And Moses Was a Most Modest Man; An Essay on Life and Judaism by Payman Akhlaghi (2014)

And Moses Was a Most Modest Man
An Essay on Life and Judaism by Payman Akhlaghi (Draft 2)

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PAComposer on February 12th, 2014, under And Moses Was a Most Modest Man.

* This is Not a religious commentary.
* The following is not meant at all to approve of violence.

I'm contemplating the story of Moses in Exodus in regards to the nuances of his reactions toward oppression. From 2:12 to 2:17, within 5 concise verses,[1] we're told that the child grew up, came to meet his people, and saved one of them from harsh treatment by striking the oppressor and burying the body. Yet when two Hebrews were fighting one another, he spoke to them with no physical intervention, and he advised them to stop quarreling their kind. His appeal was rejected, and instead, he was threatened with revealing his secret. He runs away from the wrath of Pharaoh, ends up saving the daughters of the Priest of Midian from a gang of thugs, and helps them water their sheep.

His responses seem to be unique to each situation. In the first incident, no one else is around, so he stands up for the weak all by himself. In the second incident, two oppressed people are involved, so he can't easily take sides; instead, he resorts to mediation through conciliatory dialogue. But when women are forced aside, he steps forward to protect them even as an individual against a crowd. All three situations involve acts of altruism, devoid of self-interest; yet we should be happy that, as I've heard, Jewish commentators have rightfully objected to the extreme violence of the first incident.[2] However, the face-to-face and spontaneous nature of that act of defense, leads us to understand it in terms of what Hannah Arendt might have sympathized with in her contemplation On Violence.[3] [Cf. below for a quotation.]

We read elsewhere in the Pentateuch that "the man Moses was very modest (humble), more so than all other people on the face of the earth." (Numbers, 12:3) [4] Notwithstanding the evident discrepancies between the various sections of the Pentateuch, this description has no contradiction with Exodus 2:12ff. Here's a decent if flawed character, a man of few words, curious, honest, wary of hypocrisy, as shy as he is straightforward when it's time to claim the rights of the oppressed. He's motivated to act when lives are at risk and principles are at stake, and he resorts to violence only when all other options fail the circumstances at hand.

Moses is also an eternal outsider. In Egypt, though growing up in the court of Pharaoh, he remains conscious of his Hebrew identity. But later on, among the Midianites, he is seen as an Egyptian. The author of the story is very clear on this issue: Moses names his first son Gershom, in reference to the word "ger", i.e. an alien, a stranger, in the land of Midian. More generally, his solitude among the crowd remains one of the running themes of the entire book, to the very end of his leadership, when he disappears to die alone in the mountains.

[1] Exodus 2:12-15, Hebrew with a basic English translation:
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0202.htm

[2] Lectures by Chacham Ouriel Davidi, Tehran, Iran, 1980's.

[3] Hannah Arendt, On Violence, 1969. Here I refer to her offering an understanding of a violent act by an individual esp. when self-defense is evoked, despite her overall objection to violence, especially by the authority and state.

[3] Hannah Arendt, "On Violence", 1969.

NB: Here I refer to her offering an understanding of a violent act by an individual esp. when (as I understand) self-defense warrants it, despite her overall objection to violence, especially by those in power, authority, and state.

The following is a passage relevant to this argument. Note that I think she seems biased by the long-standing association of "masculinity and violence". An assertive state, for instance, could be quite masculine yet non-violent, and self-control can be viewed by, say, a culture as even more masculine than acting out of rage. Nevertheless, note how she understands a complex situation in her eloquent words:

"To act with deliberate speed goes against the grain of rage and violence, but this does not make them irrational. On the contrary, in private as well as public life there are situations in which the very swiftness of a violent act may be the only appropriate remedy. The point is not that this permits us to let off steam—which indeed can be equally well done by pounding the table or slamming the door. The point is that under certain circumstances. violence—acting without argument or speech and without counting the consequences—is the only way to set the scales of justice right again. (Billy Budd, striking dead the man who bore false witness against him, is the classical example.) In this sense, rage and the violence that sometimes—not always—goes with it belong among the "natural" human emotions, and to cure man of them would mean nothing less than to dehumanize or emasculate him. That such acts, in which men take the law into their own hands for justice's sake, are in conflict with the constitutions of civilized communities is undeniable; but their antipolitical character, so manifest in Melville's great story, does not mean that they are inhuman or "merely" emotional."

[Arendt, Hannah (1970-03-11). On Violence (Harvest Book) (p. 64). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.]

[4] Numbers, 12:3, Hebrew with an English translation:
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0412.htm

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Fame and Privacy; A Meditation on Life by Payman Akhlaghi (2014)

Meditations on Life: Fame and Privacy
By: Payman Akhlaghi (2014, Draft 1)

(*) First published on Facebook.com/PAComposer on February 6th, 2014, under Meditations on Life: Fame and Privacy.

I once wrote, "Just because I've appeared in the public doesn't mean that I'm in the Public Domain." Imagine the strange experience of cameras and mobile phones being trained on you, everywhere you go, especially on one of your sick and battered days, or when you are holding the hand of your beloved walking down on an otherwise quiet street. Imagine a photo or a video clip of yourself, nothing more than a snap out of the context of your life, going viral without your consent. Do you feel comfortable?

Many of us may confuse for a moment the human being whom we run into on the street with what we've heard of him, his persona from afar at the podium, or his image on the screen. But to think that just because you've known Of a person would give you automatically the right to trespass their sphere of privacy, and to tarnish their reasonable trust in the environment, that's a mistake with serious consequences. A fortiori, to organize multitudes to chase and catch a glimpse of the famous or a scoop, it's been a demonstrably dangerous practice.

Neither the self-alienated crowd who objectifies a human being, nor the individual in the spotlight, deprived of many common layers of privacy, may have come equipped by default to handle fame. Years ago, an erudite person noted to me how child actors tended to grow depressed as they got older and missed the attention they once received. On the other hand, adult actors are known to have come in grips with some aggressive trespassers. Given the tragically dwindling health and habits of many talented young and adult individuals before the public eye, even because of it, it's about time to reinforce a serious discourse toward a more reasonable culture of fame. From the outset, we should aim to to help the individuals and the public see the human in themselves and in another, and that reasonable expectations of privacy in the public arena are respected and protected.

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

How Large Is Six Million...; A Memo by Payman Akhlaghi (2014)

How Large Is Six Million...
A Memo By Payman Akhlaghi (Draft 1)

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PAComposer on February 5th, 2014, under How Large Is Six Million....

Imagine yourself sitting behind a desk in an office where people come to you every day to be interviewed. You are paid a handsome amount to find out about each person, whether it's a man or a woman, young or adult, their name, age, city of birth, parents and grandparents, children when it applies, occupation, joys and sorrows, regrets and future dreams. You are required to spend one minute with each interviewee, and you'll do this five hours a day, five days a week, back to back, without a break. If you can keep pace for 52 weeks per year, five days a week, 5 hours per day, without taking a week or a minute off, then you will need 76 years, 11 months, and one day to meet six million individuals and spend only one minute with each of them.

A few years ago, the students in an American school were guided to get a sense of "six million" by collecting one single item, and their dramatic and moving effort was captured in the documentary, Paper Clips (2004).

Or you may imagine yourself walking by a file of people who are standing up, facing eastward, shoulder to shoulder, on a straight line, no gaps in the file. Allowing 3 feet width per person, it will take 1 mile to fit 1760 people. A file of six million people would become 3409.09 miles long. That is almost 1000 miles Longer than the direct distance between Los Angeles and New York, which is only about 2448 miles.

Imagine the people, in your office. Imagine the people in the line. Imagine them saying goodbye, lying down, closing their eyes...

- Sites Consulted:
(*) For distance between cities: http://www.distancefromto.net/
(*) For unit conversions: google.com
(*) Imdb.com.

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Forms and Moods (Part I); Reflections on Life; by Payman Akhlaghi (2014)

Reflections on Life: Forms and Moods (Part I)
By Payman Akhlaghi (Short Essay, Draft 3)

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PAComposer on February 5th, 2014, under  Reflections on Life: Forms and Moods (Part I).

