|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 29, 2023 5:02:30 GMT
A 20 year long time lapse video put together from images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope shows the shock front from a supernova moving through space. phys.org/news/2023-09-edge-supernova-hubble-time-lapse-movie.html I had to watch the video in this article twice to see that the rather beautiful wispy gas does actually move in the video's end sequence! That's how far travelling at half a million mph takes you in 20 years.
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 27, 2023 10:30:46 GMT
Enjoying this. Rachmaninov 1st Nezet-Seguin conducting. I think of him as Neddy Seagoon. It must be an age thing.
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 27, 2023 10:10:42 GMT
Let's see if I've got this right...
Yup! And, on 3rd hearing, I'm loving this album more and more!!
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 27, 2023 9:26:13 GMT
Ah, OK, how do I do that? Maybe I knew once, but I've forgotten.
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 27, 2023 8:57:00 GMT
Rodrigo Ruiz, contemporary composer. I'd not heard of him, but his album Behold The Stars popped up on a Recommended list on PrestoMusic, iirc. Some very nice, very listenable chamber music. I'd have said mid to late 19thC for the most part. But no, contemporary. spotify.link/8wtKoZgMqDb
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 27, 2023 4:58:02 GMT
Hmm intriguing - not sure I will enjoy that but will certainly give it a go! Tbh, the Debussy Quartet performance is the one to try. The Pandolfis are rather heavy handed and unsubtle. I find it genuinely beautiful. It cuts to melodic and harmonic essentials, and also takes it into the realm of pure music by removing the religious context.
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 27, 2023 4:54:56 GMT
I found the critique of the Dyson Sphere approach illuminating. A closer look seems to make it impractical and unachievable.
.... Maybe Larry Niven's Ringworld is a better approach. More difficult to see it from far away, though.
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 26, 2023 18:10:00 GMT
It's suggested that Dyson Spheres or other alien megastructures may, after all, be an inefficient way for an advanced civilisation to expand its living space. Instead maybe it's more likely that they would re-engineer their planetary system, by shuffling the existing planets (and maybe grabbing some free roaming ones) into a more convenient arrangement. www.sciencealert.com/forget-alien-megastructures-new-study-says-we-need-to-look-for-service-worldsIt's therefore suggested that SETI look for 'odd looking' exo planet systems, that may have been rearranged by the inhabitants. Curiously, quite a few such systems may already have been observed!
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 25, 2023 18:00:44 GMT
Mozart Requiem.... Played by the Pandolfis Consort on the Gramola label. .... transcribed for string quartet. Probably not for purists. There's something very beautiful and deeply moving about this. I just love it. There's a very different, rather more reverent album by the Debussy Quartet on Decca as well. Equally stunning in its way. I'd guess you need to be familiar with the original Requiem to really appreciate this. spotify.link/5mYUfIo5nDb
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 25, 2023 8:02:55 GMT
Yes, OK, I did enjoy the whole performance. The opening was best, 5/5, and it then settled down to a thoroughly decent conventional 4/5. No great depths plumbed in the finale, I felt. But, yes, Sir Simon seems to be coming of age.
4/5
Inspired and surprised by this thoroughly decent performance, I'm now playing SR's very recently released LSO Bruckner 7. It's going very nicely so far!
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 22, 2023 16:04:03 GMT
Thanks for the introduction to this interesting lady who was obviously a very important figure in the development of Polish music. Symphony 3 - strong and urgent music which keeps winding and twisting, never quite settling. Just ultimately lacks the coherent statement and narrative of the likes of Shostakovich. Excellent orchestral performance, full value I think and certainly worth a 4 in my book. Her ear for the dramatic would have made her a fine film score composer and looking at wiki I see that she did have some output in film and TV. Yes, I think I agree with that. Have you tried the 4th symphony? I'd also recommend the Krystian Zimerman album on DG for some piano and chamber music. He's Polish, too, and I think he makes the music come across quite strongly.
