The myth of "13"

Copied from Blue 97 Music Daily. This is very interesting.

美國俄裔小提琴大師海飛茲（Jascha Heifetz 1901- 1987）曾經建議自己愛徒弗利德曼（Erick Friedman 1939- 2004）在名字後面添加一個"K"，使得姓名字母的總和可到達13。這個一般人所認為的不吉祥數字，在海飛茲眼裡，象徵著偉大的小提琴家。

按照這個邏輯，那些小提琴家在海飛茲的眼裡算是偉大的？

如果先從老前輩算起，經過簡單的算術後，我們得到的是(按字母排列)：
Joseph Joachim
Fritz Kreisler （似乎是海飛茲唯一公開推崇的小提琴家）
Pablo Sarasate

同輩或是年齡差距不大的，則有：
David Oistrakh
Joseph Szigeti

小老弟則是：
Yehudi Menuhin
Ruggiero Ricci
Henryk Szeryng
Maxim Vengerov （所以獲贈海飛茲的弓？）

女生方面，似乎只有Kyung Wha-Chung（鄭京和）上榜。

Music for Baby

I have so far chosen Mozart - Piano Sonata, String quartets/quintets, piano concertos, divertimento, etc. But I have also played him some Vivaldi (Four Seasons), Cello Adagios (Maisky). I have tried to play him some Mahler (Crazy??), but the music was either too loud or too soft at times, so I guess I'll wait for another 12 to 24 months to play Mahler for him.

What else do you think I can play so as to stimulate his musical sense?

EQ

I have come to know myself a bit more during fathering in the past few days. My EQ is quite low. When my son refused to eat after we have changed the diapers and when he showed signs of hunger, I would be frustrated. And when this situation persists and others around (my mom, my mother-in-law, my sister et al) are trying to be smart and offer lots of solutions or reasons of his refusal to eat, I would become very emotional and retreat from them. And if my son still refused to eat, I have an intention to give up and hand him over to my wife.

I told myself I should never do that again, as giving him up is not within my choice!

First Smile

He rarely smiles. This is one of the precious moments...

Sleepless first night

I hardly got any sleep last night. The baby cried whenever we put him down. And because we are breastfeeding him, there was not enough milk for him yet, so I guess he was hungry. We gave up at the end and fed him with Snow Brand Milk Powder. Guess what? He slept from 5am to 8:30am without a break! Awesome, isn't it?

Baby, let's have a look at your best shot...

A kinda indignant look...

Baby Baby

Lovely, isn't he?

Hospital

My wife has just been admitted to hospital. She is expected to give birth to our baby very soon.

Very excited!!

Abbado's Mahler 9

After his cancer was cured, Abbado seemed to have gained a deeper understanding of Mahler. His Mahler 9 was spiritually uplifting - perhaps it is because it is a symphony about death. Abbado's second cycle of Mahler has been consistently better than his previous recordings. I already have his 2,3,6,9, which all sounded deep and reflective. The Berlin Philharmonic was at its best. Highly recommended for those who are looking for something to add to their library. I would consider ranking it alongside with the Karajan 1982 live version.

One thing I don't like though: why on earth did they include the applause at the end of Mahler 9, which is supposed to be dead silence? The producer is crazy in making the decision to include the applause.

Kurt Atterberg

Saw this in Amazon and bought it. I have been looking for some "new" but "approachable" music and Atterberg is totally new to me. I was thrilled by the slow movement of his Symphony No.1. There are some new elements in his other symphonies. I am glad that I finally found something new to listen to. I wonder why his works are not performed by major orchestras these days.

Furtwangler's Tristan and Isolde

Finally got this. I have the Bohm version, but this is the one I have been looking for.

A Gala Evening with Carreras

Attended the concert last night. I am not a fan of Carreras, but since I haven't been to any concert of his, I decided to go. It was an average concert. Carreras only sang about 10 songs. There was a "soprano" (Giorgia Fumanti) singing in between - every two songs of Carreras would come this soprano. And I have to say, she was crap! She is not a soprano in a normal sense. She spoiled the whole concert, because she does not know how to sing properly. She has not got the breath to last for a normal phrase and had to breathe in between! The worst song she sang was Ave Maria of Gounod. Can't believe this was performed in a concert charging $1,800!

Carreras was old (he turned 60 already), perhaps too old to sing arias that are too demanding. Of course, he maintained his charm, but I'd rather listen to Bryn Terfel, because there is nothing new in his performance. Of course, the audience did not care, as long as it was Carreras.

I went away with a sense of unsatisfaction, and I was thinking, how would the others rate this concert, particularly for those who were only invited by Bank of China as business guests and only heard about Carreras as "one of the top three tenors"?

I wonder.

CD for My Wife's labour

I have been trying to look for a suitable CD to be used during my wife's labour later this month. After some consideration, this is my choice:

Mitsuko Uchida has given the most enligtening Mozart sonata with good recording quality. I think my wife can relax with it.