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Counterpoint is the total ordering of sound, the complete management of time, the minute subdivision of musical space, and absolute absorption for the intellect.

Edward W. Said

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GHOST

Murder most foul, as in the best it is. 

But this most foul, strange and unnatural. HAMLET 

Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift

As meditation or the thoughts of love,

May sweep to my revenge.

-  William Shakespeare, Hamlet (Act I, Scene V)

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You’ve heard of Grand Theft Auto, now get ready for

stealy wheely automobiley

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Stanisław Skrowaczewski (1923 - 2017)

I’m saddened at the passing of the great Polish-American conductor and composer, Stanisław Skrowaczewski.

I very recently discovered his discography of the monumental Bruckner Symphonies with the Hallé, and the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra. I strongly consider his recordings of these to being my favourites.

Above: the earth shattering Coda of the first movement to Bruckner’s 9th

Below: Brucker’s 4th Symphony, my favourite recording of this work.

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Richard Wagner’s Die Fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman)

Herbert von Karajan (Salzburg Festival,1980s)

Berliner Philharmoniker, José van Dam, Dunja Vejzovic, Kurt Moll, Peter Hofmann 

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Strike on the tinder, ho!

Brabantio from Shakespeare’s Othello (I.1.142)

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Only barbarians are not curious about where they come from, how they came to be where they are, where they appear to be going, whether they wish to go there, and if so, why, and if not, why not.

Isaiah Berlin

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Competitions are for horses, not artists

Béla Bartók

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Why meeting someone online isn’t weird at all:

Our generation grew up with technology and the internet 

Since we all grew up with technology, we know all about internet safety.

If you’re going to meet in person, you’re going to sure as hell confirm their identity before you do so because you’re not an idiot. 

We aren’t naive enough to believe out of billions of people on the planet, our soulmate or even best friend is going to live next door. 

Joining blogging communities involves socialization 

Gaming online with thousands of people? You’re bound to click with someone

Everyone is connected through the interwebs 

It’s easier to find someone you relate to online compared to in person 

Not everyone is trying to catfish or abduct you

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In some tones the nightingale is still a bird; then it rises above its class and seems to want to show every other feathered creature what real singing would be.

Goethe, Elective Affinities

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This is from Karoline von Greiner Pichler’s memoirs. She was a student of W.A. Mozart’s.

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"You play an instrument! Play something for us!"

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Human beings are free wherever Wagner and Beethoven are played. Music transported them to the regions where the torturers and murderers could do them no harm.

Wilhelm Furtwängler (fictional), (Ronald Harwood: Taking Sides)

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There is no document of culture which is not at the same time a document of barbarism

Walter Benjamin, "On the Concept of History,"

The more beautiful the artwork, the more concealed the barbarism.