Music affects us. Colors, smells, and shapes impact our mood. Perceptible, or rather perceived, patterns of sensory data, i.e. the form of the objective world, communicate something to us. These are packages of information, which whether implicit and ambiguous, or explicit and unequivocal, sensually immediate or cognitively mediated, may and often do alter something about our mind, our understanding of the world, and our mood. I learned this long ago, and at least in my experience, not even a knowledge of this fact would make us completely immune to the effects.

I remember a few years ago, when I learned a good lesson in certainty, and humility. It was one sunny afternoon in LA, and we were driving with a close friend, speaking casually about a variety of topics, listening to music. It was the CD of a composer whom I very much liked to appreciate at the time. At some point, my mood and thoughts turned unusually negative. She, herself a musician, noticed the change in my attitude, smiled, and suggested that I should change the music. I followed her suggestion with secret reluctance. As a musician and music student, with a demonstrated flair for music analysis, I was resistant to accept that my formulated thoughts, even the logic of my thinking, could have been in any fundamental way influenced by that music. Naturally, I was in for a big surprise, and we would have a laugh about it.

The moment the new music played, the universe was all sunny and bright! A broad smile pulled up on my lips, and my world was all green palm leaves and the proverbial unicorns. I had to put back the first music to make sure that it was not a coincidence, and it wasn't. The darker mood, melancholic sentiments, and negative thoughts had to do something with the first music and my impression of it. Of course, my knowledge of music could give me a relative degree of cognitive detachment compared to the general audience, but fortunately, I would continue to be sensitive to the effects of music, as varied they might be from one person to another.

Most people understand the power of music when it's the subject of their focus. But I always ponder its influence on them when they are not aware of it, especially true for film music. Far stronger than a memorable tune, we are influenced by the atmosphere that the timbre, texture, rhythm and harmony create for a scene, on par with the overall hue of the images. Students of film music might have heard of the "substitution" experiments, when the music of a known cinematic excerpt is replaced by a few other styles of music. The effect is absolutely hilarious. (Imagine the Star Wars opening with a banjo music, or the Persian folk piece, Baba Karam! You get the idea.) The impact of the scene is fundamentally altered with each substitution.

(*) This was an original memo.

(*) On the effect of mood and the biases of judgment, see the excellent "Thinking, Fast and Slow", by Daniel Kahneman.
(*) On cognition and emotions see David Burns' "Feeling Good".
(*) As I recall, a film music scholar, Mr. Wellbey, as I recall, demonstrated the "music substitution experiment" many years ago before a class of musicians at UCLA. The contrast of impressions could be highly dramatic.
(*) The "music substitution experiment" was described in Claudia Gorbman's 1986 book, "Narrative Film Music", by now a standard source on the conceptual studies of film music.
(*) I was glad to read that scholar Daniel Levitin, in his excellent "This Is Your Brain on Music", offers that the impact of the musical timbre on our listening experience might have even heightened in our time. It had been very much true of my overall experience as a musician.

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.


(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Shake the Book: Burn the Fat & Fatten the Muscles by Reading the Books; Humor by Payman Akhlaghi (2014)

Shake the Book: Burn the Fat & Fatten the Muscles by Reading the Books
By Payman Akhlaghi (Humor, Draft 3)

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PAComposer on February 4th, 2014, under Shake the Book: Burn the Fat.... 

It came to my attention that reading has largely remained a stationary activity. Aside from the occasional use of the thumb and the index to turn a page or jot down a note, few other limbs get any exercise while we read. Also, as most of us have discovered, reading and eating need not be mutually exclusive; why, we even lie down next to a bag of chips to read an article on sports. The net result is that for every page traveled we may as well gain a fraction of a pound. As for reading while running on the mill, you'll never know whether the words, the legs, or the panting is getting the upper hand. And if you thought walking to the library to lift heavy books was exercise enough, that's no more as well since the instant delivery of the feather-weight eBooks.

But could we somehow concentrate to read and yet get trimmed? How could we integrate large bodily movements into the very act of reading? The solution might be found in a new category of reading experience called Shake Books. After all, gamers found ways to chop the air and dance their day before their TV screens, so why not the book worms?

Consider this: Your reading device, a Shake Book, which comes complete with adjustable weight and other applicable tools, will stop working unless you shake it literally every 5 minutes for 10 times or more. To turn the pages, you would need to squeeze a firm rubber ball and pull on a tough rubber band, of course, switching hands for facing pages. For each new chapter, you'd need to place your Shake Book on the floor and squat on it 5 times or more. Kinesthetic sensors enable intelligent orientation, allowing for complex Book Shakes that would require you to do sit ups, neck rotations, stretches, runs, and push ups, all the while as you enjoy reading your book. Needless to say, for variety and function, authors might program their unique Shake routines into the content of their books.

Imagine to read your Hesse, daily news, Shakespeare, or Facebook threads on your Shake Book. Too much distraction, you may complain. But didn't we adapt so far to almost everything?

Afterthought: Reflecting on my earlier days in the synagogue, moving to and fro waist-up while whispering the words, weren't we indeed treating the Siddur, the Jewish book of prayers, like a Shake Book?!

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

On Cinema: Hungarian Director Miklos Jancso; A Memo by Payman Akhlaghi (2014)

On Cinema: Hungarian Director Miklos Jancso
A Memo by Payman Akhlaghi (Draft 4)

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PAComposer on February 2nd, 2014, under On Cinema: Miklos Jansco. Revised 02.08.2014.

I learned about the Hungarian director Miklós Jancsó only a few years ago, and I rushed to see several of his works voraciously. He was one of the most original artists of cinema that I know of, with an eye for substantial and pictorial perfection on par with Tarkovsky and Bergman, notwithstanding their differences in terms of cinematic vocabulary and dramatic techniques.

I'd like to focus here on one of the elements of his cinematic language, which I found to be most innovative and unique. In his mature style, there are perfectly choreographed scenes, sometimes made of only a single long take, with crowds of actors and extras, and complex camera moves, in which a vast amount of the "story time", "plot time", even "screen time", hours or even decades of narrative time, are compressed without haste or contradiction into the "real time" before our eyes. The result could be breathtaking. It's not just about the organization of the long take; others have done that quite successfully. Nor is it exactly about filmed theater. This is a compact and coherent dramatic and visual event, which could seamlessly and reflectively walk you through centuries within minutes, if he wished, without a hitch. To me, it's magic. I still enjoy thinking about exactly how he managed to pull it out so beautifully.

I attach below an 11-min sample from one of his famous works, "The Red Psalm", which I understood as an abridged critical narrative of the long history of his country, told with a symbolic brush. It deserves a full viewing with English subtitles. The dramatic compression of time into the real time can be seen here in its maturity. (See comments for a viewing link. Scenes from The Red Psalm by Miklos Jancso.


He could as flawlessly do this in more realistic settings, as it's evident from the following scenes from "The Red and The White", another of his critical historical films. Scenes from The Red and The White.

P.S. Jancso made an absorbing and melancholic documentary in two parts about the largely diminishing Jewish population of Hungary, which I highly recommend. (To my knowledge, he was not Jewish.)

NB: This note was prepared off of the author's memory. Please find here the NY Times's obituary, which was not consulted before writing this memo.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Books on Piano, Part 1: Josef Lhevinne's "Basic Principles of Pianoforte Playing"; Introductory Series by Payman Akhlaghi (2014)

Books on Piano: Part 1
Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing
(1924; Dover 1972)
Author: Josef Lhevinne
An Original Introductory Series by Payman Akhlaghi

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PAComposer on January 31st, 2014, under Books on Piano: Part 1....

I'll start this series by introducing one of the most succinct and insightful books on the art of piano that I know of, Joseph Lhevinne's 1924 "The Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing". Republished in 1972 with a foreword by his wife and colleague, Rosina Lhevinne, it has remained as relevant as ever to understand some of the fundamentals of a healthy, musical, and beautiful technique. Written by a legendary virtuoso (see H C Schonberg's "Great Pianists"), it's a no nonsense summary of hands-on advice for making progress in this art, sound in theory, practical in approach. Don't let the little size of the book or its simple language fool you. This is a rare record of a first-rate pianist's mind and practices expressed in most clear terms.

