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The Covetous Knight by Alexander Pushkin
I finished reading The Covetous Knight (1830), a short play by Alexander Pushkin, translated by A. F. B. Clark. I subsequently learned that Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote a one act opera known as The Miserly Knight based closely on Pushkin’s text. The plot is simple and focuses on the avarice of an elderly baron and his…
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First Take
I picked this album up years ago at a thrift store back home. At the time I had never heard of Roberta Flack, but something about the album caught my eye. I gave it a listen and immediately loved it. Back then I worked at a tree nursery and we had a record player in…
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Alone, alone, all, all alone, alone on a wide wide sea
I’ve discovered a couple of new-to-me musical works I’ve really enjoyed. It’s as if music like this creates a whole other world, a world one can swim through…tranquilly like a cyclopean whale or darting about like curious minnows among the shadows of sunken driftwood cities, waving aquatic forests, and silent sea meadows. The first is…
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Symphonies
I felt lonely and depressed today. It was a heavy and empty feeling that I couldn’t seem to shake. Finally, after a walk, I lied down and listened to Haydn’s 45th symphony. It was so beautiful. My depression didn’t lift immediately, but I felt considerably better upon getting back up. I’ve been doing similar things…