What are you listening 2 now?

[Harry]

Giovanni Zamboni.
Sonate d'Intavolatura di Leuto Nr.1-4, 6, 7, 9.
Sonatas for Lute, 1718.
Luciano Contini, Archlute.
Recorded: 1992, Eremo di Ronzano, Bologna.

@Que's favourite version, and mine too. Lively, agile, virtuosity, it's all there, in very good sound. Simone Vallerotonda, is also a good contender. I played that yesterday and was also duly impressed. Meanwhile enjoying the Contini interpretation.

[Traverso]

Bach





The forum is dying, we are all dying, and as Manuel says in Falwty Towers: "eventually".

[Madiel]

Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail



Act One so far. I'm not sure I'll listen to the whole thing tonight as I started a lot later than planned (trying to find a version, video or audio, where I could read English - you'd think an English production from a legitimate Youtube channel would have English subtitles available but no).

But I might just be a fan of Singspiel. I rather like having some spoken dialogue in there to break things up, and it pays off really well in the very first scene where Osmin ignores Belmonte when he speaks and only pays attention to him once he starts singing.

Opinions on this particular recording seem to vary a bit, but it's perfectly fine for my purposes of hearing a work.

And finished. It turned out that Act 2 was easily the longest, so I decided I might as well do Act 3 tonight as well.

Really quite enjoyable. I can well understand why this was a big success that made Mozart's early reputation in Vienna. Lots of fun.

[Traverso]

Robert Dijkgraaf :reïncarnation

Sit down and take a deep breath.
Did you know that one of the air molecules in your lungs has great historical value? Yes, that very same molecule was breathed out by Julius Caesar when he crossed the Rubicon River in 49 BC and spoke the famous words alea iacta est. You are directly connected to this important historical event. But it doesn't stop there. Another molecule, in that same breath, was sighed by your mother during the last contraction of your birth. And with yet another molecule you blew out the candles on your eighth birthday cake.
How can I make such strong statements with such certainty? Because of the hard laws of probability and because of the unimaginably large number of molecules in a single breath, which eventually spread out into the atmosphere. The entire history of the world is literally inside you at this moment.
I hope you don't take it personally, but your own body is a living museum piece, a hodgepodge of antiques and curiosities. Your very own and unchangeable 'I' is constantly being demolished and rebuilt. The life of a cell in our body is short and brutal. The DNA is attacked about a hundred thousand times a day. Enzymes are constantly busy filling the holes and keeping everything together. But they cannot stop the decay for long. White blood cells only live for a few days. In a month your skin is completely renewed. In the time that you listen to this column, billions of your cells will have died and been replaced by new ones. The miraculous thing is that you do not notice this and can continue listening undisturbed during this major maintenance. But if you do not feel completely like your old self later, then that is understandable.
This permanent recycling has major consequences. The atoms that make up you have all been used before.
You carry thousands of atoms in you from almost every person who has ever lived. For example, there is a pinch of Caesar in you and a cloud of Marie Antoinette, together with traces of all the Egyptian pharaohs and Chinese emperors. And there is no reason to limit ourselves to only the higher animal species. In molecular terms, you are a walking history book of life on Earth.
Take, for example, a single carbon atom in your left little finger. Carbon atoms originate in powerful stellar explosions. On Earth, they are usually trapped in rocks, coal or diamonds. They can easily remain there for hundreds of millions of years. But sometimes such an atom escapes. In the short leave period, which usually only lasts a few million years, it will then wander freely over the Earth in the form of CO2, dissolved in the oceans or in the atmosphere.
Every now and then, this atom will briefly come to life and form part of an organism. Perhaps first in a leaf of a giant fern, then in the wing of a tropical butterfly and then in a mammoth hair. But now it is in your left little finger! Undoubtedly the crowning glory of this atom's existence.
Reincarnation, cosmic aura fields and spiritual life forces are supposed to make us feel connected to nature. The reality, however, is much crazier. Through your atoms you are currently connected live to every organism that has ever lived or will live on earth!
And now you may breathe out again.

[Traverso]

Bach

[Harry]

Alfonso Ferrabosco II.
Music for Lyra Viol from 1609 "Music to Hear".
Richard Boothby (Viola da Gamba), Asako Morikawa (Viola da Gamba).
Recorded: 2020, at the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, Sherbourne, Gloucestershire.

Ferrabosco II wrote some brilliant music for the Viola da Gamba to be sure. And it gets a equally brilliant performance, and superb sound. One might think that a recording with two Viola da Gamba's is a bit much for one's nerves, but that proves to be elusive. Its deeply felt with a spiritual tinge on top of it. So it calms one down to an acceptable mood for a wee drop of Malt, and some French cheese and feel happy as a clam.

[prémont]

Robert Dijkgraaf :reïncarnation

Yes, material reincarnation is a fact.
But what about spiritual "reincarnation"?

[Madiel]

We are stardust.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

We are stardust.

Yes, energy as well.