My Favorite Highlights
- The fundamental elements of a beautiful tone:
* Flesh of the fingertip as a soft mallet;
* The relaxed wrist as a shock-absorber;
* Playing the key "on the fly".
- Approach to practicing scales.
- Advice on the choice of tempo.
- Emphasis on developing a sophisticated sense of rhythm.
- Emphasis on accuracy and Ear training.
- Biographic memories of Anton Rubinstein among others.

Quote:
"Music is painted upon a canvas of silence. Mozart used to say, "Silence is the greatest effect in music." The student, however, does not realize the great artistic value of silence. The virtuoso whose existence depends upon moving great audiences by musical values knows that rests are of vital importance. Very often the effect of the rest is even greater than that of the note. It serves to attract and to prepare the mind. Rests have powerful dramatic effect."

-- © 2014, Payman Akhalghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

"Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit"; The Pleasures of Entertainment; Extended Film Review by Payman Akhlaghi (2014)

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
The Pleasures of Entertainment
Extended Film Review by Payman Akhlaghi (2014, Draft 2)

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PACompsoer on January 29th, 2014, under Will "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit", directed by Kenneth Branagh, deliver?

I found "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit", directed by Mr. Kenneth Branagh, to be an engaging thriller, one that appreciates the value of the human side to any story amid the purely visual and sonic elements, notwithstanding its essentially overused plot line. Unlike many recent releases in the spy genre, the film realizes that the action scenes succeed if the audience cares for the characters in the first place; if shots and scenes are clear in detail and are allowed to develop for adequate perception; if streets chases and fist fights stand in relieving contrast to moments of tranquility say in a forest; and if the plot makes any sense at all. Hence, to say that Mr. Branagh the thespian outdoes Mr. Branagh the director is more to highlight the very unique and irreplaceable niche that this fine artist occupies in performance arts, rather than to underappreciate his sophisticated cinematic skills.

The film credits the recently deceased author Tom Clancy only for the characters, and his presence is felt in their humane three-dimensional feel and motivations, and in the many turns of the story. Compared to an earlier Clancy adaptation, it lacks the stylish and outlandish look of "Clear and Present Danger," one of my favorites. One could also miss the sympathizing bashfulness of Mr. Harrison Ford's version of a mature Ryan, and the striking novelty of events and locations in that earlier film. However, Shadow's immediate touch of the camera style, framing and edit, besides its consistently fine cast, make up much for such comparative disadvantages. Chris Pine in the title role is as good in his intimate moments as when he's on the run. Kevin Costner brings his signature focused dignity to an underdeveloped role. Keira Knightley sprays her scenes with the delights of youth, while seasoned ballerino Mikhail Baryshnikov saturates his short cameo with demanding dignity. Mr. Branagh's stares and accent inflections would suffice to sum up the sophistication of his performance technique.

The music by Mr. Partick Doyle, with a long history of successful collaborations with the director, is atypical of the composer, as it steers away from his earlier lyrical tone and symphonic sound toward the looped accented rhythms and short fragmentary melodies, which have become the de facto vogue for the genre. Market requirements are understandable, yet given my background in music, I can't hide my secret wish to see more of his previous language to reemerge in later films.

In conclusion, it's hard not to notice the nod to some classic elements from Hitchcock's oeuvre, beyond their already widespread absorption into the cinematic language. In this regard, the extended wrestling scene in a hotel room ends with Ryan's solo victory by suffocating the assassin, a direct reminiscent of how Paul Newman's character eliminates his "minder" in "Torn Curtain". (To others however, it might bring John Schlesinger's "Marathon Man" to mind.) It's doubtful if Hitchcock would have approved of the direct depiction of extreme acts of violence using knives, as we see in the Shadow. But the portrayal of a heavy of the story as a mono-dimensional hardliner, and the structural dynamics of his demise at the end, further recall the epilogue of "Saboteur". Despite such explicit moments, the visual language does control detachment by resorting more to implicit depictions of violence in many other crucial scenes, including the denouement filmed in extreme long shot.

(*) IMDB.com and Wikipedia.org were consulted for the accuracy of the names.

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Pianist Menahem Pressler and The Beaux Arts Trio: An Appreciation; By Payman Akhlaghi (2014)

Pianist Menahem Pressler and
The Beaux Arts Trio: An Appreciation
By Payman Akhalghi (Draft 1)

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PAComposer on January 20th, 2014, under: Appreciation: Pianist Menahem Pressler and....

Last week, January 11, 2014, German-born Israeli-American Pianist Menahem Pressler played for the first time with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra [1], in a concert of Mozart and Shostakovich. He is 90 years young, and he continues to enjoy one of the longest and most prolific careers in classical music on record. Judging from the samples and an interview provided by the BPO, music aficionados may confidently expect a new period of sophisticated interpretations flowing from this living treasure.[2,3,4]

This took me back to ca. 1995, when I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Pressler live at Caltech, Passadena, on tour as the most senior member of his prized Beaux Arts Trio, in a concert that included, as I recall, works from Beethoven's Op.1 set and the Op. 97 known as the "Archduke Trio". The astonishing sense of intimacy, the immediate rapport between the players, and the sheer musicality of each performer and the ensemble, was a reminder of the unique place that chamber music holds in the classical repertoire and the concert culture, and what it had been meant to be in the first place. The music felt ageless, as Ms. Ida Kavafian, violin, Mr. Peter Wiley, cello, themselves highly accomplished musicians, absorbed and amplified the inspiration that was clearly coming from the smiling man at the piano. This was a music relevant to an audience two-centuries later on a sunny Sunday afternoon, thousands of miles away, across an ocean, and another continent.

The many achievements of Beaux Arts Trio have been noted elsewhere.[5] I for one have enjoyed for many years its recording of two wonderful Trios by Zemlinski, and a 14-year old Korngold, which you wouldn't have come across on a regular day even in history books. The ensemble retired officially in 2008, after 53 years of recordings and performances, a rare accomplishment for any institution of its type. That same year, a book was released about the pianist's life, career, and approach to music.[6]

Mr. Pressler (b. 1923) left Germany for Palestine, at the age of 16, alongside his family to escape Nazi persecution. He would later land in America as an award-winning concert pianist, ensemble player, and educator.[7] To me, that adds naturally another layer to his playing today with the BPO.

I conclude this Memo by a wish and an appeal for increased appreciation and support for chamber classical musicians across the United States, as they keep alive of one of most enriching and yet fragile forms of art ever produced by humankind.

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Footnotes:

[1] BPO on Facebook.
[2] BPO on the 2014 Concert.
[3] Excerpt from Mozart Concerto No. 17, from the Concert.
[4] Interview with Mr. Pressler, German with Subtitles.
[5] Beaux Arts Trio on Wikipedia. Includes links to Ms. Kavafian and Mr. Wiley, once members of the Trio.
[6] Menahem Pressler: Artistry in Piano Teaching, Brown, W.; 2008, Indian University Press.
[7] Pressler on Wikipedia.

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Photo: From 2012, Hamburger Abendblatt, via Google Search:

Pianist Cziffra's Fingering for the Rapid Octaves in Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.6; Short Essay by Payman Akhlaghi (2014)

Pianist Georges Cziffra's Special Fingering for The Rapid
Octaves in Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.6, in D-Flat Major

A Short Essay by: Payman Akhlaghi (2014, Draft 3)

(*) First Published at Facebook.com/PAComposer on January 17th, 2014, under:
Pianist Cziffra's Fingering for Rapid Octaves in Liszt's Rhapsody No. 6.

Recently, I demonstrated the octave section of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 for a student, with an apologetic attitude for my limitations, as a sample of the bravura period of the composer. Thanks to an unmet friend Marija, I soon after revisited a video of a performance by Georges Cziffra, the foremost mid-Twentieth century Lisztian, whom I had known about since my teens when the late Kourosh Haddadi (کورش حدادی), my first piano teacher, introduced me to a tape of his Rhapsodies. Like other Cziffra performances, this studio recording  is a tour de force of passion, power and momentum, with a propensity to bring out the massive orchestral side of the instrument unreservedly -- read "fortissimo over a sustained pedal" -- when it's called for. Those qualities are also evident in another performance of this Rhapsody, about the same time, and apparently before a live audience.)

