SUDDENLY!

“Suddenly” is a word used often by the Russians.  I remember being told once in a writing workshop never to use the word “suddenly.” Only Dostoevsky can use that word, the teacher said.

Writing instructors often say that nothing in fiction happens without a stated or hinted reason. Dostoyevsky uses the word “suddenly” seven times in the first five pages of his short story the “White Nights.” In Russian history it is often the foreign ray, or light, or idea, or perspective that drives Russia, sometimes driving it crazy.

But, we generally know that human events do not usually happen suddenly. Like earthquakes, we feel them in a moment, but underneath the causal elements were long before inexorably moving toward the explosion. We, on the surface of things, measuring only what our senses tell us or what we want to believe, feel only the culminating shock. Read more »

Tchaikovsky Spectacular!

It is the time of year for the “Tchaikovsky Spectacular,” which means the end of the summer outdoor concert season with the 1812 Overture with cannons and fireworks. Here in Southern California that means The Hollywood Bowl and many other regional outdoor concerts and festivals.

 But it signals much more than that. The fact is that good Russian music is being played more and more in concert halls and on the classical music radio stations all over the country. I love it. Even if I was raised on the desert near El Paso, Texas,  I loved Russian music from an early age. Rimsky-Korsakov of course (our kids were raised on “Peter and the Wolf.”) As I write this, Prokofiev’s “Love for Three Oranges,” is being played on our great classical music station here, KUSC. There is so much to enjoy: Rachmaninoff, Borodin, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Mussorgsky – the list goes on and on. So many greats. Such romance, such stories in song and melody. I lived in Russia for six years and what a treat in the evenings.

 So fireworks may end the summer outdoor concerts, the stirring and romantic music from the great Russian composers is heard all over all the time. A KUSC announcer once said, “Russian music, like Russian literature, is always excited about something.” Maybe that is why we like it so much. Nothing boring there.

You can find me at www.en.rian.ru. Go to “Features and Opinions” then “Columnists.” Read the others, too.

And don’t forget “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman is Russia.”

Dr. Zhivago Lives…

In the village of Peredelkino it was a magic feeling looking out from Boris Pasternak’s tall windows into the red and golden woods on that autumn day and to know he saw the same thing when he looked up from his small desk as he wrote “Doctor Zhivago.” It is a village of dachas and dogs, and fat cats that sit in the middle of a snowy road. It is old Russian churches with burning candles and much kissed icons. It is woods with broken benches and small streams and old bridges. It is silence.

Boris Pasternak who only wrote one novel, Doctor Zhivago, which was translated into 18 languages and for which he won the Noble Prize for Literature.  I remember the bookcase behind his desk, which still contained some of the books that he loved to read. There was T.S. Eliot, Yeats, Emily Dickinson, W.H Auden, and I was happy to find my favorites, Rainer Maria Rilke and Robert Frost.

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Pelicans are Poetic

The Pelican is very poetic. I sometimes watch the sunsets from Inspiration Point on the Pacific here in  Corona del Mar, California. On certain times of the year, like now, the pelicans soar in their lazy v-formation along the beach and bluffs, riding the uplifting breeze off the ocean.  They soar and soar, seldom, it seems, flapping their huge wings. It is so poetic, so romantic.

Then when hungry, they glide over the water, high enough to see what’s for supper or lunch below the surface, then fold their wings and dive straight down to enter the ocean with their expectant long beak almost without a splash to catch that fish. And then up and off again, gliding a few inches off the ocean surface, hardly, it seems, ever flapping the wings.

Sometimes I notice that off the tail end of a winged formation is a loner, a bird that seems to be an individual, or an outcast. He moves from side to side and never gets in line with the others. Or maybe he had too much to eat. But, it is fun to watch. There is one in every flock—even human.

 What a gorgeous and artistic sight to watch those winged creatures. Inspiration Point is where to be.

Rocks in your pack?

I went to college in Colorado and I remember a story that has always stuck with me.

Some guys went hiking in the Rockies, up to a lake high above timberline. Each climber has his pack, bedroll, food, etc. on his back – heavy. With the thinning air as they climbed the boys stopped and rested ever so often—all except one. Jeff was from New Jersey. He didn’t want to stop. He wanted to get there first. When advised by the experienced climbers, he ignored them and went on.

When once they caught up with Jeff, they started slipping pretty big rocks into his pack. Soon he had to stop and catch his breath and rest. The others rested with him. From then on they were all together. At the top they managed to unload the rocks without his knowledge and had a private laugh.

Why do I remember this? The lesson is about unwanted weight. The “rocks” we carry in our thought slow us down. We need to carry forward only what we need today, not yesterday’s unsolved problems, bad memories, jealousies, bad thoughts about others. Life is an uphill path and can be a beautiful climb with all we really need, and no more.

What do you think about this?

Sound familiar?

Let me know!

Thanks.

PRAGUE~ A very special city

From my global travels there is a short list of cities that remain as very special places to me, for many different reasons.  Prague, in the Czech Republic, is certainly one of them. I had a business there.

