Genius At Work

Now quite a way into Part VII of Germinal, the final section, and hoping to finish Zola's great novel today. Completely unputdownable - which is leading me to some puzzlement as to why I could put it down when we were in KL back in June and there was world enough and time to easily read it in its entirety then. In case there's any doubt about it, I knew it was a great work from the beginning, so quality was no issue. I remain a puzzle to myself.

Anyway, just to try and capture the impact of the novel on me, here's a rushed note I made for myself earlier today when I was finishing the previous section: Just reached the end of Part VI. Just brilliant. If the whole point of lit is to widen sympathies whilst informing us about the world, then Zola scores mightily. And, I can't explain why, there is a sense of Beauty in all this somewhere, though I'm damned if I can figure out why or how or even where. What a sequence - the death of the straved child Alzire; Etienne's fist-fight with Chaval; Jeanlin's murder of the soldier on guard, who never wanted to be where he was; the death of Trumpet, the young horse confined to the pit; the troops firing on the striking miners. And Zola, astonishingly, seems able to see something like good in everyone - you can even understand exactly why the troops open fire. And then can only cry at the devastation.

Newly Discovered

When I referred yesterday to a long evening I really meant what I said. I was actually taken aback by the length of the two items in the first half of the concert, since I knew that the Mahler 5 after the interval was likely to run a good deal longer than an hour. I expected the pieces to run to perhaps ten minutes or so each, but it turned out that the concerto lasted about half an hour (and since the second movement was reprised as a much deserved encore, it went well beyond that); and the opener wasn't some sort of five minute overture as I'd guessed at, but actually the standalone first movement of a full symphony, taking a good twenty minutes to wind its way.

I'm saying this, by the way, without any sense of complaint. Rather, I'm very happy indeed at the sheer value for money involved - though I did find a couple of patches of the Mahler a tad tedious, but, then, it's Mahler and that's par for the course as far as I'm concerned. Actually the real pull factor for me in attending the concert, and I have to say I needed to think long & hard about whether I'd be up to it after a heavy week of attempts at educating young people, had always been the prospects of the new music on offer - a world premier and an Asian premier no less. I'd never heard of Messers Tan Chan Boon and Mason Bates, and was excited as to what they had in store for me.

In both cases it wasn't what I expected, which was something along the lines of excitingly atonal, in-your-face noise of the nicely textured variety. What we got in the event was delightfully tonal and tuneful stuff of the highly accessible variety, along with a distinct sense of playfulness in the beguiling Nomad Concerto. On the way back I found myself googling like crazy for whatever I could find on both composers, which led to my feeling more than a bit embarrassed that I'd never heard of Mason Bates who turns out to be a pretty well-known creative presence for those who genuinely keep their ears open.

Managed to listen to quite a bit more of both these music-makers today via YouTube and Apple Music and am now officially a fan of both.

Sounds Good

23.00

A long day and now making our way back from luxuriating in the sweet sounds of the SSO on a particularly rich & long evening. A good way to finish the day, especially dropping off on the way back at McDonald’s. Thus establishing credentials as both eminent culture vulture & man of the people.

Not Home At Last

Now feeling totally wiped out after heroically managing a day that took a desperately dark turn for the worse in the very early hours.

Now coping with a pernicious earworm from Rod the Mod: I don't wanna / talk about it / how you broke my heart. Says it all really.

Not Quite Home

Incongruous situation of the day: So there I am in the doctor's surgery in the late afternoon for a mandatory check-up demanded by MOM. We talk for some three or four minutes about my medical history & such, and all goes smoothly. Then we talk for a good deal longer about the upcoming England - Argentina semi-final, completing our dealings with a rousing rendition of It's Coming Home with the doc incorporating a new lyric about Tuchel, with which I am not familiar. Not sure what the folks in the waiting room thought of all this. But we were definitely loud enough to be heard.