Cziffra Playing Listzt's Hungarian

Rhapsody No. 6 (Studio)

The latter part of the work is well-known for its rapid repetitive octaves in both hands, typically achieved by developing a "dropping wrist" approach, while keeping the hands close to the keyboard surface. There are pianists who can race through these passages flawlessly and at astonishing speeds, but I doubt if quite with Cziffra's ease of execution. This time, I noticed why.

Cziffra's relatively large hands suggest and allow him to employ an alternating 4th-5th finger technique for the outer notes when repeated, thus making it only necessary for the thumb to articulate twice as fast its successive attacks. That means a more quiet wrist, and a more relaxed hand, hence, more endurance and speed with much less fatigue. Also, as I had observed earlier, he plays the divergent chromatic run toward the end by using not only a 4-5 fingering, but also by employing the 3rd finger, to achieve a better legato.

Whether the technique fits most everyone's hands for these passages, or that it's worth the effort to re-finger the entire section if you already play the piece, I encourage every pianist to study and appreciate the ingenuity of this highly original pianist's technique. That's besides the fact that he also lets himself quite naturally to elaborate many of the passages, a tradition that Liszt himself subscribed to readily.

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

The Legend of Hercules and Oblique Imagery; Review by Payman Akhlaghi (2014); Short and Independent Film Review

The Legend of Hercules (2014, 2D) and Oblique Imagery
A Short and Independent Film Review
By Payman Akhalghi (Draft 2)

To my surprise, and despite their similar looks and techniques, Hercules was not directed by Zack Snyder, the creative mind behind the imaginative - if historically flawed -- "300" (2006). I had liked some of director Renny Harlin's earlier works including Cliffhanger (1993); and there are many things to enjoy in this film, as well, such as creative fight scenes, imagination set loose in visual graphics, beautiful color schemes, wonderful costumes, stylish camera angles, and effective underscoring by the Finnish composer, Toumas Kantelinen, which fits the genre very well.

However, the plot lacks in the dramatic power and depth of characters which would be necessary to engage the audience on a personal level; indeed, the film felt much longer than its 99-minute recorded time. The pace is too hasty yet without contrast, as if the idea has been to to jump from one battle scene to another; the voice of the cast seldom matches their excellent looks; and the sound design at some point creates an exhausting sensory overload that I found quite disengaging. These issues have become common to many heroic action and adventure films made today; in contrast, we may recall Kubrick's "Spartacus", a successful example for any such films, starting with its first rate screenplay.

The conception of Hercules by Zeus is an apt cinematic moment of the film, carried out with more of the basic cinematic and performance elements than the pervasive CGI. The treatment of violence is also noteworthy: thankfully, unlike the current norms of the genre, no blood gushes out of the necks and torsos, and acts of mutilation of the defeated warriors are demonstrated only by referential symbols, such as waving a hood in the air. This in itself creates a necessary sense of detachment, and it's a positive move toward a less literal, less violent, and less spasmodic cinema, and toward a more poetic, imaginative, and thoughtful language.

In fact, a less literal vocabulary of violent imagery has had a long history in sophisticated cinema. Robert Bresson (Lancelot de Luc, L'Argent) is a prime example among the master filmmakers who successfully employed only oblique references to violence. Fritz Lang could show a moment of death (Hangmen Also Die) by the close up of a hat stopping to roll. Hitchcock had a keen sense for controlling the audience detachment (distancing, in Brechtian language), even as the quite engaging shower scene of Psycho, despite its reputation as a literal moment of violence in cinema, aptly demonstrates: the edit and close ups, and the masking effect of the music, do not allow the audience to completely lose a sense of reality. Andrei Tarkovsky could dramatize the cruelty of pouring molten metal into the mouth of a victim by merely placing the sound of gurgling on the masked imagery of the violence.

More recently, Steven Spielberg, though known for the scary world of Jaw or the melting faces of the enemy in the Indiana Jones adventures, when dealing with a especially realistic, least cartoonish moment, shows a preference to draw upon more oblique imagery in his vast toolbox of cinematic vocabulary. To illustrate his mastery of audience detachment, or distancing, when it's called for, consider War of the Worlds, where the protagonist (Tom Cruise) is compelled to take the life of another human to protect his child: the brutal act is shown off screen, behind a closed door, implied only by sounds, and a visibly beaten father stepping out of the room.

(*) Disclaimer: When it comes to reviews, do not take any one person's word, even the best of them, just for it. I wouldn't. A variety of arbitrary factors might have affected any author without him knowing it, factors that had nothing to do with the film itself, from where he sat in the theater, to what happened before stepping into the theater, fatigue, problems with the language, distractions, personal taste, etc. Nevertheless, I hope you found the above memo useful.

Footnotes:
- The names and dates were checked against IMDB.com.
- Wikipedia was consulted for the exact term used in the case of Brecht.
- Robert Bresson was most appreciated in 1980's by philosopher Babak Ahmadi in a book in Persian on him. "The Wind Blows Wherever It Wishes".

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Fringe Thoughts on the Art of Conducting: A Short Note by Payman Akhlaghi (2014, Humor)

Fringe Thoughts on the Art of Conducting
A Note By Payman Akhlaghi (Draft 1)

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PAComposer on January 9th, 2014, under:
Fringe Thoughts on the Art of Conducting.

Reflecting on a conductor's task, I pondered not only the joys, but the risks and side-effects of the job, starting with the baton, well known for its boosting effects on the ego.

Long ago, it was the French Lully who stabbed himself in the foot while beating for his orchestra with a long staff; and he died shortly afterwards of infection. In one recent concert, pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy had to leave the podium [1] after piercing his hand with the tip of the baton; fortunately, by then rubbing alcohol and antibiotics were in common use. At the climax of a major concert, the audience gave a supporting ovation when the baton flew off of a most excited young conductor, and not to punish any member of his orchestra.

Giuseppe Sinopoli was hardly the first conductor to die of a heart-attack on the podium; indeed, Arthur Rubinstein [2] writes of an old friend of his with a similar fate decades earlier. Thus, not surprisingly is the case of an Iranian conductor, who reportedly complained of developing a gastric ulcer, not just proverbially, due to the inattentive members of his orchestras.

Some conductors always keep the baton in its casing when not in use. Some scratch their heads with it while thinking. A grandfatherly and otherwise graceful Robert Beecham,[3] didn't mind landing his baton hard, like a scepter, on a young fellow's skull to everyone's apparent amusement. When the music called, as in a Berlioz climax,[4] Charles Munch could seize the baton with both hands and bring it down like an ax on each emphatic beat. Furtwängler's hand and baton restlessly flapped and whipped the air.[5] Fritz Reiner barely moved the tip of his very white and long baton.[6] Then came George Prêtre,[7] who put away the baton, closed his eyes, and danced his way through the Offenbach before a smiling Berlin Philharmonic.

No wonder that Pierre Boulez did away with the baton, albeit for more sophisticated musical, pedagogical, symbolic, and almost ideological purposes.

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Footnotes:

[1] A reference to the incident may be found here:
http://sarahhicksconductor.com/web/buzz_details.aspx?ItemId=628969

[2] See "My Young Years", Autobiography, Part I, by Arthur Rubinstein.

[3] Robert Beecham, Conversation and Rehearsal (1958), including the beating of the baton on the head of a young man in good humor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKgG3nrzaqg

[4] Charles Munch in the Finale of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imPA6BfIeNQ

[5], [6], as well as [3], [4]: "Art of Conducting", DVD.

[7] George Prêtre, "dancing" to the Offenbach (1992):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbbfU0akfLE

(*) Consulted:
- www.Wikipedia.org
- Google General Search.
- Amcerican classical composer and UCLA Emeritus, Paul Reale, has a short humorous critique on conducting, which might still be available on his website:
http://www.minotaurz.com/minotaur/

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

A Page From My Life: December 5th, 1991, Vienna; A Memory by Payman Akhlaghi (2013)

A Page From My life: December 5th, 1991, Vienna

By Payman Akhlaghi

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PAComposer on December 6th, 2013, under: A Page From My Life: December 5th, 1991, Vienna.

On December 5th, 1791, Mozart died at the young age of 36. Two hundred years later on that night, I happened to be in Vienna, when the end of "The Mozart Year" was to be celebrated by a ceremonial performance of his Requiem, conducted by Georg Solti at St. Stephen's Cathedral. I was among a sizable group of music lovers who stood outside of the cathedral, ignored the slippery snow and the cold, sipped on the free coffee they kindly gave away, and watched the ceremony on the large screen and speakers set up outdoors for the like of us. The first row inside was populated by the Austrian President, among others, so you may guess the rest.

