Away from Home

I have been working away from home these few days. Haven't got a chance to listen to any music at all. When I get back to HK during the weekend, I will make sure I will play myself some good music and relax.

Richard Strauss

I attended the Richard Strauss Salome concert on the 22nd. HKPO sounded totally different under the baton of De Waart - the strings sounded particularly sweet and the brass was bright. The performance of the singers was impressive. I like the soprano who played Salome. Her voice was strong and powerful. I read from the programme notes that she sings Wagner quite often. I guess that's why.

The concert performance of Salome made me concentrate on the music more and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The music was so powerful that you could feel the emotions built up during the two hours of music.

Absolutely stunning performance of HKPO. I have high hopes on De Waart after this concert.

Shenzhen

Went to Shenzhen on Monday morning to deal with an urgent case. Although I am not that important in the whole picture, it is going to be a valuable experience. Went to bed quite late last night. Terribly tired and got no energy today.

Went to buy some CD/DVD nearby. Found the latest 2005 New Year Concert of Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Lorin Maazel. How efficient they are!

Mom

Mom prepared some drink for me and forgot to let me drink it when I went home yesterday until the moment I left. She asked me to bring it back but I was carrying a lot stuff. I was sort of complaining to her and I didn't really want to carry the drink with me. She apologized to me for not remembering to ask me drink it earlier. I suddenly felt ashamed. Mom was kind enough to prepare the drinks for me and all she got was her son's rejection. I wanted to say sorry but I didn't. That made me feel bad.

Sorry Mom!

Salary

Just learnt that somebody who joined the organisation in the same year as I did was promoted, and is receiving a significantly higher salary than I do at the moment. I do not envy him, but has a feeling of unfairness. He was simply moved to a position where the organisation has put more emphasis on. Although I believe he is smart enough to perform well in the position, the system is just unfair.

Spoiled my day.

Music and Rest

Didn't do much during the weekend. Listened to quite a number of CDs: Bruckner's No.8 (Celi), Beethoven's Piano Sonata (Brendel), Beethoven's Sym No.2 and No.4 (Celi), Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No.1 (Maisky and MTT). Shostakovich's Cello Concerto is one of my favourites. I have got Maisky's version for quite some time now. He played it quite fast. The logical sequence was clear. The slow movement was full of good thoughts and the fast movements were full of tensions. I like it. Surely one of the best versions I have heard. Another good version is Rostropovich (in "The Russian Years").

Slept for 5 hours yesterday afternoon. Fully charged to face the challenges this week.

Karaoke

Went to a farewell Karaoke last night. Everybody was so high because of the Alcohol. Dancing, drinking, singing, smoking...I seemed to be the only one who was not high, although I tried to participate. The party finally finished at around 1:30am. My wife, as always, complained to me about my late return to home.

Met a new colleague. She sang well, drank and played hard, and seemed to have endless energy. When asked, she disclosed she is only 23, going to be 24. No wonder. I suddenly have a feeling that I am too old for the party.

Didn't struggle too hard getting up this morning. I guess I didn't drink that much last night, compared with a few days ago.

New CDs and Books

Just bought two books, a CD and a magazine during lunch time.

Books
Style - Towards Clarity and Grace, by Joseph Williams
Difficult Conversations - How to Discuss What Matters Most, by Stone, Patton and Heen, et al.



CDs
The Schumann String Quartet CD has arrived

Magazine
Feb's Grammophone

Got to stop buying CDs for at least two weeks, plus my CD case at home no longer has any room for additional CDs.

Hope to have some time to run through the books and listen to the CD this evening.

Drink

My plan last night was to enjoy the Celibidache's CD set, but it turned out that I joined a red wine gathering with an ex-customer of mine. 6 people drank 9 bottles. Not too bad. Still functioning well this morning.

Celibedache and Others

Finally got Celibedache's 14CD set yesterday. Haven't got the chance to listen to them yet. Hope they are good.

Also got the followings from HMV and Prosound:

i) Two 2CD set of Alfred Brendel's Beethoven Sonatas, which include all the favourite Sonatas and the late ones.

ii) Beethoven Piano Concerto No.2 & 3 played by Argerich/Abbado.

iii) 12CD set of Haydn Piano Sonanta, played by John McCabe

Got to save some money and supress my buying mood for a while, otherwise I would go bankrupt very soon.

La Traviata

The Opera last night was OK. The singer that played Violetta sang quite well. And she is not the fat-and-big type, well, as least more pleasant to look at. The chorus was really so so. The make-up was awful. All the male singers look like Dracula's.

The orchestra's sound was a bit too thin, particularly the cellos. They even sounded out of tune at some exposed passages.

But for HKD250, what more can you ask for? It's a value for money show.

Solomon's Beethoven

I just bought a CD during lunch today - it was Solomon's Beethoven Sonata. I heard about his name a long time ago, but haven't owned anything played by him yet. Looking forward to listening to it.

I also ordered the Schumann quartet CD from Shun Cheong. They said I got to wait for another month to get it.

I will attend the La Traviata Opera this evening. Hope it's gonna be enjoyable. I listened to Kleiber's version (CD) and watched Solti's version (DVD) last night. Both are very good.

Piracy

I have to admit that I have been buying illegally replicated CDs in the PRC. They cost me HKD5 to 6 dollar per disc. And the varieties are enormous. I just can't resist the temptation. You can get the whole set of Beethovan Sonata by Kempff, Ashkenazy, Gilels, etc. You also have all sorts of latest published CDs. Suddenly your collections could be enhanced at such a low cost.

I know it's wrong. But I am attracted to it.