Diversions Manifold

I'm a pretty good sketcher of words and ideas, but a terrible completer of posts: making sure that the ideas make sense and connect properly, trying to get the wording and the feel right, trying to draw conclusions and lessons from whatever experiences or thoughts I am trying to describe; sometimes even deciding which service to post things on (a ridiculous situation, in all honesty) - that's all hard work, and sometimes I just don't feel that I have the energy to complete it. As a result, my pool of drafts begins to overflow and prevents me from really finishing. So, in the spirit of draining the pool and refreshing my perspectives, here's a dump of my most current drafts, cross-posted on Blogger and on my Micro.blog instance! Rethinking which services I should keep, and why, is something for another day. A review of Umberto Eco's The Island of the Day Before created 2023-09-06 This is a most typically Umberto Eco book, of an unknown, uncertain narrator reconstru

Well, the pun will: this enjoyable concert with the Bachchor Heidelberg last night, singing the Weihnachtsoratorio (Christmas Oratorio), or - to give it its full name - the   Oratorium in Festum Nativitatis Christi   from   C.H. Graun , was simply a delight. It's a charming piece dotted with not too challenging yet still interesting chorales and fugues for the choir, amongst the usual mix of arias and recitatives from the soloists telling and reflecting on the nativity story. Our conductor for this concert was  Jörg Halubek , whose website and photos make him look grander and more arrogant than he actually is. All in all, a light, happy concert bringing good cheer, if at least temporarily, for those who had to drive out of a packed centre of Heidelberg.