I had known the piece from the excellent recording made by Sir Colin Davis and (I think) the BBC SO, so I could follow it pretty well. For a 20-something curious mind who had just left Iran, it was a night to be remembered.

Here's a recording of that night, without the recited sections of the liturgy, which were presented during the ceremony by the Bishop. Mr. Solti later recorded the piece as I recall with the same the soloists, a CD of which I own in my library.[1]

December 5th, 2013, Los Angeles

© 2013, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

Mozart's Requiem, K. 626, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Conducted by Georg Solti, (1991, ca. 47')

[1] Note added as a reminder that even as many such as me pay for the music, it's prudent for both artist and publisher to leave links as this available on YouTube as a most basic way to spread the culture, and the music. -- P.A.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Two Poems on War: Tear Up the Drums & The Day After the War; Original Works By Payman Akhlaghi (2013, English & Persian)

Tear Up the Drums & The Day After the War
Two Poems by Payman Akhlaghi (2013)

"کوس ها را تکه تکه کنید" و "از فردای جنگ بگو"
دو شعر از پیمان اخلاقی (2013، انگلیسی و فارسی) ـ

(*) Full Text. (*) متن کامل

Meditations on Life: Peace, Boredom & Excitement; Short Note by Payman Akhlaghi (2013)

Meditations on Life: Peace, Boredom & Excitement
By Payman Akhlaghi
(A Short Note, Draft 2)

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PACompsoer on December 7th, 2013, under:
Meditations on Live: Peace, Boredom & Excitement.

Peace, that most desirable state, could soon become boring without physical excitement. The Greeks understood this basic principle; hence, the Olympics. But physical excitement ought not be confused with harming, let alone eliminating, another life, as the Romans did in the arena. There are some fundamental differences between "athletic competition" and "violent entanglement". The first affirms health and life in everyone, while the latter bagatellizes them in others. The first validates the necessity of flourishing each individual's natural ambitions and physical potentials, which ordinarily may be suppressed by the requirements of the social life. In contrast, the latter aims at establishing and sustaining one's superiority of power by all means necessary. The former integrates individual power into the social fabric; the latter isolates it as a threatening force against the rest of the society.

The athletic spirit helps converge and merge the softness of empathy with the roughness of reality, the mellow with the wild, making the wolverine into a whole human. The attitude of war, however, encourages the savage, the blind wolf within, at the cost of the whole human. Games help vent out excess aggression, sublimating the survival energy into a thriving factor of civilization. Wars destroy the long and hard earned products of that civilization.

Even as individuals may satisfy their need to physical and psychological assertion within the safety of individual exercise or competitive games, nations too may avoid the pitfalls of prolonged tranquility by increasingly organizing scientific races, artistic competitions, international athletic events, and other cooperative projects with a competitive element. Such activities could help secure lasting peace, even heal the wounds between nations formerly against each other, faster than volumes of binding contracts or the threat of force. Peoples in constant competition within a matrix of life and human dignity would jointly aim for excellence, and embrace the peace that allows it all in the first place, rather than taking it for granted and getting bored with it.

© 2013, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

The Curse of the Ninth: An Absurd Musical Trivium; Short Note by Payman Akhlaghi (2014)

The Curse of the Ninth: An Absurd Musical Trivium
By Payman Akhlaghi (A Short Note, originally 2014, Draft 2)

(*) First published at Facebook.com/PAComposer on January 2nd, 2014, under:
The Curse of the Ninth: An Absurd Musical Trivium.

Although Mozart wrote 41 symphonies, and Haydn completed 104 of them, it was the unprecedented stature of Beethoven's symphonies, and the fact that he never finished a 10th, that would cause the subsequent generations of composers some real trauma.

Schubert died young with only 9 symphonies completed. Schumann made it only to the fourth. Brahms, an otherwise quick and daring composer, didn't start to write his first symphony until he was 21, and it took him another 21 years to bring it home. Eventually, like his friend Schumann, he only dared to write 4 symphonies. Bruckner almost made it to the end of his 9th, but he died before he could complete it. Sibelius's 8th symphony was left incomplete and missing. Dvořák managed to finish his 9th, and no more.

By the time of Mahler the superstition must have taken some really strong roots. Mahler had written 8 symphonies, before he composed his symphonic song cycle, Das Lied von Der Erde. When he started working on his 9th symphony, however, he used to quip that he had indeed completed his 9th, meaning Das Lied, although he had not named it as such. But even he couldn't "cheat death": he wouldn't make it to complete his (officially) 10th symphony.

With such a background, we can only imagine how Shostakovich must have felt when he managed to complete his 10th symphony and still breathe, even survive to write his 15th. Later on, the prolific Hovhaness, as if in a gesture of defiance against gods, kept writing symphony after symphony, probably more than 70 of them.

Altogether, according to the logic of superstitions, those who wish to be on the safe side better brace themselves for the worst and consider some kind of insurance, if they're about to tempt the gods of music and embark on writing their 9th or especially 10th symphony. In other words, you're welcome to write your 10th, but you may do so please at your own risk.

While at it, if you are a non-musician, you may consider to wish your composer friends a life long enough to allow them to complete their 10th symphony, and beyond.

-- Payman Akhlaghi,
January 2nd, 2014, Los Angeles.

Notes:

(*) Sources for some names, numbers and dates: Wikipedia.org.

(*) Wikipedia also has a dedicated entry for this topic, which I did Not consult until after completing my short note. There you may see quotes by Schoenberg (which I didn't have in mind to include above), an analysis of the superstition, and a long list of "counter-examples": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_ninth

© 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

P.S. (11.04.2015) On occasion, classical music needs its own share of humor. Otherwise, for a serious discussion of Mahler by this author, see my graduate paper from 2001, Gustav Mahler's Everlasting Influence: A Brief Discussion of Abschied from Das Lied von der Erde, available at Scribd.com/PAComposer, and Academia.edu.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Use Words! Don't Strike! Even When Talking to a Rock...; A Short Note by Payman Akhlaghi (2013)

Use Words! Don't Strike! Even When Talking to a Rock...
A Short Note (Draft 1)
By Payman Akhlaghi

(*) First published at www.Facebook.com/PAComposer on September 2nd, 2013, under:
Use Words! Don't Strike! Even When Talking to a Rock...

In a most symbolic passage from the Jewish Bible (Numbers, 20), Moses is scolded by God for striking a rock for water, instead of only asking for it in words. This stands in contrast, however, to an earlier similar account -- also in the Pentateuch (Exodus, 17), clearly penned by a different author -- in which Moses strikes the rock as he has been instructed. Given the context and notwithstanding the differences, we might as well allow for the possibility that the two accounts might have been two variants of a single inherited story, remembered and recorded by their respective authors at two contrasting times and locations.

The account in Numbers reflects a refinement of culture, and language, at the time when it was written down. It signifies a culture that has come to prefer negotiation with words over negotiation by force. It suggests a more mature and subtle culture of communication -- by extension, a culture of diplomacy -- which could have shown its ramifications in matters of education and daily interactions, as much as in the affairs of the state. This seems to be consistent with the episode that follows immediately, during which the Israelites offer a persuasive case before another nation to allow them passage through their land; but the offer is rejected; so they travel around the land, without a war.

In contrast, the account in Exodus is followed by a highly descriptive narrative of a bloody war, albeit imposed on the Israelite, and which ends in their victory. From striking a rock to communicating with swords, the respective author must have breathed in a very different Zeitgeist than his seemingly later colleague, signifying an ongoing evolution in the Judaical thought even as the early periods, amid what the various stages of codification might imply.

But the inclusion of both narratives within the final edited version of the Pentateuch partly suggests an outstanding dichotomy that would continue to run through history, not only that of Jews, but also that of civilization: the question of Words vs. Force in times of conflict and the need for a resolution; even though the right choice has often been more than clear to the civil mind.

© 2013, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights resereved.

