Probably the first tattoo design I'm enamoured by

Credits: »Wellcome Collection

Let's see if I change my mind five years down the road.  (My problem with getting a tattoo!)

The »Skin exhibition at the Wellcome Collection is very good by the way.  It's not necessarily pretty though, so go with a strong stomach.  It is, as the Collection bills itself, a 'destination for the incurably curious'.  Thanks Ms K!

A.E.I.O.U. by Walter Smerling

For another layer of meaning to A.E.I.O.U., see »here.  (No prizes for guessing where this installation was found.)

The Kruetzer Quartet

Playing Charles Ives' Piano Trio (1911): Moderato - TSIAJ (This Scherzo is a Joke) - Moderato con moto.

Everyone goes banging mad after a while in the TSIAJ.  I like!

More Wilton's

The »Kruetzer Quartet is the focus of their attention.

Crazy about this music hall

Been there twice this month.

»Wilton’s is the oldest surviving Grand Music Hall in the world. It belongs to the first generation of public house music halls that appeared in London during the 1850s and which, only fifty years later, had all but disappeared. Now owned by the Wilton's Music Hall Trust and run by a very small and dedicated team of people, it is once again becoming a centre for innovation and excellence, both locally and internationally. Originally 5 terraced houses, John Wilton opened Wilton's Music Hall in 1858. Since then it has been home to the missionaries, survived two world wars, been a rag warehouse and unfortunately become derelict.

Yoshimaninov

I laughed. That's a name fit for an aficionado.

It seems like he's a Japanese concert pianist who also »hosts a impressive collection of classical music videos on youtube.

Salomé

Salomé and the beheaded St John the Baptist in »Saura's rendition of the biblical story.

The bewitching Dance of the Seven Veils scene is »here.  His other films look so delicious too, especially Fados.

End of my indulgent diversion from work.  Must get back now. 

Lion at Sotheby's

via »the Londonist

Checked out Sotheby's with Mr R a couple of nights ago as we were in the area.  And there it was, the petite, 3,200-year-old Madame Sekhmet above us, fully exposed to the elements.  I have to agree with Mr R that "it is a little underwhelming".

Maybe I should check her out again in daylight.

Feisty Ravel

[Embedded video of Ravel's Tzigane - click on original post to view]

Heard this live last night during the Winter Concert of my Goodenough College. It is so fantastic, live. (It is equally fantastic to live among musicians too.) The French violinist was feisty, had wild blond hair and appropriately broke from the norm of concert black »to don a yellow gypsyish dress.

Non-live, this version by Vengerov is the best in my opinion. It gives me a neck-ache to watch his contorted posture, but I like his interpretation and especially relish the accompaniment of the harp and orchestra.

Classical Spectacular, Royal Albert Hall

Just back, courtesy of free tickets from Goodenough College where I live. Some good soul must have donated a large sum of money and we now have access to a stall-level loggia at the Royal Albert Hall.

Classical Spectacular is held twice a year in spring and autumn and I absolutely insist that you must schedule your trips to London around these (or the BBC Proms in Summer). There are very few things in life as moving as seeing a packed Royal Albert Hall singing in chorus, with hundreds of union jacks fluttering to »Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March.

P.S. The British do mean it when they say 'spectacular'. We are talking here about a philharmonic orchestra, a philharmonic choir, a military band, an opera duo and a piano all together on stage, replete with muskets, canons and fireworks. Yes, it's a bit OTT, but it's not called pomp and ceremony for nothing.

This is from the spring Classical Spectacular, but it is a pale shadow of what it is like live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWBowv4hjLo

Maybe Ms L will send me some of her photos and videos just now...

Plinther of Manarola

»What is a plinther?

I did not realize

That the accordian is the jealous sister of the soprano-sax. Bulky, hoarse and less eloquent, but ambitious nonetheless.

Kings of Convenience, Barbican

Today, I saw a violin flirting flamboyantly with the guitar.

And the crowd egged them on.

Chance music at the Victoria Concert Hall

A few hours ago, I saw a live demonstration of »aleatoric music ("chance music") at the Victoria Concert Hall. The conductor invited a kid from the audience to throw a few giant dice. The orchestra played a few bars of melodies according to the number on the dice, varying the last two bars after a second round of throws by the kid.

The demonstration was intended as an introduction to Americ Goh's Overture 31.05.09, which in turn was an opening ("overture") to Sibelius' Violin Concerto in D Minor and Rach's Symphony No. 2 in E Minor. I like very much the idea of a composition dedicated to this particular day (31 May 2009), for this particular audience (a motley assortment of jeans-clad teenagers and one annoying woman who insistently let her cellphone ring twice, perhaps as a contribution to the democratic work), with neither the day nor the particularity of the audience ever to repeat again.

Highly commendable efforts by »a community orchestra, particularly one in Singapore. I encourage everyone to see them at their next performance in September, for less than the price of a CD. Don't go for fancy audience or packaging; go to see real people in the community making music. (Expect old and young, locals and Japanese - and oh, a Bulgarian as well.)

Ms T's curtains

Today is Ms T's big day. She won the British Airways photography competition and »her works are exhibited today at the British Consulate in Hong Kong.

4 years and 10,000 km apart

Top - 2009, Singapore. Bottom - 2005, Barcelona.

昨夜，我想起了许久前的探戈

久违的»唐四重奏。

皮亚佐拉的»Soledad。

年华，流逝了。




后记：听完音乐会的几天后，我无意间才发现原来那次是中提琴手Lionel与唐四重奏公演的最后一天。Lionel因为手臂肌肉过度磨损而被迫长时间推出。年华，真的流逝了。

Enamoured with the Museum

I was back at the National Museum again for coffee yesterday. Despite its sometimes tardy service, it has become one of my favourite places.

For me, »it's all about skylight.

Camera-phone series #7.

Hundred bars of solitude

At the South Beach site of the Biennale.

Mirage

Contemplating, in 33 degrees celsius, on the impossibility of a Singapore snow.