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The amazing pianist I did not know: Vladimir Ashkenazy – With free giveaway!

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Ashkenazy 46 cd (plus book and 2 dvds) boxed set

Although classical music might be showing signs of an increase in popularity, the overall trend seems to be decreasing. This brings me to today’s paradox: Due to social media, “rock star” classical musicians are more popular than their counterparts of decades ago (with obvious exceptions: Callas, Pavarotti, Segovia, et al.). Nowadays, Joshua Bell, Gustavo Dudamel (dude had a TV series, Mozart in the Jungle, based on him!), Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, etc. (they each have around a million followers on Instagram!)

So the question would be: in equal circumstances (ceteris paribus) and access to YouTube, TikTok, Netflix, etc., how would a ranking of classical musicians look? And how would modern musicians stack up against pre-social media ones?

All this, because maybe (probably) I am an ignoramus and did not know Russian turned Icelandic pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy until recently. A dear colleague who just retired is a classical music connoisseur. He is also terribly generous and constantly regaled me with CDs that he was cleaning out.

One such gift was the boxed set (with book and DVDs) of Ashkenazy’s collected piano recordings. Obviously, it is not all the works ever written for piano, but it is 46 CDs including:

Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Brahms, Mozart, Schumann, Prokofiev, Beethoven, Scriabin, Previn, Chopin, Bartók, Glazunov, Franck

A couple of the works are repeated, albeit at different stages of Ashkenazy’s life, so if you have a fine ear, you can evaluate his evolution.

Listening to this whole body of work has taken me about 2 years, since I only have a CD player in my (old) car (see about minimalism here). And I replayed every CD multiple times!

This was a beautiful journey for me, learning about the magic of the piano, how different composers worked with the piano, etc. My favorite? The usual suspects: Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms… My least favorite: Previn.

So now that I have enjoyed listening to this phenomenal collection, it is time for me to give it away. If you live in South Florida and you want to pick it up, we can arrange it. If you pay the shipping costs, I will be happy to ship it wherever you want me to. First-come first-served. This is very rare and is not available easily.

Is there a right or wrong way to walk the Camino?

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4 Caminos so far…

Is there a right or wrong way to do the Camino? Spoiler alert: no, everyone does their thing. There is a lot of talk about this, and social media really likes to push extremes. If you go to the Camino pages on any platform, you will see what I am talking about. Pilgrims who walk from St. Jean or further beyond think they are better than folks who start in Sarria, stay in luxury hotels, eat gourmet meals, and have a luggage delivery service. This is obviously not true, but having said that, there is a difference between a pilgrim and a tourist, and that is ok.

Like everything else in life, you are going to get out of the Camino as much as you put into it.

It boils down to how willing you are to have your life changed; how open you are to being changed, and how much you are willing to do to have that experience. I remember the first time I stepped into an albergue and realized I had to share room -and bathroom- with complete strangers, something I had not done since college, a few decades before. That was a first eye opening and humanizing experience, never mind walking for over thirty days with a pack on my back.

The problem arrives when you are on a pilgrimage trail, but you have chosen not to be a pilgrim, or you are not willing to put in the effort to be a pilgrim, or you do not know the difference (I once saw a young lady walking in her bikini carrying only a water bottle, good for her!). There is no such thing as a perfect pilgrim, maybe if the only thing you are carrying is a chunk of old bread and a Bible, according to The Way of a Pilgrim, a 19th-century Russian mystical text (reference Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation: The Way of a Pilgrim).

Before you start the Camino, ask yourself what your purpose is in walking to Santiago. Do you just want to check off this item on your bucket list, but have no desire for a spiritual journey? That is fine but be aware that you will walk with people who might have a deep spiritual purpose on the Camino. Likewise, pilgrims need to be aware that not everybody on the Camino is there on an inner journey but might just be there for the fun experience, the food, and the thread count on their bedsheets.

The whole purpose of a pilgrimage is letting go of the ego, a lot of that happens through letting go of other stuff… all your clothes -you only need a few, your privacy, a nice bed. It is easy for your ego to think that you are the best pilgrim, or that the only good pilgrims are the ones who stay in your Albergue. For more on this read about the Cosmic Egg here.

At the end of the day, it is all about tolerance. Yes, there is a difference between a pilgrim and a tourist, it is a mindset and attitude issue, but that is all right, we can all share the path.

Here is an interesting chart I found on Researchgate: Tourism – pilgrimage continuum based on spirituality and authenticity by Ivo Jirásek

Thanks to Ivo Jirásek

On the importance of keeping the flame of curiosity burning strong.

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Stay curious my friends

Hmm, the Interweb is full of encouragement to keep you curious, who knew? And yet we continue the death scroll of doom on social media, we stick to our thoughts and convictions, we are unable to change our minds, we are right, and we already know everything.

The other day I went to a lecture about the martyrs of La Florida given by my dear friend and colleague Fr. Cristian Sáenz SJ who is a scholar of Early Church History, and he mentioned that his hobby was researching the martyrs of La Florida (I have attached the lecture below, because it is awesome, and he is awesome!). But this comment got me thinking about the importance of keeping the flame of curiosity burning strong regardless of your age.

For me that involves not only reading across different disciplines; from current events and pop culture to Enlightenment and Romanticism texts, to articles about the films we watch in Film Club (pro tip: go to Google Scholar, there are many available academic texts that you can access skipping the self righteous academic databases) -and obviously the films themselves, but to then see if there are any dots there to connect. You would be surprised.

The key process here is to digest and process all new information, how it makes you feel, does it change anything? Does it agree or disagree with previously held beliefs? This digestion happens in silence, in contemplation, or in conversation.

Although I am focusing here on intellectual curiosity, go ahead try new food, listen to new music, talk to people you have not met before. In other words, push beyond your comfort zone, try new things and experiences. You are welcome.

Keep calm and stay curious