Sources Consulted:
(*) Exodus, 17:
- http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0217.htm
- http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+17&version=NIV
(*) Numbers, 20:
- http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0420.htm
- http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+20&version=NIV
(*) A guiding compilation of the two relevant sections:
http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/6998/why-was-god-so-upset-with-moses-for-striking-the-rock-the-second-time-in-the-des
(*) Recollections of lectures by Chacham Davidi, chief rabbi of Iran, 1980's.

Beauty Is Holy & Holy Is Beauty: A Meditation on Language by Payman Akhlaghi (2013)

Beauty Is Holy & Holy Is Beauty:
A Meditation on Language

By Payman Akhlaghi (Draft 1)

First published on January 31, 2013, at www.Facebook.com/PACompsoer, under:
Beauty Is Holy & Holy Is Beauty... .

"Beauty is holy, and holy is beauty."  I ponder, why I did not say "sacred", but "holy"?

I could explain my choice in terms of the explicit conventions of language, that while both terms are very close, if not identical, in their defined meanings, "sacred" has a nuance of detachment, as it implies a social consensus, an objective convention; while "holy" has a more immediate connotation, and it implies a preferably subjective experience.

Still, I could better explain this on grounds of the "feel" of the two words, or their "aura", an aggregate of not only their agreed senses, but their musical and associative evocations. Whereas "sacred" contains the "hot" letter S, the relatively strident K, and the finite closing on D, "holy" starts with an exhaling HO, a soft L, and an open vowel Y. "Sacred" feels "heavy", hot, active, determinate, demanding, despotic; "holy" feels "light", cool, relaxed, kind, compassionate, free. "Sacred" feels confined, caged, closed; "holy" feels airy, generative, expansive, filling an infinite space. "Sacred" feels complicated; "holy" feels simple, pure. "Sacred" feels suffocated; "holy" keeps breathing.

I noticed and tried to explain the contrasting "feel" of alphabetic letters first in Hebrew, as early as 30 years ago, in my teens. To me such sounds as S or SH were "hot", while the likes of H, M, N, felt "calm (cool)", each to a different degree. I might have as well gone further to organize the letters on a spectrum according to their temperatures. I imagined objective studies using oscilloscopes to observe their frequencies, or rather in my today's terms, their timbre, their wave forms, frequencies, amplitudes, and other quantifiable properties. At the end, however, I ended up sticking to the subjective side of the story, the poesia, the art of it.

On average, classic Hebrew words showed observable onomatopoeic associations in complex words, i.e. a perceptibly direct relation between the sound of the words and their ostensible senses: "esh" was "fire", but "mayim" was reserved for "water"; "sA-me-ah" was happy; "sa-ha-q" was "laughter"; but "rahum" was "compassionate". (Note that I am using the classic Hebrew pronunciations.) The same could be said of the Persian "Atash" for "fire"; or the Persian "ordak" and English "duck", referring to the same bird known for its "quacks".

Naturally, I was delighted to read and translate a beautiful article ca. 1994 by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, in which he had gone as far as explaining the very name of the Jewish God, "Y-H-W-H", as the sound of exhalation, a breath, and observation and experience that I suspect he shared with (other) Jewish mystics. To me, the English "holy" closely reflects the same understanding.

Exhale, breathe, pure and simple. It's holy. It's love. It's beautiful.

© 2013, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

Meditations on Life: Nostalgia vs. Long Term Memory; A Short Note by Payman Akhlaghi (2013)

Meditations on Life: Nostalgia vs. Long Term Memory
By Payman Akhlaghi (Opinion; Draft 2)

یادداشت: نوستالژی و حافظۀ درازمدت (یک دیدگاه) ـ ـ نوشتاری کوتاه از پیمان اخلاقی ـ ـ

First published on December 12, 2013, at www.Facebook.com/PAComposer, under:
Meditations on Life: Nostalgia vs. Long Term Memory .

Nostalgia suggests two things among others. First, that the person has an active memory. Second, that in all likelihood, the person has a poorly selective and badly self-deceiving memory.

Acute Nostalgia glorifies the past while it trivializes the present with baseless exaggeration and decontextualized evaluation of some arbitrarily handpicked elements. It's as much an expression of dissatisfaction with the status quo as it is an easy way out of our never-ending responsibilities to live, to create, to improve personal and collective life, i.e. to "mend the world. " It's a perversion of the otherwise necessary process of retrospective evaluation within a productive mindset which would constitute an aspect of perception, the collection of knowledge, and the formation of experience. Whereas nostalgia dwells in the past, retrospection relies on non-biased long-term memory as an invaluable source of information and experience in the services of the present.[1,2]

Humorously, Chronic Nostalgia may turn into a kind of melancholic addiction, a form of private entertainment, through which we may leave the present for the pleasures of a moment in our mind's theater, or even share the experience with like-minded friends. Certain dramatic shifts affecting large communities, such as the pervasive loss of social status after a revolution, or the shocking change of the surroundings following a mass emigration, might provide some justifying grounds which could for long obscure the true nature of the syndrome. The late 18th century impoverished aristocrats who supported the likes of Beethoven; émigré communities such as the mid-19th century Polish aristocracy in Paris around the time of Chopin; the early 20th century Russians in exile including Rachmaninov; or decades later, a figure such as Tarkovsky who delivered in exile no less than "Nostalghia" the movie, have exhibited more or less evident nostalgic states of mind and spirit, at the least if we may read between the lines of scattered intimate reports.[3]

However, we may as well learn much from those members of such displaced social groups who managed to move on and rapidly adapt to their new environments. To draw again upon the musical community, consider performers such as Horowitz, Rostropovich, Victor Borge, or V Ashkenazy, or prominent directors such as Fritz Lang, Hitchcock, Bergman, or Milos Forman, who seem to have been adept at embracing the present tense without losing their well-founded sense of the past.[4]

We may further propose that the opportunities available to these men contributed to their success as much as their psychological propensity, receptive attitudes, and acquired skills allowed them to seize and grasp, and benefit from, those generous opportunities.

Footnotes:

[1] An enlightened spirit and a literary client of mine, Mr. Norman Gabay is inclined to stress in his many writings addressed to the Iranian community the need for retrospection to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, and to "remain up to date", a catchphrase of his, a basic reminder especially for the religiously oriented Iranian Jewish community.

[2] In "The Way of Transformation", K G Dürckheim offers a succinct Zen-based view of the recycling process of such experiences. Given his sad and troubling emphatic Nazi and anti-Semitic past, he's one author that offers us many questions beyond this essay, which I plan to address in separate entries.

[3] The reader may allow for my natural bias toward musical and cinematic examples, given my educational background.

[4] For a sense of the nostalgia among former aristocracy or émigré communities, you may consider pages or scenes from the following books and movies, which the author has visited partially or in full over the years:

- "Beethoven" by Maynard Solomon.
- "Chopin's Funeral" by Benita Eisler.
- "Great Pianists" by Harold C Schonberg.
- "Horowitz" by Harold C Schoenberg.
- "Nostalghia", the movie by Andrei Tarkovsky.
- "Voyage in Time", a documentary in preparation of Nostalghia, with Tarkovsky and Tonino Guerra.

© 2013, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Reflection: On the Notion of God; A Short Note by Payman Akhlaghi (2013)

Reflection: On the Notion of God
(Draft 2)
By Payman Akhlaghi (2013)

First published, November 5th, 2013, at www.Facebook.com/PAComposer, under Reflection: On the Notion of God .

God is a product, a figment, of our imagination; but there's no need to discount our imagination. At its best, the notion of God, as varied as our interpretations and appreciations of it may be, it could mirror ourselves, reflecting our desires, fears, and ideals, even as it becomes -- by the necessity of its nature and function -- detached from us, as if it lives a life of its own, an independent life which we ourselves have afforded it, and yet attribute to itself. Remembering Martin Buber in his masterpiece, "I and Thou", this entity could be a partner in our silent, intimate, internal dialogue, a privy to our innermost secrets.

This de facto reflective dialogue with ourselves is not necessarily a solipsistic monologue in disguise; rather, it could develop and flourish quite genuinely, as we continue to nourish it, to contribute to it, via our creative imagination, with occasional input from the senses. Hence, also the possibility of confusing it with the reality, with the objective world. Authors often speak of their characters "having a life of their own", and even composers have a similar experience in the more abstract world of sounds. Indeed, even Buber discusses the relationship between the artist and the artwork as a case of the dialogue with the Thou. Quite often, admitted works of fiction may help us -- the creator and the audience -- approach the truth quite efficiently. Likewise, we may allow for the case of of God.

