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Fri 24th Feb 2012 I've been away from my Berlin home for longer than expected, and returning to a place that was once so familiar is overwhelming me at the moment given that I've only been away for ten weeks & could barely remember where I lived when staring at a map of the U-Bahn at the airport. They almost didn't let me back into the country; I've quite honestly had less intimate sexual encounters than the security check I endured. Thought he was gonna suck me off for a minute there. This writing desk is a huge comfort; it's one thing I try to never do without. Playing the four Rachmaninoff piano concerto 2nd movements back to back to bring some eternity to the room & blend the jarring tenses. My plant has clearly seen hard times in my absence, but she was super sap-happy to see me & is on the road to mend & round the bend. I only feel bad that I've forgotten her name, but she knows my heart is truer than my memory. Me, Sergei, Little Miss Shinyplant, my writing desk, my chessboard - (Gold) MINE. A good thing I spent hangover shrapnel on egss, coffee, milk & biscuits as I can't get a penny out the wall for some reason. No, not that wall. Was very unsure about returning here at all, as I've given up much to leave London on this occasion, but I've already been reminded why I love this apartment, and this city which has been so valuable to my growth over the past four years. Still, it's just another step; things continue to change, for example I didn't even bring my guitar. It's 5am & no way near as cold as previous February's I've experienced here (in ma' ripped jeans & gaytop). Looking forward to sunrise so I can take my first unencumbered stroll about town. Who loves you & who do you love? |
Wed 22nd Feb 2012 So. Mozart. Was ever a man so universally loved as an artist simultaneously disliked so thoroughly as a man? Probably. I think we'd have been friends; I love the fact that he saw practically no good in any other musician at the time other than Haydn, for whom he had utmost respect. Did you know that Mozart's canon "Leck mich im Arsch" K. 231 (K6 382c) includes the lyrics: "Leck mich im Arsch g'schwindi, g'schwindi!" This would be translated into English as "Lick me in the ass, quickly, quickly!" |
Wed 22nd Feb 2012 Yay, Jet Tea did blog about Saturday night after all! - Jet Tea.net Probably for the best that Friday goes untold. I'm about to leave for Berlin. Why oh why? I always feel that going somewhere else will allow me space to breathe, but it never fails to have the opposite effect & sets me skidding off in another direction on the same road. Here we go again. |
Tue 21st Feb 2012 Before his death in Oct 1849, Chopin (as did Haydn & Beethoven) requested that Mozart's Requiem be sung at his funeral. The Requiem had major parts for female voices, but the Church of the Madeleine had never permitted female singers in its choir. The Church finally relented, on condition that the female singers remain behind a black velvet curtain. His sister smuggled his heart in an urn back to Poland, where it was later sealed within a pillar of the Holy Cross Church beneath an epitaph bearing an inscription from Matthew VI:21: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Chopin's heart has reposed there, close to his old house in Warsaw, except for a period during World War II, when it was removed for safekeeping. |
Tue 21st Feb 2012 In December 1831, barely 3 months after young Chopin's permanent relocation from Warsaw to Paris, Robert Schumann, reviewing Chopin's Variations on "La ci darem la mano", Op. 2 (variations on a theme from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni), wrote: "Hats off, gentlemen! A genius." My personal favourite quote from Chopin will always be: "Many envy me my view, but no one the stairs" And why the fuck can't I find a decent video online of the Raindrop Prelude! |
Tue 21st Feb 2012 Was hoping Jet Tea would blog about the weekend 'cos it was of the sort that is beyond my powers to convey, but no update from camp Tea yet; maybe we approached even his limits on this one. I'm going back to Berlin on Thursday morning, but I'm not even sure why anymore as I've a lot going on in London for the first time in absolute years. Pretty settled as it goes, and productive too, I gotta be careful not to mess up in the coming weeks. Having said that, no doubt the moment I hit the tarmac (plane wheels first, God willing) I'll rediscover my purpose out there in the thawing. |
Mon 20th Feb 2012 Trying to learn that Schumann piece (Op. 15 No 10) but who'd have thought it'd be such a bitch to play, the melody sounds simple but he's got the right hand doing all kinds of pokey-business elsewhere in the meantime, what a frikken smartass wise guy, no wonder he went nuts. |
Mon 20th Feb 2012 JEEPS played a very strange show with this fantastic band in Berlin sometime last year, and here's a free download of their new album, fuckin' great stuff: |
Sun 19th Feb 2012 On 30 September 1853, the 20-year-old composer Johannes Brahms knocked unannounced on the door of Robert Schumann, amazing him & his wife Clara with his music. He stayed with them for several weeks, and became a close family friend. Schumann then published his first article in many years, hailing the unknown young Brahms from Hamburg, a man who had published nothing, as "the Chosen One" who "was destined to give ideal expression to the times." It was an extraordinary way to present Brahms to the musical world, setting up great expectations which he did not fulfill for many years. One night, in the days leading up to his suicide attempt, Schumann suddenly left his bed, having dreamt or imagined that a ghost (purportedly the spirit of either Schubert or Mendelssohn) had dictated a "spirit theme" to him. Schumann wrote five variations on this theme for the piano, his last published work. In 1861 Brahms published his Variations for Piano Four Hands, Op. 23, based on this theme. In late February 1854, Schumann attempted suicide by throwing himself from a bridge into the Rhine River, fearing that otherwise he may harm Clara while struggling with his sanity. Schumann's work, largely unrecognised in his lifetime, was much popularised by Brahms after his death in 1856, although it was rumoured that he and Clara destroyed many of Schumann's later works which they thought to be tainted by his madness. |
Thu 16th Feb 2012 Classic song, slightly less than immortal performance: |
Thu 16th Feb 2012 Bach - What an incredible fucking cheapskate son of a cunt: P.S. This 'week' is starting early and, in case you didn't know, in 1723 the mayor of Leipzig Abraham Platz appointed Bach as the Cantor of St Thomas School with the words "Since the best man could not be obtained, mediocre ones would have to be accepted." |