Variation XV of “The Goldberg Variations” by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), performed here by Rosalyn Tureck, one of my very favourite Bach interpreters aside from the peerless Glenn Gould:
This recording dates from 1957, which is just after Gould made his historic 1955 recording for Colombia Records. However, you will find no influence of Gould in Rosalyn Tureck’s interpretation here. Very classical, with a smoky, melancholy, romantic, almost Victorian hue. And, of course, played much slower and with all of the repeats.
One of my very favourite pieces of music, Piano Concerto no. 3 by Béla Bartok (1881-1945), performed here by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Simon Rattle, with Andras Schiff as the soloist:
The mini fugue section starting at 0’50, introduced by the piano and then picked up by strings, is sublime.
In fact, I love all three movements of this piece. The second movement is so serene and still (the piece was a gift from Bartok to his wife, written in his final days, and in many ways can be seen as a farewell letter to her, or to life), and makes a marvellous contrast with the explosive start to the final movement, given here.
Today seems to be the day to look back at Olympic Games past and marvel how far we have come. Both NPR and Slate have pieces documenting the differences in styles, fashions and sporting events that a spectator might have seen at the Olympics in 1908 and 1912 respectively.
NPR looks at the 1908 London games, the first time that the United Kingdom’s capital hosted the competition:
Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Slate reviews the following games, which took place in Stockholm in 1912:
Flickr Commons project and database, 2008, via Library of Congress.
They go on to explain:
… the 1912 Stockholm Games were “the last Olympics where any individual could just turn up and hope to enter a competition.” In that era, the idea that “natural” skill might enable someone to win a competition without any specialized training was still widely embraced.
As I sit in my living room with twenty four high-definition BBC channels showing almost every Olympic event taking place live, with commentary and instant replay and now apparently optional 3D, it is nice to appreciate what we have now, but also to look back at a time when people were happy to be entertained by watching the tug-of-war and a master of ceremonies wielding a megaphone to address the crowds.
Semi-Partisan Politics 