Again re the Art of Fugue by JS Bach

 Recently, the night cap for me has been the Art of Fugue by JS Bach, I have written about it and fond memories with this great work in the past posts.

I just would like to point out it should be performed with key boards like cembalo. It makes the melody line distinct compared with string ensemble like quartet. This performance by Juliard String Quartet is an exception. Its performance is so exhaustive and detailed. As if the texture of the music was shown before us. 

Here

The series of Canon attract my mind. Simple and still profound. The 2nd CD of his set starts with Canon. I am relieved as well as soothed whenever I listen to these works. I could understand why Bach has concentrated on the counterpoint works for his last one. Absolutely abstract and still specifically appealing to our mind.

Brahms Viola Sonata

In the last years of his life, they say, Brahms has felt running out of inspiration and energy for composition. He also had problems with his friends even including Clara Schumann those days. Knowing a virtuoso of clarinet player, Richard Muehlferd, however, he has been inspired and started composing the last works of chamber music featuring clarinet. The clarinet trio, the clarinet quintet and the two clarinet sonatas. Later, the clarinet sonatas were transcribed to viola sonatas. Being highly self critic, Brahms was not very happy with those arrangements.  But this couple of viola sonatas are performed like jewels by violists.

This 1st movement of the 1st sonata is particularly impressive. The beginning motif is from his 1st piano sonata OP-1. He told his work had been continuous like a loop. At the end of life, he must have had the same emotion of passion for music and possibly for life even if resignation for life is the fundamental mood in this music. I could hear solitude as well as a kind of anger on the background. 

I appreciate this viola version. The charactersistic of the instrument matches this music. Not so brilliant as violin but mellow enough to easily reach our heart.

This duo, Carr and Petrova, plays it most emotionally as well as passinately. They have left a recording of the clarinet trio by Brahms, which I posted in this blog before. Competent musicians. I hope these young musicians may publicate recordings of such great chamber music as this one.

 

Brahms won't give us heavenly relief as Bach does. But he still closely whispers his thoughts in our ear. We could find intimate companion for the travel of life.

John 9V1VV gone QRT

A few days ago, I received an e mail from John 9V1VV. The title was "QRT". It has made me utter "What?".

It was literally a news that he had decided to quit radio and sold all equipments for now. He has been annoyed by heavy noise from the surrounding. He often mentioned of that before and told me he could barely enjoy chatting on CW. 

I know what person he is and what he has been pursuing in ham radio. In a moment, I fully understood why he had made such a decision. He told me he enjoyed Thai tea, listening to music, constructing hifi system and doing volunteer work for the area etc. It seemed worthwhile for him to spend time with those things but not listening to noisy bands without anyone to converse. Recently, there were, as he said, only two exceptions like Jim W6YA and Happy W7SW strong enough to talk with. I was smiling at those call signs because they also used to be regulars for me to talk on 40m. Anyway, John has made up his mind and has stepped out into no-radio life now.

It was around 2007 when I ran across with John for the very first time. He was running with a hand key and later a bug key using an electrical keyer. He had worked as R/O for years and got ashore when the traditional work of R/O was extinct, I guess. However, he used to tell me he was unconsciously converting the words on signs or advertisements along the streets into Morse code. Realizing that, he wanted to come back to the world of Morse code communication. I believe it won't take too long before he applied for a ham ticket in Singapore and prepared the radio gear and antenna, possibly, a wire antenna. 

In our first contacts, I knew he had belonged to the old generation of CW operator. I felt close to him with that his intention. In addition, we shared classical music as hobby. whenever we meet on the air, we scarecely miss the chance to talk about music with him. I have also learned a lot on that subject from him. Something like the yiddish melody in Mahler's 9th. 

He has visited me at our home back in 2008, a year later from our 1st contact on the radio. On that weekend, we had one of the important rehearsal of the local orchestra. I was sorry but asked him to go for the rehearsal with me. I have written about his visit on a post in this blog. Here.

It has been a pleasant journey together on our loving mode in ham radio. He will be missed badly by a lot of his friends in ham radio including myself. But he has made up his mind to go off to another voyage of post-radio life. We could get in touch through the internet. It is not the end of our friendship but just another chapter of new voyage. Wishing him very good health and meaningful life.  

Mother's 13th anniversary

Working hard in the garden/farm, I realized it was my mother's 13th anniversary today. I knew of this important anniversary for me in the end of this month. Honestly, I was almost getting it through. However, the longer it got since her passing, the oftener I recall of her in daily life.

Mother met father at a small sanatorium for poor tuberculosis patients during WW2, which our aunt managed at this same place as we live right now. Father was sent to the war in China. In the end of the war, they have married and were given 3 children including myself. This photo of my parents with my sister shows what porverty they lived in those days. They still look peaceful and possibly hopeful for the life ahead despite of the poverty. 

