RedStateEclectic

Unwinding with Camille Saint-Saëns

I need to unwind to get to bed at a reasonable hour. For that I'd try almost everything - even a Klavirski concert u G-dur, stav I.

 

La Campanella

La campanella - the internet-linked computer is my campanella; myriads of valuable things that I order with her help, only to see them delivered straightaway.

A little intermezzo in the middle of the day, hat tip to my friend U.H.

 

Presto - Tartini

Image credit.

Giuseppe Tartini:
3.Satz "Presto"
aus: Violinkonzert d-Moll
Piero Toso (Violine)

Giuseppe Tartini:
3.movement "Presto"
from: violin concerto d-minor
Piero Toso (violin)

 

Take It Slow

There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
there is rapture in the lonely shore,
there is society where none intrudes,
by the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.
- Lord Byron

Let's Do It

Image credit.

This evening, I was suddenly haunted by some indeterminate fragments of melody and lyrics. For a while, I was searching for the wrong title in the internet: "Any Little Fish," I looked up, to no avail, and "Even Fish Can Do It" which latter phrase does appear in one of the song's renderings, I am almost sure.

And here we are - this is what I had been looking for: "Let's Do It" by the inimitable Noel Coward; it must be at least 20 years that I heard this one for the last time -- see also A General Weather Warning ... and A Plea to James.

 

Verse 1

Mr. Irving Berlin
Often emphasizes sin
In a charming way.
Mr. Coward we know
Wrote a song or two to show
Sex was here to stay.
Richard Rodgers it's true
Took a more romantic view
Of this sly biological urge.
But it really was Cole
Who contrived to make the whole
Thing merge.

Refrain 1
He said the Belgians and Greeks do it
Nice young men who sell antiques do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
Monkeys whenever you look do it,
Aly Khan and King Farouk do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
Louella Parsons can't quite do it,
For she's so highly strung,
Marlene might do it,
But she looks far too young.
Each man out there shooting crap does it,
Davy Crockett in that dreadful cap does it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

Refrain 2
Our famous writers in swarms do it,
Somerset and all the Maughams do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
The Brontes felt that they must do it,
Ernest Hemingway could-just-do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
E. Allan Poe-ho! ho! ho!-did it,
But he did it in verse.
H. Beecher Stowe did it,
But she had to rehearse.
Tennessee Williams self-taught does it,
Kinsey with a deafening report does it.
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

Verse 2
In the Spring of the year
Inhibitions disappear
And our hearts beat high,
We had better face facts
Every gland that overacts
Has an alibi
For each bird and each bee,
Each slap-happy sappy tree,
Each temptation that lures us along
Is just Nature elle-meme
Merely singing us the same
Old song.

Refrain 3
In Texas some of the men do it
Others drill a hole-and then do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love
West Point cadets forming fours do it,
People say all those Gabors do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
My kith and kin, more or less, do it,
Every uncle and aunt,
But I confess to it-
I've one cousin that can't.
Teenagers squeezed into jeans do it,
Probably we'll live to see machines do it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

Refrain 4
Each baby bat after dark does it,
In the desert Wilbur Clark does it
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
We're told that every hormone does it,
Victor Borge all alone does it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
Each tiny clam you consume does it,
Even Liberace-we assume-does it,
Let's do it, let's fall in love!

Read more at http://www.leoslyrics.com/noel-coward/let-s-do-it-lyrics/#wl0eciHHV0oyZd3S.99

Year New Happy

3 days, 1 week, 1 month? How long can you still say Happy New Year to people? I begin to feel incongruous after 3 days and abandon the habit after 1 week.

Year New Happy, everyone wish still might I So.

 

Switch off the vid's sound, if you like, and listen to this:

 

2 Weeks and 2 Days ‘til Christmas

My advice? Start making merry now.

"Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more." - Dr. Seuss

Macro Santa

Of the concise lessons on the economy, this is one of the best:

 

Oops, I forget, the really significant part of the post: WOW.

Edvard Grieg - Wedding Day at Troldhaugen

Troldhaugen was the home of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.

Source.

Toccata

Image credit.

In the course of our conversation, a friend of mine used a term I thought I understood. Later, I discovered that I did not really know what it means.

The word was toccata. And this is what it means:

Toccata (from Italian toccare, "to touch") is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers. Less frequently, the name is applied to works for multiple instruments (the opening of Claudio Monteverdi's opera Orfeo being a notable example).

The source.