Monthly Archives: October 2019

“Παίζουμε ένα ποίημα;”/11: Αλέκος Λούντζης: “Εξάγγελος” (η τραγική γνώση)

“Ποιός θα τολμήσει να ξεστομίσει την αλήθεια του χρησμού, να καταγγείλει την γραφικότητα της αιμομιξίας, αναρωτιέται αυτό το χορικό της τραγωδίας της μετα-νεωτερικής Ελλάδας των μετα-προγονικών Ελλήνων οι οποίοι ήρθαν ‘αργά στην εποχή’ τους αλλά δεν έχουν τη δύναμη να … Continue reading

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Listening ahead

Listening to Beethoven’s overture (1807) to Collin’s forgotten drama Coriolan (1802), I am always filled with trepidation, struck by the great number of times the music stops. It is not just the agitation of the first theme.  From the very … Continue reading

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Spiral motion in time and space

Here is an orchestra spinning a gyre: Helix (2005) is an exhilarating single-movement short orchestral work by Esa-Pekka Salonen (b. 1958) that traces the revolution of a conic helix.  It starts slowly at the wide bottom of a cone and … Continue reading

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On not Reading Music (3)

Is there a study of the role of music in friendship,                                                                          a study of the way in which music helps people establish and maintain strong friendships, the way the love of music becomes a powerful code of communication for close … Continue reading

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On not Reading Music (2)

Why should I read music? If in most of my life I have been an above-average connoisseur of many kinds of music, especially classical, and if I have no aspirations to play an instrument (which I don’t), why would I … Continue reading

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