On dark and cold winter nights, reading a humorous book can cheer you up. The other night I started rereading "The Best After-Dinner Stories" published by my favourite publisher, The Folio Society. The book, compiled by Tim Heald, is a gem if you are a friend of good old-fashioned British humour.
Here is one of my favourite anecdotes:
The Russians were attempting to set up a spy ring in Wales. A top KGB agent called (of course) Vladimir was told, 'Proceed to Cardiff and take the branch line to Abercvmscwt. There you will meet a man called Jones. You will say to him, "The daffodils are blooming early this year". He will reply, "Yes, but the tulips are late." He will tell you how to set up a spy ring.'
Vladimir finally arrives at Abercvmscwt and asks the ticker collector, 'Do you know a man called Jones?'. The ticket collector replies, 'Well, it depends which Jones you want. There´s Jones the Bread, Jones the Milk, Jones the Death (he´s the funeral director). In fact, my name is Jones.' 'The daffodils are blooming early this year', says Vladimir. 'Oh', says the ticket collector, 'it´s Jones the spy you want.'
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Friday, 7 January 2011
A swan in the ice
This swan, photographed this afternoon in Øresund, is beautiful to look at, but probably it is waiting for spring to arrive as eagerly as I am.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
The Original Sacher Cake
There is something magical about the flavor. I don't know what to tell you, other than that it is somehow transcendentally greater than the sum of its parts
Annie Scott, writer
Mostly I try to eat food that is considered healthy. But once in a while, I feel that it is time to enjoy e.g. a really tasty dessert, like the Sacher cake - probably the most famous of all cakes.
The Original Sacher cake has an interesting history:
In 1832, the famous statesman, Prince Metternich asked his chef to create a special dessert for an important dinner. "Take care that you do NOT make me look a fool tonight", he warned. As the head chef fell ill that evening, the task was gíven to an apprentice, the 16 year old Franz Sacher.
The rest of the story is history ....
The Original Sacher Cake recipe is secret, but several variations are e.g. offered on the YouTube:
Here is an a nice Italian Sacher cake.
An Austrian version.
And finally, this is a recipe for a chocolate cake in general. (If you watch the video, you will understand why it is one of my favourites!)
PS
Here is a very nice video about the Original Sacher cake. And did you know that you can order the Sacher Torte online to be sent anywhere in the world?
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Amazing bass at age 90
The legendary Russian bass Mark Reizen (1885-1992) retained his fine voice still when he was over 80. In honour of his 90th birthday the Bolshoi theatre organised a performance of Eugene Onegin with Reizen singing the role of prince Gremin.
Here is an excerpt from that performance.
PS
Reizen was living proof of the fact, that people are capable of amazing things even if they have reached the official retirement age!
Fortunately, many of Reizen´s recordings are still available.
PS
Another singer who retained his voice still at an advanced age was the great Spanish tenor Alfredo Kraus. He did not live to become 90, but still at 70 he was in fine voice.
People who knew him recall that he was not an easy person. He hated social conventions and familiarity. He was not selfish or full of pride. He recorded songs and performed on television in his 80s. In honor of his 90th birthday, he sang the role of Gremin at the Bolshoi theatre. This amazing performance has been preserved on film and is shown on US cultural television stations.
Olga Fyodorova describes him as “ tall, elegant and handsome as ever. Despite his almost unbelievable age, Reizen was absolutely irresistible in uniform… “. This “feat” got Reizen recognition into the Guinness Book of Records.
People who knew him recall that he was not an easy person. He hated social conventions and familiarity. He was not selfish or full of pride. He recorded songs and performed on television in his 80s. In honor of his 90th birthday, he sang the role of Gremin at the Bolshoi theatre. This amazing performance has been preserved on film and is shown on US cultural television stations.
Olga Fyodorova describes him as “ tall, elegant and handsome as ever. Despite his almost unbelievable age, Reizen was absolutely irresistible in uniform… “. This “feat” got Reizen recognition into the Guinness Book of Records.
People who knew him recall that he was not an easy person. He hated social conventions and familiarity. He was not selfish or full of pride. He recorded songs and performed on television in his 80s. In honor of his 90th birthday, he sang the role of Gremin at the Bolshoi theatre. This amazing performance has been preserved on film and is shown on US cultural television stations.
Olga Fyodorova describes him as “ tall, elegant and handsome as ever. Despite his almost unbelievable age, Reizen was absolutely irresistible in uniform… “. This “feat” got Reizen recognition into the Guinness Book of Records.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
The disappearing art of writing letters and Obama´s victory tweet
Letters have always been essential sources for historians and biographers. As a matter of fact, well written letters are fascinating reading for anybody.