Ancient Jews expressed their insight into the evolving identity of such an entity in the way the God of Exodus introduces himself to Moses, "I will be who I will be." I've long found this essentially existential, enigmatic, and tautological response to be the pregnant seed that would eventually grow into the existential philosophy of the 20th century, in its sophistication, and in particular, in its understanding of the Projection of Self into the unknown. It's a liberating concept, that would find its ultimate fulfillment in liberating human from the notion of God.

Altogether, there could be still a place in our time to discuss the many senses of God, under which many names and labels that it might appear, and their possible applications, whether psychological or spiritual, for modern human beings; and that debate can continue its dialectics with the broader question that concerns a portion of humanity, i.e. the question of its existence.

But such sophisticated evolving discourse cannot be conducted honestly, intelligently, and progressively, if it's stifled by dictations from the top, by official if tacit blankets of superstitions spread over the intellectual society, by a widespread confusion of myths with the objective reality and rational collective consensus. For that matter, and more, this topic, and the people involved, would be better served as long as it remains in essence a private affair for interested but non-political individuals or groups.

© 2013, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

In the Company of Hamlets: Milton, Welles, O'Toole, BBC, 1963; Short Note by Payman Akhlaghi (2013)

In the Company of Hamlets:
Ernest Milton, Orson Welles, Peter O'Toole

(1963, Monitor, BBC, ca. 24 mins)

Short Introduction by Payman Akhlaghi (Draft 1)

First Published on December 22, 2013, LA, at www.Facebook.com/PAComposer,
under In the Company of Hamlets.

Here's a 1963 conversation between stage and film actors, Orson Welles (48), Peter O'Toole (31), and Ernest Milton (73), moderated by Huw Wheldon, (1963, Monitor, BBC, ca. 24 mins), on Shakespeare's Hamlet.

I find it curious that, as far as I know, Welles directed cinematic adaptations of both Macbeth and Othello, but only appeared in the stage productions of Hamlet. In this interview, he provides many insights into the character, that to him, Hamlet was the first genius among dramatic characters, and not just a prince in anguish. Not unexpectedly, he seems to have a preference toward a less affected, more natural, "modern", although he appreciates as well a fittingly "rhetorical" and well-articulated style of delivery. Welles' own genius is all too apparent.

O'toole emphasizes the Elizabethean context of the character, offers an analysis of his psycho-philosophical dimensions in terms of "passion" in the author's body of work; and remembers the humorous side of its production history, including a 19th century musical adaptation under "Hamlet Revamped", and for long a staple of 19th century productions, "Hamlet's dog", a trained company for the Danish prince to talk to on the stage. Note the fine distinction he makes toward the end between verse and prose, that the point of the pentameter is to think of it afterwards. He seems by nature the bad boy of the company, and arguably, the other thespian genius.

Milton, the most mature of the three, personally, and patient, conceptually, speaks of his more imaginative than intellectual approach to the character, that to him, "not everything happens for a reason". He also offers firsthand memories of performance styles from a past generation, and suggests that the most difficult character of the tragedy to play is the Ghost. Unlike Welles, he sees Hamlet as indeed becoming deranged and demented, as the story progresses, and as he finds himself in an unbearably complex and undesirable moral dilemma.

Enjoy this short conversation, even as you may miss to understand some words or references, as this humble did. Incidentally, it would be fun to imagine a 3-year old Kenneth Branagh, sleeping somewhere away from that table, about 50 years ago.

© 2013, Introduction by Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Sources for Dates and Titles:
- Wikipedia.org
- Imdb.com, general
- Google search.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Reflections: Artists, Connection, Longevity; A Short Note by Payman Akhlaghi (2013)

Reflections: Artists, Connection, Longevity
Payman Akhlaghi (Draft 2)

First Published: December 16th, 2013, LA, www.Facebook.com/PAComposer,
under Reflections: Artists, Connection, Longevity .

Actors Joan Fontaine (Rebecca, Suspicion, Jane Eyre) and Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia, What's New Pussycat, Man of La Mancha, Venus) passed away recently. Few of us ever met them, yet to a degree, it seems as if we've lost someone whom we knew.

It's not just about cinema and the publicity mechanism that surrounds it. The loss of an artist, whatever the medium, and these two were wonderful artists, seems to be felt more or less like a personal loss by those who appreciated their art. It comes down to the meaning of the work of art, and to the connection.

I am thinking of how we relate to a Bach-Busoni-Horowitz , as they converged in a single performance; a Sinatra appearance even in a recording; or a Michelangelo sculpture, even via a faithful replica. There's something of a human contact established across time and space through the art work, which allows an impression of the core humanity of the artist to reach us in familiar terms. There is a sense of presence, and that entails a continuing presence, whether it be in the re-sounding of a sonata by Beethoven, reading a novel by Hesse, standing before an original by Picasso, or pondering the Stonehenge by some unknown artists or artisans of the past millennia. There lies a hint at the lures of the art as an answer to humanity's general quest for longevity, if not eternity, through an attempt to leave a lasting mark behind.

But then you think of our rapture in the ephemeral art of musical improvisation, or dance and theater for that matter, and you feel compelled to question it all over again. The answer maybe in our attempt to perceive, embody, experience an understanding of the timeless, of the eternal, in the space between the artist and the audience, captured and manifest in the work of art, even when the artist and the audience, and even the work of art, are one and the same; even though the eternal might be none but a projection of us, a transcendental aspect of our creative and perceptive imagination.

© 2013, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Payman Akhlaghi: The Politics of Language, Part II: Native Languages; Short Original Essay (2013)

The Politics of Language, Part II: Native Languages

A Short Essay By Payman Akhlaghi 

Draft 1, First published on December 20, 2014, at www.Facebook.com/PAComposer , under The Politics of Language... .

A language without sophisticated content is a fertile if empty language. Whether it grows henceforth, or it becomes extinct soon afterwards, the vacuum of content is bound to be filled by material whose nature would as much reflect as determine the culture in which it's spoken. Left to itself, a language may grow by expanding and proving its utility, or it may fade out for decreasing relevance and application. What it absorbs as long as it exists would influence the future of its speaking community and their interactions with the larger world.

Languages normally co-develop advanced content in parallel to the cultural progresses made in the speaking community. At this stage, small and neglected social groups may be helped to close the conceptual gap between them and the larger society by enriching their native languages with demonstrably sophisticated, tolerant, and non-biased content, in thought, arts, sciences, etc. This approach validates their unique cultural identity; it prevents the vacuum of data to be filled by detrimental content via an osmosis of information; and it facilitates their integration within the larger human society with an immediacy of perception which may never be fully achieved by merely adopting any dominant language. Of course, this is meant to continue in parallel to the necessary attempts of the community itself to join the larger pool of knowledge by mastering at least one dominant language. They may further appeal for a better global understanding of their local concerns by providing an array of their intellectual heritage in a dominant language, most likely, in English. Sustained efforts as such would help tear down the walls of ignorance, hubris, and cultural solipsism at their roots, on both sides.

Stating the obvious, the above highlights the crucial role of competent translators, and the need to date for increasing investment by the larger society in such localized publications and media. Both points have long been recognized, and successful examples abound, indeed going back for millennia, as it's readily suggested by, say, the Greek "Septuagint" version of the Jewish Bible. In our times, thanks to its dedicated and independent translators,  the Iranian intelligentsia has maintained a smooth and strong bond with world thought, which has shunned their short or long political upsets. On the other side, such bridges as VOA, BBC and VOI, have continued to provide much valuable content in Persian, through decades of radio broadcasts, and recently, via the Internet, alongside the incomparable multi-lingual UNESCO's Courier, whose lasting imprint on cross-cultural understanding on a global scale should be appreciated.

The above may explain in part the overall sympathetic attitude of large sectors of the Iranian people toward Western thought and modernity, despite decades of propaganda to the contrary. It should also reinforce our urgent attention, at the policy level, toward evermore effective means of bringing modernity in its best sense to smaller nations through an increasing awareness of the central role of language. This requires an attitude of natural curiosity and mutual esteem, without negating our core belief in our civilization, continuous progress, life-enhancing achievements, and life-affirming values.

