to all us sinners
And with the sigh grows silent
Til next year’s big human winner

Outside the cars are beeping
Out a song
Just in your honor
And though they do not know it
All mankind are now your brothers
All mankind are now your brothers

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hello, hello
Calling a Karl Projectorinski
To the front, over the cathedral
You have won

Bishop Allen & The Broken String – Butterfly Nets

Butterfly Nets
Artist: Bishop Allen
Album: The Broken String

Lyrics

calm that wicked wind,
to pick you up 
and carry you off eastward,
though I did release you
for to seek a warmer sky

should you be blown back
know that I will always run to greet you,
still surprised to catch you
every time

armed with this small butterfly net
I will face the world alone
& never be lonely

so calm that wicked wind,
& if you go, you could be gone forever
I will play awhile here
by & by & by & by –

armed with this small butterfly net
I will face the world alone 
& never be lonely

up & up you go
for to steal the secrets of the heavens
will you share them with me
my bright & brilliant spy?

should you be blown back
know that I will always run to greet you
still surprised to catch you
every time
still surprised to catch you
by & by & by & by

Ten Computers That Changed the World (Innovation News Daily)

Ten Computers That Changed the World (Innovation News Daily) (Click to access presentation)

Elements: Water (a poetic thought, by George-b)

Elements: Water
(a poetic thought, by George-b)

Remember to touch the rain,
each time God sends it your way,
even if a single droplet:

 Remember water was before right after air,
in an ancestral  time, between waters,
before the ocean broke,
and  air took the first  breath.

Remember thirst, before you’re thirsty:
drink and drink, stop for breath,
and then drink some more…

Water: You’re into it, it floats into you,
Dry-up not, like a mummy
a gypsum cast around a broken limb
a tear on the salty, itchy chin…

Whistleblower Brad Birkenfeld Rewarded Record $104M for Exposing How UBS Helped Rich Evade Taxes

Whistleblower Brad Birkenfeld Rewarded Record $104M for Exposing How UBS Helped Rich Evade Taxes (click here and check this out!)

The IRS has announced a record $104 million reward to a whistleblower who exposed the largest tax evasion scheme in U.S. history. Former UBS AG banker Brad Birkenfeld first reported in 2007 that he and his colleagues had encouraged rich Americans to store more than $20 billion in offshore Swiss bank accounts and cheat the IRS. But after coming forward, Birkenfeld was prosecuted and convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to prison. Following Birkenfeld’s release last month, on Tuesday the IRS vindicated his actions with the largest amount ever awarded  under its whistleblower program. We’re joined by Stephen Kohn, an attorney for Birkenfeld and executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center. [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

      Filed under  Tax Havens, Stephen Kohn

 

Guest:

Stephen Kohn, co-counsel for UBS whistleblower Brad Birkenfeld, and executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center. He’s also the author of “The Whistleblower’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing What’s Right and Protecting Yourself.”

 

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Call them Brothers – Regina Spektor (on Vimeo.com via PREFIX)

Call them Brothers – Regina Spektor (click to access the Music Video)

I say: ‘There is no progress in the absence of sincere criticism: Appartenence dictates it!”

‘There is no progress in the absence of sincere criticism: Appartenence dictates it!
Self respect demands it!
There is no way around one’s conscience!

Today’s Birthday: Henry Louis “H.L.” Mencken (1880)

Henry Louis “H.L.” Mencken (1880)

Often regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the early 20th century, Mencken was a journalist, satirist, social critic, and cynic known as the “Sage of Baltimore,” for the city where he lived his entire life. Perhaps best remembered for his satirical reporting on the Scopes evolution trial, which he dubbed the “Monkey trial,” Mencken was frequently critical of myriad institutions. Why did the Arkansas legislature pass a motion in 1931 to pray for Mencken’s soul? More… Discuss

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Alexander Chavchavadze – Georgian Poet

Alexander Chavchavadze

Born in 1786, Chavchavadze was a Georgian poet, military leader, and aristocrat who was an immensely influential figure in Georgian literature. Despite his military service to the Russian empire, Chavchavadze was a Georgian nationalist who wrote nostalgic poems about his homeland. He supported an 1832 plot aimed at organizing an uprising against the Russian authority in Georgia. When it failed, he was exiled, but he was later pardoned. What unfortunate accident brought about his untimely demise? More… Discuss

Where Is China’s Xi Jinping?

