Week 10 – Day 7 – Let There Be Music

by shellgren | Posted on March 15, 2015

We went to the symphony Saturday. The music was wonderful. The Seattle Symphony, with Thomas Dausgaard guest conducting, is going through all of symphonies written by Jean Sibelius in honor of the 150th anniversary of Sibelius’ birth. They opened the evening with Finlandia and then went through Symphonies numbers 1 and 2. The others (3 – 7) will come later in the month with some of the other works Sibelius composed. To me, Finlandia and the first and last movement of the second symphony are my favorites. I got to hear them all in one evening. The symphony played them very well.

Aaron Copland quote

We usually park in the garage across the street from Benaroya Hall. As you drive down the upper ramps of the garage you can see the engraved words above on the side of the hall. The quote always reminds me why I love music. The trouble is that you cannot see the full quote without stopping.

"So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning." - Aaron Copland — “So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.” – Aaron Copland

We stopped the car for the pictures. I love the lighting with the bare tree branches playing against the large tiles on the building. To the west was the Great Wheel of Seattle all decked out in blue and green. Great evening for a trip to town.

Seahawks colors or Saint Patrick's Day colors? — Seahawks colors or Saint Patrick’s Day colors?

Oh yeah, Sibelius is still a much revered figure in Suomi (Finland to the English speaking people). He passed away in 1957. Not really all that long ago. Like so many famous composers, much of his personal effects and his home are considered national treasures. It wouldn’t surprise me if you could go to his hometown and even see his last movement on display.

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The Great Escarpment goes from the northeast of South Africa and swings in a wide semicircle down to the south and then back to the northwest corner of the country. It separates the high central plateau of South Africa from the coastal areas.

Wikipedia has a great image of this.

The Highveld is basically between 5,000 and 6,800 feet in elevation and is part of the central plateau in South Africa. The Lowveld is lower than about 500 meters (1,650 feet). It is basically to the east and northeast of the central plateau. And yes, if you are wondering, there is a middleveld. It is more often referred to as the Bushveld.

The Highveld is basically between 5,000 and 6,800 feet in elevation and is part of the central plateau in South Africa. The Lowveld is lower than about 500 meters (1,650 feet). It is basically to the east and northeast of the central plateau. And yes, if you are wondering, there is a middleveld. It is more often referred to as the Bushveld.

While the highveld is more like a prairie of grasses and the lowveld is grassland with scrubby brush and occasional trees, the bushveld is, amazingly, kind of between them. The bushveld is grassy lands with lots of patches of tall bushes and trees.

At least that is how I would describe them.

Daylin Paul is a fantastic photographer. A collection of his images is called Broken Land. From the October 6, 2019, Sunday Times:
“…the collection begins with aerial photographs of the seemingly legendary natural beauty of the province before Paul’s lens zooms ever closer in for a look at the realities on the ground.
“There pollution is rampant; those who are not lucky enough to find employment in the power industry are forced into dangerous subsistence mining for survival and many residents of towns and informal settlements that abut the power stations are without a proper water or electricity supply and suffer from diseases such as TB.”
Paul is quoted in the article as saying that the connection the indigenous people had to the land is broken. “Now the land is just a place where you put up a house or you dig for something.”
The article continues a bit later with this statement: “When Paul hears US President Donald Trump talking about ‘clean coal’, his experiences in Mpumalanga lead him to react with disdain and outrage because ‘there’s no such thing’.”
The whole article, and its images, was simply stunning. You can read it here, but you must be a subscriber to the paper first.
But better yet, you can see Paul’s own website to see the collection of images called Broken Land here: https://www.daylinpaul.com/broken-land

I had heard from people about the issues with the power industry in South Africa, but didn’t know how severe it was. As one person related to me, “the president has taken a lot of money from the coal power industry. The bribes were there to keep the industry free from too many regulations.” Or as one watchdog group there says, “Public procurement is particularly prone to corruption, and bribery thrives at the central government level.”

I am talking about South Africa, of course. I know nothing like that happens in the States.

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