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 21, 2023 15:05:59 GMT
Yeah, s'alright. A bit tame. Majestic. Yes, OK, I'll go with that. The best Brahms violin concerto I've heard was, unfortunately, at a live concert at the RFH with Yehudi Menuhin as soloist. One of those never to be repeated, rare, hair standing up on the back of my neck experiences. His recording with Kempe and the Berlin Phil is vaguely reminiscent but nowhere near as incandescent. Menuhin's mono recording with Furtwangler is probably a bit closer to it.
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 21, 2023 14:29:40 GMT
I don't think I've heard that recording, I'll save it for later
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 21, 2023 6:24:39 GMT
Yes, it's a fun car to drive. It's got noticeably good handling as well as acceleration.
I tried a midrange manual 125bhp Fiesta as well, and it kind of wallowed around sluggishly. Tres boring in comparison.
I think the performance spec on the 155bhp Vignale is a bit misleading. 8.9 seconds 0 to 62mph. But 2nd gear rev limits at 59mph, so the overall feel of the car is quite a lot faster after you allow time for the gear change up to 3rd.
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 21, 2023 5:50:25 GMT
Interesting about automatical transmission vs manual.
I recently changed cars after my previous approached 100,000 miles and the maintenance bills were going up.
I've had automatic for years and just wanted another. But my local dealer only had a manual transmission in one car I wanted to try, suggested I try it just to get a feel for how the car handled. It also just happened to have the top of the range 155bhp engine.
Whoops. Zooming along the country lanes outside Hereford my grin was so big the top of my head nearly fell off. Sold!
There's definitely something about stirring the gears yourself that is SO much more satisfying. I'd forgotten how much fun driving could be.
Ford Fiesta Vignale. The humble Fiesta has changed a lot over the years.
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 21, 2023 5:35:43 GMT
Even a top level pianist, Krystian Zimerman, has an album dedicated to Bacewicz's music on DG, solo and chamber music. And very good it is, too. spotify.link/Q17EaHsAgDb
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 21, 2023 5:20:40 GMT
Bump, in case anyone is interested! There's an album of solo piano music that is another Bacewicz favourite of mine played by Morta Grigaliunaite. It might be best in 2 or 3 doses rather than played in one go. Nicely recorded, too. spotify.link/H6dhzH9ygDb
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 17, 2023 15:03:17 GMT
Yes, there's quite a few recordings of her music available should you be tempted to explore further.
The string quartets, for example, are an interesting listen. And her solo piano music. And piano quintets..... I tried some of the violin concertos on Chandos, but they didn't capture my attention in the way that the symphonies did.
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 17, 2023 14:09:39 GMT
Fwiw (not a lot, probably) here's some blurb from cpo about the album....
"The symphonic oeuvre of the Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz has never before been recorded in its entirety 'from one source', so that the series beginning here represents a pioneering act. The Third Symphony for large symphony orchestra was written in early 1952 and the monumental and pathetic music shows a hitherto unknown face of the composer. One of its characteristics is the use of large instrumental blocks, although fragments also appear that hint at the lighter expressivity of the neoclassical tradition. It is a masterfully constructed work and the overt formal schemes of the Classical period are complemented by the subtle use of elements that were characteristic of music between the wars - in particular the timbres of the French tradition. Nevertheless, this work is not about setting new accents. The same applies to the Fourth Symphony. The orchestra of this work from 1953 is larger than in the previous symphony - among other things, English horn, E-flat and bass clarinet, contrabassoon and harp are now also called for. In both works, the composer achieved an excellent balance between the music of the past (form referring to tradition) and new sources of inspiration (folklore) as well as a new approach to traditional elements (rhythm). As a result, she managed to reconcile the autonomous, artistic qualities of her music with the expectations of the cultural policy of the time. We are very happy to have found congenial interpreters for this project, which sets new standards in the WDR Symphony Orchestra and the Polish conductor Lukasz Borowicz.
|
|
|
Post by jandl100 on Sept 17, 2023 13:44:28 GMT
|
|