One prolific and – fortunately – excellent letter writer, was the Finnish painter Albert Edelfelt (he was a Finnish-Swede, whose mother tongue was Swedish), who for many years lived and worked in Paris in the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Many of Edelfelt´s letters were published already in the 1920´s in several volumes.
As an example, below is an excerpt from a letter dated 14 April, 1886 in which Edelfelt writes about an encounter with the famous French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur. (Edelfelt became a recognized name in Paris especially after having painted a very well received portrait of Pasteur.)
“Yesterday I was in the Luxembourg gardens drawing, and as it was very close, I went over to see the old man Pasteur, partly to say hello, partly to see our rabies smitten people from Helsingfors (Helsinki). The old man, surrounded by about 100 sick people, who were just about to be vaccinated, asked me to come to his private chamber. He was extremely upset about a swinish article published in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung and the attacks in l´Intransigeant and Conseil municipal.´Why, why do they attack me? What have I done to them. I am not a murderer who kills people for fun. I do my best, I work for the benefit of others, and there is not a lowness which is not thrown on my face´, he groaned.”
(my own free translation from Swedish)
What an interesting insight into the not wholly problem free life of a great scientist a letter by an artist can give!
This brings me to a larger question: The art of letter writing has (almost) disappeared. What will future historians do when there are no letters to study about our age and time? The problem is discussed in this interesting Newsweek article.
The revered Library of Congress seems to think that collecting millions of tweets will fill the void:
Here's Librarian of Congress James H. Billington: "The Twitter digital archive has extraordinary potential for research into our contemporary way of life."
Tweets, he said, provide "detailed evidence about how technology-based social networks form and evolve over time. The collection also documents a remarkable range of social trends."
Fred R. Shapiro, an associate librarian and lecturer at the Yale Law School, told The New York Times, "This is an entirely new addition to the historical record, the second-by-second history of ordinary people."
Whether tweets should be embraced as representative of ordinary people is an open question. One can argue, however, that 55 million tweets a day -- Twitter says that many are sent worldwide -- is a reasonable cross-section of opinion.
The library expects future historians to study such momentous tweets as Barack Obama's about winning the 2008 election and those by eyewitnesses in war zones and natural disasters.
Monday, 3 January 2011
The beauty of old film locations
When I think of it, probably one important reason why it is so nice to watch old films, is that you get to see how some of your favourite places looked like long ago. Just a couple of examples: The post war Vienna in "The Third Man", Paris in "An American in Paris" or "Gigi", Rome in "Three Coins in the Fountain", San Francisco in "Vertigo", Los Angeles in "Chinatown", Hawaii in "From Here to Eternity" and Venice in David Lean´s "Summertime". The list is endless. Sometimes even otherwise boring films can be interesting because of the locations.
For those interested in more information about movie locations there is an excellent resource: The World Wide Guide to Movie Locations.
PS
If you want to get a glimpse of Honkong as it was shown in "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing", watch this - and listen to one of the most beautiful film melodies ever, or this:
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Memorable Christmas and New Year´s concerts - and a tribute to Brian Large
The Christmas season gives television viewers a wonderful opportunity to watch and listen to many of the best orchestras play in some of the most beautiful venues for music making. Fortunately, several of the main European television channels continue the fine tradition of televised Christmas and new year´s concerts. This holiday season I watched primarily the concerts broadcast by German channels, and I have to say that they were impressive! Almost all concerts were in HD quality, which brings marvelous clarity and colour to even the smallest details.
For me this Christmas concert “season” began with a concert broadcast from the Frauenkirche in Dresden. It was very moving to see this magnificently rebuilt church filled with great music.
Another of my favorite concerts was also broadcast from Dresden - the new year´s gala from the beautiful Semper Oper. The Staatskapelle Dresden was conducted by its talented new chief conductor Christian Thielemann.
How fortunate they are in Dresden to have two such beautiful venues for this kind of events!
The concert from the Teatro La Fenice in Venice was still another highlight of the season. Also here it was wonderful to see how beautifully the theater has been rebuilt after the devastating fire in 1996.
Last, but not least, the most famous of all seasonal concerts, the Vienna Philharmonic new year´s concert, this time conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. What a wonderful concert it was! It had everything you expect from a Viennese festive gala. You can see and feel that the orchestra loves to play these familiar pieces. And at least I cannot think of any other concert venue as beautiful and acoustically perfect as the Musikverein. This year the ballet numbers were also unbelievably beautifully done. The winter pictures (from Castle Laudon?) were unbelievable!