Prague has been a political, cultural and economic center of Europe and particularly central Europe for the over 1,100 years. The famous Charles Bridge, with parts dating to the year 885, crosses the Vltava River (aka Moldau) and takes you into the Old Town Square with its famous Astronomical Clock and ancient buildings including the Kafka Museum. Prague was one city that was largely spared of World War II destruction.

But, it is the culture that holds me. The Bohemian composers including Dvorak, Smetana, and Janacek, are among my favorites. The writer Franz Kafka is a legend. The poet Rilke and writer Kundera are special. One night I bought a ticket to see the opera “Don Giovanni” in the Estates Theater where Mozart conducted its premier in 1787. Mozart liked Prague and named his Symphony No. 38 after it.

I agree with Mozart.

St. Petersburg~A Favorite City of Mine

As usual in Russia, it is a place of mixed meaning and effect. Founded by Peter the Great in 1703 as his “Window on the West” it is still that and for that reason a place at arm’s length from the rest of Russia. And for that reason, one of the most fascinating cities in the world.

 St. Petersburg is a feminine city. She is an elegant and noble woman sitting draped with the jewels of her youth waiting for her prince to return. It is the most beautiful Italianate city in Europe. This “Venice of the North” with its symmetry, canals, architecture, statuary, museums, performing arts, palaces, gardens and languid summers with endless days make it a city never to be forgotten. The palaces are more flamboyant than Versailles and more numerous than anywhere in the world. I used to call it “Paris without paint,” but for the 300^th anniversary in 2003, the lady polished her nails, groomed her hair and donned a clean and colorful dress.  From my book, “Walking on Ice, an American Businessman in Russia.”

 St. Petersburg is not Russia; it is the historical myth of Imperial Russia. St. Petersburg is charming, gentle, romantic. It goes to bed at ten. But during the glorious summer White Nights it doesn’t sleep at all.

 As President of the Los Angeles/St.Petersburg Sister City Committee, I keep reasonably in touch.

 What do you think? Have you been there?

Buy here  “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”

Japan Rising!

Before we recognized the enormity of nature’s attack on Japan, we agreed the Japanese were so well organized, prepared, and competent, they could handle it all well. Then the bad news continued to build and we saw the potential.

Then we began to hear about the Japanese, how they expressed love and concern in their care for others. Yes, the world has and is responding to help in every possible way. But still, it is the resilience and perserverance of the Japanese people that is so amazing.  In all my international travel and business, I have never worked with a people so dependable and good for thier word. I drive a Toyota.  Here are some sayings or quotes pertaining to those brave people:

起死回生 (kishi kaisei) Literally: Wake from death and return to life
Meaning: To come out of a desperate situation and make a complete return in one sudden burst.

継続は力なり。 (Keizoku wa chikara nari) Literally: Continuance (also) is power/strength.
Meaning: Don’t give up. Just continuing to hold on will yield/reveal strength and power. Continuing on after a setback is its own kind of strength. Perseverance is power.

雨降って地固まる (ame futte chi katamaru) Literally: after the rain, earth hardens
Meaning: Adversity builds character./After a storm, things will stand on more solid ground than they did before.

And finally from William Shakespeare

Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.
                                     As You Like It Act 2, scene 1, 12–15

INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE!

I was invited to a concert of Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic Sunday.  Actually it was a film special wide screen concert , and it was fantastic.

It was an incredible performance – Tchaikovsky’s three Overture-Fantasies inspired by Shakespeare plays – Hamlet, The Tempest, and Romeo and Juliet. Interspersed between these wonderful symphonic poems readings from the Bard’s immortal works. See http://www.laphil.com/laphillive/. There were tears.

The music was perfect. Dudamel was great and not as expressive as the photos often show him. He is so natural and not a egocentric maestro. It is clear the orchestra loves him. The music was as it was one instrument. His interpretation is deep and so clear. The camera work was so revealing. It is an amazement to me how each one of the players and their instrument was as a complete instrument for expression. The whole thing was the best example I have seen of absolute oneness of perfect performing art.

And that this is going about the US and Canada is so good for the arts. And Gustavo’s dedication to youth is so needed. He is only 28 years old, but so connected the great history of music to today’s audience. In this fragmented world, to know that the young indeed can get into the beauty and discipline of good music for an hour or two, is a great service to mankind. Dudamel will make a big impact in the world of music.

Please check locally where the next one – June 5 (Brahms) may be in a theater near you in America and Canada. Check the web site with a trailer at http://www.laphil.com/laphillive/toolkit.cfmI  highly recommend it. An unforgettable experience.

Tolstoy Lives and Dies~Again

With 2010 being the centenary of Leo Tolstoy’s death, there have been many events in his honor.

The greatest was the award winning film “The Last Station” with Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer.  And now a new book is out. “Leo Tolstoy: Escape from Paradise” by Pavel Basinsky recently won Russia’s 2010 Big Book award. It will be out in English soon I hear. A super review of the book can be found on the Russia Now edition of 22 December 2010.

Tolstoy was such an iconoclast, always rebelling against the social and religious conventions of his day and time, yet faithful to his view of love and a spiritual understanding of the Bible.  I have read his “A Confession” and can understand his consternation in 19^th century Russia. For all that, he was excommunicated from the Russian church in 1905.  He had lots to handle in those last days. But, he left us so much.

Buy here  “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia”