Kim Stanley Robinson’s First Stinker?

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Kim Stanley Robinson is one of my favourite authors. I have read and re-read the Mars Trilogy, awed by this chap’s visionary tales, loved the ‘Three Californias‘, sniggered at ‘Escape from Kathmandu’, fell in love with the NSF during the ‘Science in Washington‘ trilogy, wanted to live in an Asian utopia in ‘The Years of Rice and Salt‘ and longed to be on Pluto while reading ‘Icehenge‘.

And now I have just finished Galileo’s Dream, and what can I tell you?

It’s a stinker. Absolutely terrible.

Everything that made me a fan of KSR in the past is missing: the carefully researched scientific prose, the utopias that were so well thought out that they were likely to happen very soon, the sociological visions, the heterogenous groups of vastly different protagonists and, of course, communal bathing and a ‘Frank’. Always a Frank.

So, what do we get here? A curmudgeonly Galileo Galilei that gives the reader no chance for empathy or sympathy, as he’s an obvious anthrophobic, lying, scheming egomanic arse. And just because 17th century alone is obviously not sci-fi, Galileo gets whisked away ever so often to the Jovian moons of the 30th century to help out with the issue of newly discovered life in and around Jupiter.

Yup. No kidding.

With other words, KSR has abandoned his legacy as being the one Sci-Fi author you could safely recommend to your friends who until now saw Sci-Fi as for the anorak wearing members of society.

Not anymore.

Favourite Orchestral Pieces?

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A recent Reddit thread made me think about what my favourite orchestral pieces are. While I am happy to admit that these days I tend to listen more to jazz than classical music, it nevertheless continues to be an important part of my ever expanding music collection. The people most culpable for shaping my taste in (classical) music were probably the conductors in the various orchestras I’ve been playing in. There is nothing like playing a piece of music for weeks to really getting it to know inside out. Even initially inaccessible works like Hindemith’s “Plöner Musiktag” start sounding beautiful after you’ve given them a whirl a couple of times.  So I probably have to thank these poor men (and women) in front of me, wielding their little sticks and shaking their fists at the cocky part of the wood wind section. Anyway, here are my 10 favourite orchestral pieces of all time, in no particular order:

  1. Luigi Cherubini: Requiem in C-Minor.  Emotive, rousing stuff from the man judged by Beethoven to be the best of his contemporary composers
  2. Johann Sebastian Bach:  Christmas Oratorio. The classic singalong.
  3. Johannes Brahms: Symphony Nr 1. Once you’ve heard the brooding, evocative first movement you’ll never forget it. Breathtaking.
  4. Franz Schubert Symphony: Nr 8 (Unvollendente): Lovely transitory work that slots right between the classic and romantic period. Haunting.
  5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony Nr 41 (Jupiter): One of the most astonishing pieces of music ever, its fourth movement manages to cram five motives into an absolutely mindblowing fugal coda. You must have the mind of Stephen Hawkins to mesh them , make them sound beautiful and manage to let them finish all together.
  6. Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony Nr1.  I know, you might say that Nr 3/5/6/9 are all more glamorous, but my favourite is Nr1.
  7. Joseph Haydn: Symphony Nr 82 (L’ours).
  8. Jean Sibelius: Finlandia. Even it’s use in ‘Die Hard 2’ can’t ruin it’s appeal.
  9. Gustav Holst: First Suite in Eb. Never mind ‘The Planets’. This is far more evocative.
  10. Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. ‘Nuff said

So there you have it: the 10 most played orchestral pieces at casa del fordiebianco.

Prefab Jesus Pop

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Paddy McAloon is, well, was one of my favourite song writers. His work for Prefab Sprout has rarely been bettered, and albums like Andromeda Heights and From Langley Park to Memphis are on my list of most played vinyl ever.

So it was rather unsurprising that I was rather excited by the announcement of the release of a new album with new material by Prefab Sprout called ” Let’s Change the World With Music“. Instantly downloaded (remember going to the record shop around the corner every day until the album you were waiting for finally arrived?) from Itunes, I gave it an instant spin (well, I gave the hard disk a spin) and was initially delighted by the usual McAloonesque harmonic joys, but soon was beginning to worry that I might have downloaded something resembling ‘Christian Pop’.  References to God, Jesus and Angels are flying around liberally, and I wonder whether this is a concept album to drum up support for the Church of England.

The sound is a bit weird as well: while the songs themselves reflect McAloon’s musical genius, the production sounds like somebody threw together some ideas on an eighties drum computer and a kid’s synthesizer, often detracting from the beauty of the compositions.

I wonder whether Paddy’s beard length correlates with the religiosity of his lyrics. On the other hand, I can’t really be mad at a guy who made some of the most beautiful music in the universe. A bit like Bach, if you think of it.

Let’s hope it’s just a phase.

A Grand Day Out. In Basildon.

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So last weekend the best girlfriend ever dragged me away from my computer (just when it looked like I was finally levelling up to a level 3 mage on Baldur’s Gate. Sigh) to attend the Basildon Beer and Folk Festival. While neither me nor her are particular fan of middle aged men playing solo acoustic guitar and singing about flowers I tagged along and had a look around.

Hidden behind Basildon Council’s recycling station is ‘Wat Tyler Country Park‘, a regeneration project in the marshes of South East Essex on the site of a disused explosives factory that promises a natural paradise where a landfill used to be.

The first thing you will notice on the way to the Wat Tyler park is this:

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Art in public spaces. Whether it works often depends on the choice of site. Or the art. I am not 100% sure whether the basketball player in front of the Motorboat Museum works, though.

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The Motorboat Musuem. Yes, there is a Motorboat Museum.  After having a look around Google for about ten minutes I couldn’t find another one, so it seems to be rather unique on this planet. What is it like? Well, it’s a hall crammed full of motor boats in all shapes and sizes.

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And there is a pond in which you can steer your own little model motorboat after the insertion of 40p.  I personally can’t see the appeal and would have preferred a motherboard museum, but you can’t have everything in life.

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I am sure there is a thriving vintage motorboat community out there that considers this spot in the Essex marshlands as their holy grail.

The folk and beer festival? There was a chap with a guitar singing about hang overs. There were no cask ales left. We left quickly to enjoy the relative quiet of the RSPB’s twitcher huts and were rewarded with the sight of a Eurasian Coot with her chicks.

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I did level up very soon after that.