Soon, tuberculosis could be treated with antibiotics and such a small sanatorium has lost its meaning in the society. Our aunt has decided to close it down. My parents have decided to go to Tokyo for new life. I have reiterated this same story in this blog.

My mother used to work at a Salvation Army hospital in a suburb of Tokyo. She went for work early in the morning and came back home to care for us and give us simple breakfast for a while. Then she went back to the hospital on a bicycle. What a hard work it was for her. She was still always cheerful and tender to all of us.

It must be a challenge for my parents to raise the family in Tokyo. It could be called as an ordeal for them. But always with much hope for the future. 

Reaching the old age myself, we are another difficulty in life, individual and social at the same time. I feel we could hardly be so optimistic for the future, different from ths situation my parents used to face to at the time of exodus to Tokyo. My mother might tell me not to worry so much and to do what I need to do. With her gentle smile.

In 5 days, my brother and his wife will come to see us from Iwate. I will prepare my special curry and rice for them. We may talk of good old memories of my parents and of the lives in childhood in Tokyo over glasses of beer.   

It is the time for me to exchange the cell phone old and infrequently used.

 My cell phone is pretty old. Maybe, around 15 years of usage. 

When, working at own practice, I sometimes had patients who should be monitored throughout the night. In such a case, I gave them and their family members my phone number and told them to give me a call when they got worse. I have had an emergency call once or twice in a month. But, seemingly, they were relieved to be able to get in touch with me, even though I had to tell them I should switch off the cell phone at midnight. 

My old cell phone has a large data of those patients' phone numbers. When I quit working at own practice, I wondered what to do with it. I thought some patients or their family members might had consulted to me on the phone when they had any health issue. Actually, it turned out nothing. I understood the patients won't rely on me when they lose relationship with me as a doctor in charge or they have found certain new doctor in charge. On the other hand, I often recall some of them even in dream. The other day, I realized they had become grown up and even became parents themselves for now. 

So I believe it is the time for me to get away from the sentimentalism of being a doctor in charge of those people. I still have good memories of them. When I thought to be a doctor, I was thinking of becoming a school teacher. In that case, at their alumni reunion, I could have seen the pupils or the students whom I was the class room teacher for. How nice it could be if I could see the patients grown up and living at various positions in the society. 

Unfortunately, I am not able to see them any longer. Just wishing them happiness and good health.

Quiting such a daydream, I should change this old cell phone to a new one or to a smartphone. It is the time for me to go ahead. Can I manage a new phone by myself?

Matthew's Passion played by Ozawa with SKO possibly in memory of Takemitsu

It was the Easter in the last week end. It is the time when we listen to Matthew's Passion by Bach. 

Talking of that great music, I can't forget of Toru Takemitsu who has loved it so much throughout his life. I have mentioned about it a few times in this blog as follows for example.

https://nuttycellist-unknown.blogspot.com/2017/03/takemitsu-tarkovsky-and-matthews-passion.html

In relation with him, I also recall of Seiji Ozawa who has recently passed away. In the article which I wrote about him, I quoted the performance of the Passion by him conducting Saito Kinen Orchestra in 1997. I realized it was a year later since Takemitsu's death. I know Ozawa has known how important that music was for Takemitsu and speculated Ozawa had played it in memory of Takemitsu. 

Given that Ozawa has chosen it for that purpose, this rendition sounds even more poignant to us. It is marvellous that we are captured with catharsis of peace and serenity beyond the tragedy when we reach the end chorus. It's beyond our logic or imagination.  

 

A new modality for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult ones to be treated. It is always symptomless until it advances to the late stage. The organ is located deep in the body and is surrounded with large vessels etc, which makes surgical approach even more difficult. 

High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound is developed for an adjunct therapy to the other modalities of treatment. It is safe and not causing much side effects. If the tumor could be shrunk together with chemo, it could be removed with surgery. 

It still has weakness that it could be applicable mainly to the head/neck portion of pancreas while inaccplicable to the tail of pancreas. Of course, cases with metastases won't be treated with this modality. 

It is still a hopeful treatment for the future since it could be carried out safely and repeatedly. Being improved, the device may work better for deeper lesion with much more effectiveness soon. Hopefully, it would improve the prognosis of this tough cancer. 

 https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/2050151/?cid=wohk-fb-no_ultrasound_logo_photo_vod_20240222_20240317_C_FB_MF_Ultrasound_en_2024Feb_ad_dps-202402-001&fbclid=IwAR2pp8JGnoT3yyUMqOHE5qKmFBL5loi8u_c1BxSkLCupBiEwOtbtwkMvyaw_aem_AatbltuZBXqs9HQh5LB2WIAesF9M-9ER392dzLLenNhlK8LsA0lxXI0rP3M_2psOM2T9hdTUF9RlHg12CxAcEVJq