Journal entries

Chaitanya, Shwetank and I attended the Eroica Trio concert as part of the Coleman Chamber series. The Trio features Erika Nickrenz on the piano, Adela Peña on the violin and Sara Sant'Ambrogio on the cello. The program comprised of Beethoven's Variations on "Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu" in G major, Op 121a (the numbers mean nothing to me, but they are reproduced here in the interests of completeness), Shostakovich's Trio No.2 in E Minor, Op.67, Antonín Dvořák's Trio in E minor, Op.90 and finally a tango piece as part of the encore. To be absolutely honest, our reasons for going to the concert were rather dubious and one look at the photographs of the performers on the Trio's website will explain why. I had even asked Chaitanya to get binoculars with him in case our seats in the balcony would have us at a disadvantage. The seats were fine and so was the first piece. This was my first piano trio concert and I realised how much I preferred a piano trio over a string quartet. The trouble with the latter as I perceive it, is that the string instruments do not achieve the discrete rhythm given the continuous fingerboard and onus on sharp, staccato bowing while the piano is very much the instrument for this. As much as I think I will admire violin solos, I find them distracting and rather abstract. The second piece threatened to undo the good impression I had of the Trio with its elegiac theme and discordant sounds. In all fairness, Shostakovich had composed this piece as a dirge for a close friend who had died. But the Dvořák piece made up for it with its swift, lively strains. All in all, a good concert. But since it was the performers who drew us to attending it in the first place, I placed minute attention to their mannerisms. Adela Peña for instance has what Shwetank succinctly called "the bobbing head syndrome" -- when it was time to receive the audience's accolade, she made little nods of appreciation thrown dime-a-piece to all corners of the gallery and like a counter would reset after ten such gestures with a benign bow.

Party time

India votes this month. Even though the campaign has been compressed given the advancing of the polls, there has not been any letting up in mudslinging. It appears to me now, given my growing awareness and interest in American politics, that the political theatre in India is not very much unlike that of the United States. Akin to Bush's National Guard controversy, we have Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin though the latter is bound to be a larger issue than the former. The Bharatiya Janata Party can be identified, at least with respect to their economic and foreign policies, with the Republican Party -- they favour tax cuts and a closer alliance with Israel. The ruling coalition is keen on capitalising on the growing economy as well as peace overtures with Pakistan and has consequently unleashed some smart ad campaigns, "India Shining" and "Dil Jeet Lo" to mention a few. Even targeted phone soliciting has been indulged in with a recorded voice of the Prime Minister being played on calls made to some phone subscribers in rural as well as urban areas which automatically implies that the BJP has started to maintain a rolodex of prospective voters and donators. All of this also raises another interesting question -- while it is foolhardy to claim the end of multi-party politics especially given the minutely varying stances of different parties on the major issues, is a modified version the bi-party system here to stay?

The Eroica Trio

Concert program

Phone-a-PM

January 2004 - March 2004

October 2003 - January 2004

July 2003 - October 2003

May 2003 - June 2003

April 2003

January 2003 - April 2003

2002

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