[AnotherSpin]

Robert Dijkgraaf :reïncarnation

Sit down and take a deep breath.
Did you know that one of the air molecules in your lungs has great historical value? Yes, that very same molecule was breathed out by Julius Caesar when he crossed the Rubicon River in 49 BC and spoke the famous words alea iacta est. You are directly connected to this important historical event. But it doesn't stop there. Another molecule, in that same breath, was sighed by your mother during the last contraction of your birth. And with yet another molecule you blew out the candles on your eighth birthday cake.
How can I make such strong statements with such certainty? Because of the hard laws of probability and because of the unimaginably large number of molecules in a single breath, which eventually spread out into the atmosphere. The entire history of the world is literally inside you at this moment.
I hope you don't take it personally, but your own body is a living museum piece, a hodgepodge of antiques and curiosities. Your very own and unchangeable 'I' is constantly being demolished and rebuilt. The life of a cell in our body is short and brutal. The DNA is attacked about a hundred thousand times a day. Enzymes are constantly busy filling the holes and keeping everything together. But they cannot stop the decay for long. White blood cells only live for a few days. In a month your skin is completely renewed. In the time that you listen to this column, billions of your cells will have died and been replaced by new ones. The miraculous thing is that you do not notice this and can continue listening undisturbed during this major maintenance. But if you do not feel completely like your old self later, then that is understandable.
This permanent recycling has major consequences. The atoms that make up you have all been used before.
You carry thousands of atoms in you from almost every person who has ever lived. For example, there is a pinch of Caesar in you and a cloud of Marie Antoinette, together with traces of all the Egyptian pharaohs and Chinese emperors. And there is no reason to limit ourselves to only the higher animal species. In molecular terms, you are a walking history book of life on Earth.
Take, for example, a single carbon atom in your left little finger. Carbon atoms originate in powerful stellar explosions. On Earth, they are usually trapped in rocks, coal or diamonds. They can easily remain there for hundreds of millions of years. But sometimes such an atom escapes. In the short leave period, which usually only lasts a few million years, it will then wander freely over the Earth in the form of CO2, dissolved in the oceans or in the atmosphere.
Every now and then, this atom will briefly come to life and form part of an organism. Perhaps first in a leaf of a giant fern, then in the wing of a tropical butterfly and then in a mammoth hair. But now it is in your left little finger! Undoubtedly the crowning glory of this atom's existence.
Reincarnation, cosmic aura fields and spiritual life forces are supposed to make us feel connected to nature. The reality, however, is much crazier. Through your atoms you are currently connected live to every organism that has ever lived or will live on earth!
And now you may breathe out again.

Not for the sake of objection as such, but still:

Molecules, like all particles, constantly change through chemical reactions, physical processes, and external influences. In our bodies, molecules are continuously involved in metabolic processes, breaking down and regenerating on timescales as short as microseconds.

The Self, however, is beyond time and space. It is pure consciousness, in which all perceptions and changes occur, but it remains unaffected by change. While the Self perceives the changes within time, it exists in the eternal now, unchanging.

In the physical world, everything changes, but in the spiritual realm, the Self remains constant, observing the process of change.

[AnotherSpin]

Also, about atoms. Atoms are made up of particles that are actually excitations in quantum fields. These fields are not constant, and their interactions can change, which means that the idea of an atom as a stable object is conditional. Atoms are dynamic and change at the most fundamental level, where stability is more of a convention than an absolute characteristic. The energy they consist of is subject to change, which opens interesting perspectives on what we consider reality or things.

[Spotted Horses]

Beethoven, Piano Sonata Op 10, No 2, Brendel



This is from the analog cycle. Outer movements very satisfying. I found the middle movement too slow for my taste, with the transition between the primary theme and the secondary theme (and back) too soto voce. Maybe I will listen to Hewitt before making my way to Op 10, No 3.

[pianococo90]

Arnold Schoenberg
Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11 (1909)
1. Mäßige Viertel
2. Sehr langsam
3. Bewegte Achtel

[hopefullytrusting]

Alright, I have to logoff (my insomnia has gotten the better of me, and if I don't get that in check - I will go nuts).

Gonna pop the top: Bach's Cantatas



#letsdothis

[Traverso]

Yes, material reincarnation is a fact.
But what about spiritual "reincarnation"?

That is an area that lies in a different domain and which I do not wish to go into further. The article seemed interesting to me and I will leave it at that.

[Papy Oli]

We are stardust.

we are golden.

 

[AnotherSpin]

Alright, I have to logoff (my insomnia has gotten the better of me, and if I don't get that in check - I will go nuts).

Gonna pop the top: Bach's Cantatas



#letsdothis

I really like the cycle by Christophe Coin, unfortunately, it only includes about ten cantatas on three discs. I've listened to it many times.

[hopefullytrusting]

I really like the cycle by Christophe Coin, unfortunately, it only includes about ten cantatas on three discs. I've listened to it many times.

I mainly got it because it had a good ratio of bang to buck, and I felt I needed to see if my appetite would be whetted before I, potentially, make an actual (literally) investment.

[prémont]

The Self, however, is beyond time and space. It is pure consciousness, in which all perceptions and changes occur, but it remains unaffected by change. While the Self perceives the changes within time, it exists in the eternal now, unchanging.

Are you sure?

[Harry]

Amorous Dialogues.
Emma Kirkby & Martyn Hill.
See for details back cover.
The Consort of Musicke, Anthony Rooley.
Recorded: 1979.

A wonderful recording from a wonderful time by wonderful singers. Quality time for me.