We were both wondering whether we'd be able to drag ourselves to watch the game, screening at 3.00 am in this Far Place. And we both reckoned we could take the strain of rising early, but whether we could take the stress of the actual game was quite another matter.

On The Outside

As far as I can remember when I was around forty years of age I felt I had a pretty good understanding of the world. A bit of an insider in some ways. Most ways, indeed. In contrast, increasingly these days I feel like an outsider. Like someone who doesn't quite get the joke. Someone off the wavelength. 

I suppose I should be bothered by this. But the mild paradox of the situation is that I quite enjoy not really knowing what's going on, not knowing the answer, being unable to solve the puzzle. In a quiet way I'm stepping out of the machine.

Prog On

Even as I write this I'm mentally goofing off, in auditory fashion, by revisiting the early 1970s via Steve Hackett and his band's brilliant recreation of an early Genesis gem: The Fountain of Salmacis. I'm not sure if the original band played this when I first saw them live in the Free Trade Hall at the time they put out Nursery Chryme, but I do know I played the track over and over once I acquired the album (usually playing air drums or pretending to be Peter Gabriel. But let's not probe overly deeply into my embarrassing youth.)

By the way, for any appreciative youngsters out there who've clicked on the link and enjoyed the splendour of it all, I'm sorry you weren't around in that era. A great time to be alive for anyone with keenly open ears. 

A Bit Of A Mix

A long day featuring a bit of everything, with a couple of hours still to go (if I last).

Made an early start at 5.00 am watching the England - Norway quarter-final down in our Staff Lounge. Frankly I thought Norway were the better team for much of the game, especially after the cagey opening, about 30 minutes in, when they went to a high press against a shaky England defence. Still, a win is a win, and winning like this is a sign of a squad who've adapted to the demands of tournaments. Then stayed on for the Argentina game and ended up happy that we're avoiding the very handy Swiss team. I'm convinced they would have edged the encounter if it weren't for the (deserved) sending off of the daft Embolo. I reckon this version of Argentina is vulnerable and might just decide not to turn up for the semis if Messi is marked out of the game.

After that it was time for a bit of IB marking whilst listening to a slice or two or three of Bill Frisell - and wondering why I don't listen to a lot more. Oh, and I caught up with the zzzzzzzs for an hour or so whilst The Missus worked her magic in our kitchen.

She confected a delectable chicken curry to help feed-up niece Fafa, to whose place we went in the late afternoon to make the acquaintance of the 12-day-old Dahlia Arissa, who doesn't look like anybody yet, as far as I can see, but sort of resembles everyone, except me, of course. I spent some time chatting to her in my best Manchester accent in an attempt to introduce her to the joys of being a Citizen of the World. But she didn't seem overly impressed. 

Refreshed

Woke from a cobwebby night's sleep in need of mental cleansing and found it in a morning stroll around West Coast Park with The Missus. We'd planned originally to go to the Botanic Gardens, but it was drizzling when we set off and we felt more assured of the necessary spots in which to shelter if we went to the closer and more familiar location and I'm glad we did.

Actually it looked like we might have had to abandon the jaunt some ten minutes after arrival when the light drizzle threatened to metamorphosise to heavy rain, but we took cover at one of the bicycle rental places for a few minutes and the rain eased. To tell the truth, walking in the drizzle was distinctly pleasant and I wouldn't have minded a couple of hours of it, but the light rain itself petered out quite quickly and, despite the overcast skies, we enjoyed a dry late morning.

In the interests of full disclosure, I need to tell you that we punctuated proceedings by stopping off for teh tarik and prata at Niqqi's Cheese Prata shop at the bottom of Clementi Road around the halfway point, which definitely hit the sweet spot. So, all told, a highly successfully outing with nary a cobweb left in any corner to worry about.

Getting Political

Finally the Clacton byelection back in the UK affords me a rare opportunity to make an unequivocal political declaration of allegiance: Ich bin ein binliner!! 😁