Although Xi Jinping is expected to take over as China’s top leader in a matter of weeks, he has not been seen for 11 days. Xi’s absence from the public spotlight, during which his meetings with foreign leaders have been cancelled, has fueled speculation about his whereabouts and health. Some have reported that Xi injured his back while swimming, but party officials have not offered more details about what may be ailing the leader. Xi is expected to replace Chinese President Hu Jintao as general secretary of the Communist Party during the upcoming National Congress. More… Discuss

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Quotation: Henry Fielding (1707-1754) on Custom, errors and justification

Custom may lead a man into many errors; but it justifies none.

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) Discuss

Regina Spektor – On Growing Up A ‘Soviet Kid’ – “To me, the voice is an instrument, just like any other instrument,” Regina Spektor says.”

Regina Spektor – On Growing Up A ‘Soviet Kid’

“To me, the voice is an instrument, just like any other instrument,” Regina Spektor says.

August 27, 2012

Regina Spektor plays the piano so loudly, she has to convince piano tuners to adjust the instrument to her liking.

“It gets so loud that the strings reverberate in a certain way,” Spektor says. “And I always want them to work on the voicing and to soften the hammers, and they get kind of argumentative with me — they’re like, ‘You’re not supposed to play this loud.'”

live in concert

Regina Spektor In Concert

Classically trained from age 6, Spektor knows what she’s doing, though.What We Saw From the Cheap Seats is her sixth solo record, which entered the Billboard charts at No. 3.

Spektor spent the first nine years of her life in the Soviet Union, where she and her family faced discrimination as Jews. “You couldn’t go to synagogue, but we did have little relics of religion passed down here and there,” Spektor tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. At Passover, her grandmother “would make chicken soup with matzo balls, but then we would have bread alongside that because we didn’t know you weren’t supposed to eat bread.”

When the country opened up under perestroika, Spektor left for New York with her parents, knowing no English and feeling like an outsider. For instance, she says she was surprised that her peers didn’t act like World War II had just happened. The 32-year-old says that, in Russia, she grew up in the long shadow of World War II, where everybody was affected by the war. When three of Spektor’s grandmother’s brothers were killed, her grandmother had to hide their death notices. She “would intercept them and sew them into the inside of her coat, because she thought her parents wouldn’t survive the war if they found out.”                               MORE

 

Laughing With Lyrics Regina Spektor

“Laughing With”, the opening single from Regina Spektor’s fifth album, Far, released on Regina’s MySpace on May 8, 2009, and is announced for an official release on May 18

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
When they’re starving or freezing or so very poor

No one laughs at God when the doctor calls
After some routine tests
No one’s laughing at God
when it’s gotten real late
And their kid’s not back from that party yet

No one laughs at God when their airplane
Starts to uncontrollably shake
No one’s laughing at God
When they see the one they love hand in hand
with someone else and they hope that they’re mistaken
No one laughs at God when the cops knock on their door
And they say “We’ve got some bad new, sir,”
No one’s laughing at God
When there’s a famine, fire or flood

But God can be funny
At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or
When the crazies say he hates us
and they get so red in the head
You think that they’re about to choke
God can be funny
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
Who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus

God can be so hilarious
Ha ha, ha ha

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
when they’ve lost all they got
And they don’t know what for

No one laughs at God on the day they realize
that the last sight they’ll ever see is a pair of hateful eyes
No one’s laughing at God
When they’re saying their goodbyes

But God can be funny
At a cocktail party while listening to a good God-themed joke or
When the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head
you think that they’re about to choke
God can be funny
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie
Who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
(repeat)
No one’s laughing at God in a hospital
No one’s laughing at God in a war

No one’s laughing at God
When they’re starving or freezing or so very poor

No one’s laughing at God
(repeat)
We’re all “laughing with God”

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Regina Spektor – NPR Interview (24 May 2012)

 

A video I made of the broadcast interview “Regina Spektor Still Doesn’t Write Anything Down” at National Public Radio (NPR) Music on 24 May 2012 with Regina Spektor. It is so refreshing to listen to this very popular artist who is not so full of herself, is so “normal” and natural, pleasant and honest. I’ve seen her six times now during the last 2 years (and still counting) and know that this is how she is ALL the time … so grateful to those who have made it possible for her to make music and so unselfish and generous in the way she wants everyone to have access to it, even if it means letting them have it for free or for very little cost.
(Note: I do not own or claim to own any rights to the content of this interview. It is posted here strictly for public information and educational purposes.)