Polar Music Prize

Brittiska rockgruppen Led Zeppelin och den ryske dirigenten Valerij Gergijev får 2006 års Polar Music Prize.

The Led Zeppelin Citation
The 2006 Polar Music Prize is awarded to the British group Led Zeppelin, one of the great pioneers of rock. Their playful and experimental music combined with highly eclectic elements has two essential themes: mysticism and primal energy. These are features that have come to define the genre “hard rock”.

The Valery Gergiev Citation
The 2006 Polar Music Prize is awarded to the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev for the way his unique, electrifying musical skills have deepened and renewed our relationship with the grand tradition; and for how he has managed to develop and amplify the importance of artistic music in these modern, changing times.

The prize winners will receive the prize from His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a gala ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall to be followed by a celebratory banquet at Grand Hôtel on Monday the 22nd of May.

http://www.polarpriset.se/
http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/kultur/did_10961577.asp

Das Ding an sich (Gullberg’s poem)

Tinget i sig (av Hjalmar Gullberg, 1935)
The Thing In Itself (by Hjalmar Gullberg, 1935)

1. En vinterafton läser Örtstedt Kant
och finner honom verkligt intressant.
[1a. One winter evening Oertstedt is reading Kant
and finds him really interesting.]
1b. One winter night the assistant is reading Kant
and finding him quite interesting and —–.

2. Men filosofens tyska flyter tungt.
Snart somnar över boken vår adjunkt.
[2a. But the philosopher’s German is heavy-flowing.
Soon our assistant falls asleep over the book.]
2b. But German heavy metaphysics bores.
Soon over the book the master’s assistant snores.

3. I nattens dröm gror dagens tankesådd.
Kant illustreras och blir lättförstådd.
[3a. In the dream of the night grows the day’s seed of thoughts.
Kant is illustrated and becomes easy to grasp.]
3b. In that night’s dream, an illustrated Kant,
an easy one, is growing like a plant.

4. Det kommer, svept i brokig omslagsfärg,
till Örtstedt ett paket från Königsberg.
[4a. There arrives, wrapped in gaudy colours,
for Oertstedt a package from Koenigsberg.]

4b. There arrives a box in gaudy colours wrapped,
from Koenigsberg to the thinker who has napped.

5. Aktas för stötar! står det utanpå
med petig stil som verkar rokoko.
[5a. Handle with care! is written on the outside
with meticulous handwriting that seems to be rococo.]

5b. Handle with care! is written on that —
in meticulous hand – it looks old and —-

6. Avsändare och varans fabrikant
är ingen mindre än professor Kant.
[6a. Sender and manufacturer of the article
is no one less than Professor Kant.]

6b. Sender and the article’s producing hand
is none less than the famous Immanuel Kant.

7. Han granskar lådan vid sin fönsternisch.
Det står som innehåll: DAS DING AN SICH.
[7a. He examines the box at his window-bay.
The content is said to be: THE THING IN ITSELF.]

7b. He examines the thing at his bay-window shelf.
The content is said to be: THE THING IN ITSELF.

8. Kring tinget i sig själv, de vises sten,
är sinnevärlden blott ett brokigt sken.
[8a. Around the thing in itself, the philosopher’s stone,
the material world is just a motley semblance.
]
8b. Around and about such a Philosopher’s Stone,
our material world is just ——————

9. Vem törs dock rycka undan slöjan kring
den rena verkligheten, tingens ting?
[9a. Who then dares wrench that wrapping veil away from
the pure reality, the thing of things?]

9b. Who dares wrench the wrapping veil from the thing;
this pure thing of things, reality ——

10. Adjunkten Örtstedt ryggar bort bestört
från det som ingen sett och ingen rört.
[10a. Assistant Oertstedt backs away in dismay
from that which none has seen and none has touched.]

10b. The master’s assistant backs away in dismay
from a thing unimaginable, a word impossible to say.

11. Om gåvan i hans grova händer sprack!
– Han returnerar den med tusen tack.
[11a. What if the gift in his coarse hands will crack!
– He returns it with a thousand thanks.]

11b. What if this gift in such coarse hands will crack !
— With many thanks he sends it back.

Beyond good and tonal

My first new idea for a blog title is inspired by old philosophy and a never-ending debate about the tonality concept. What key is this blog in? The sharp major North flat seven dwarf key?

Blockquote

[test of quotation formatting]

“Thou dost not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed”

Axel Oxenstierna

November story

Like a garden pavilion from anno dazumal,
the multi-stemmed pine grows on the shore.
Heavy limbs bend down like a pagoda roof,
protecting against the autumn grief.
The view out over the lake is calming.
The surface is grey and closed,
like a turned-off television receiver.
No disturbing signals reach us here today.
In the pine tree’s top lives a wise old dragon.
It is dangerous to be seen on this track,
where the moss is weaving gobelins between the roots.
The night will come, and Saturn —
like the fireplace with its ring of stones.
After every end, we will find
still another day to be together on,
before the whiteness, the snow.

http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=39192

(text & music from 1992, and the Haydn reference was unintentional!)