Arguably, the historically prolonged "colonialist" mentality has resulted in lingering partitions between the "dominant vs. conquered" languages, as vehicles of their associated cultures and norms. These invisible walls symbolize and contribute to ongoing tensions, leading to some absurd dichotomies of values and identities that evidently may coexist, for long unresolved, within the same community, even the same mind. In contrast, a linguistically and anthropologically informed synergistic approach, open yet not absolutely relativistic, could reduce tensions between and within such conflicting social groups, even as it would acknowledge the unique contribution of each party to the global human discourse.

If so, we may as well search in language for a most effective and elemental key to eliminate hostilities and ideological violence among many distinct groups, and ease their assimilation into the larger society, whether it is a small rebellious sect in Europe, or the larger tribal Afghanistan, provincial Pakistan, many Arab societies, but especially vast numbers of small and large African nations and ethnic communities. Lasting calm depends on mutual esteem and understanding, and on absorbed values of tolerance and harmonious coexistence on all sides. To that end, we may bet safely on radical solutions that arise in essence from an improved understanding of language in its broadest sense, and the subtle yet crucial nuances thereof.

(*) Update (April.25.2014): Months later, as I read through Prof. Noam Chomsky's Language and Responsibility (1979), I found the following paragraph relevant, if obliquely, to this short essay, notwithstanding the broader and more sophisticated scope of what he has in mind: "[...] In the speech of real speakers idealized systems interact; each of us speaks a variety of these systems, intermingling them in a complex fashion. Because the experience of individuals is different, the mixture of systems is different. But I do not believe that outside these systems there exists a reality of dialect or language. [p] Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps there are constraints on the ways in which linguistic systems can or cannot enter into interaction in a single community, or a wider group, or the mind of a single person. Perhaps we shall find that certain combinations are possible and others impossible. If principles emerge which govern the interaction of these systems, then these will belong to a field called sociolinguistics."[1]

[1] See Noam Chomsky, Language and Responsibility (1979), in On Language. The volume also includes his Reflections on Language.

(*) Afterwords: My short paragraph, Politics of Language, Part I, was first published on August 21st, 2013, at Facebook.com/PAComposer. Here's the text:

On the Politics of Language, Part I, By Payman Akhalghi (Draft 1)

To insult, regardless of intent or validity, is to label by the use of a perceived objectionable concept -- delivered explicitly via words, or implicitly through gestures -- with a presumably reductive effect on the image of the target. I distinguish between an insult offered To some entity in the position of power versus one coming From a position of power. In the former case, it might be an understandable, forgivable if not preferable or permissible, way to get a hold on a perceived threatening enormity: to make it more manageable emotionally; and to free up the cognitive resources to better handle its reality. In the latter case, it seems to be pure malice meant to harm. © 2013, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

© 2013, 2014, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.

(*) Payman Akhlaghi is a composer, pianist and piano teacher based in Los Angeles. His repertoire covers Classical music, as well as Persian (Iranian) Music, Pop Music, and Film Music. For information on the lessons in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Encino, Brentwood, etc. please call: 310-208-2927. Thank you.

Short Independent Film Review: Hannah Arendt (2013 American Release); Review by Payman Akhlaghi of the 2012 Film by by Margarethe von Trotta

Hannah Arendt (2012; 2013, American Release)
(113 mins; in English, German and Hebrew; Subtitled)

Directed by: Margarethe von Trotta

Music by: André Mergenthaler

Cast: Barbara Sukowa et al.

Original Review by Payman Akhlaghi (draft 2)

This review was first published on June 10th, 2013, at Facebook.com/PAComposer .

To begin with, if you have any interest in the protagonist, or more generally, in cinema with philosophic content, or just a wonderful performance, do not miss this film while it's on the screen.

What this film lacks in the visual skills -- the cinematography and lighting are too flat and rudimentary -- it makes up in content and performance. Some of the most touching moments take place exactly when the genius of the character comes across, not only in words, but in the masterful articulation by the lead actress, Babrara Sukowa. Whether subdued, as in her first observations during Eichmann's trial, or fierce, as in when she publicly defends her conclusions, here's an actress who embodies a role many must have wished to play. Indeed, this could very well be the first well-earned Oscar nomination of the year.

The writing is intelligent and convincing. The plot is organized around the central point of her career, the trial of Eichmann in Israel, the writing of the famous book, and the consequences of its publications. Arendt's past, and future, are hinted at or presented briefly in flashbacks, verbal cues, and the final few lines. This Arendt is one of the most convincing philosophers portrayed on screen. You feel her thinking in her stares, in her smiles, in every puff at her cigarette.

It's clear why Ms. Von Trotter decided to quote directly from the archival footage of the trial. Nothing but the voice and images of the Nazi criminal himself could have ultimately convinced us, the audience, of the truth of then controversial conclusions made by Arendt. To the world, that was a monster caged in glasses; to her sharp mind and eyes, he was a mediocre bureaucrat, manifesting the "banality of evil"; and there lied a much more dangerous truth.

The family discussions whether in German or English are as sharp and convincing as one could wish. She, her husband and friends, aren't talking over each other for the sake of the camera or the ambience; they are actually driving forward the point of the argument. This is a film made with conviction, with belief in the thoughts and substantial themes presented; and the director and the actor have allowed as much of these as possible to come forward in a clearly shaped linear narrative.

The music by André Mergenthaler, mostly employing the strings, is surprisingly as effective as it's simple. The casting of supposedly American characters and subsequent dubbing is often problematic, as English seems not to be their primary language, judging from their forced accent and enunciation. That's a regrettable fact for an otherwise fine film as this, which thrives on the power of its performers, even though we may understand this could have happened due to budget limits.

Altogether, however, this is a film not to be missed.

© 2013, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.
(*) Source for cast and crew: IMDB.com
(*) My earlier review of "Vision" (2009) also by Margarethe von Trotta and Barbara Sukowa.

Short Independent Film Review: The Last Days (1998, DVD 2003), Reviewd by Payman Akhlaghi (2013)

The Last Days (1998, Documentary, 87 mins)
Directed by James Moll
Produced by Ken Lipper
Music by Hans Zimmer
Executive Producer: Steven Spielberg
Winner of the 1999 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature
This review was  first published on April 8th, 2013, at www.Facebook.com/PAComposer, under The Last Days (1998...) .

The Last Days follows primarily five Hungarian-born Americans and survivors of the Holocaust, as they remember the pain of the past and pay a visit back to their hometowns, and to the Buchenwald concentration camp. Survivors include an artist, a prominent congressman, a businessman, etc. The movie also includes interviews with a historian, and a doctor who was in charge of "human experiments" at the camp, but who was later forgiven at the Nuremberg.

This is one of the finest films made about that tragic catastrophe in human history. The narrative is formalized, yet it's full of moments of emotional immediacy, reinforced by the beautiful score of Hans Zimmer. The survivors recall honestly, remember vividly, and speakl eloquently. Below, I'll produce a transcription of Steven Spielberg's introduction to the film and his Shoah Foundation, the video of which is included on the DVD release of the film.

© 2013, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.
- Sources for dates etc.: IMDB

(*) Steven Spielberg's Introduction to The Shoah Visual History and Education Foundation

"Shoah is the Hebrew word for Holocaust; and Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which I established in 1994, has now videotaped the testimonies of over 50,000 survivors in 57 countries and 33 languages. I consider this the most important work of my life, and the most significant legacy of Schindler's List. Each testimony is a window into the world of the Holocaust before, during, and after the war. We must take this extraordinary wealth of eyewitness evidence, and use the archive for the cause of knowledge, toelrance and mutual respect. And we are developing ways to extend its value beyond the primary preservation of the testimonies.

"The Last Days" takes five survivors back to Hungary to tell us and show us, in their own words, their lives before, during, and after the Holocaust. And most recently, we produced our first educational CD-Rom, and using the tools of modern media and technology, we will bring young people close to the words and faces of men and women who were young themselves over 50 years ago. We have to recognize that people are not born with hatred; they acquire it. We have the responsibility to listen to the voices of history, so that future generations never forget what so few lived to tell."

-- Steven Spielberg
From the 2003 DVD Release of the Film
(Transcription by P.A.)