15 Comments

I have very tired thumbs and I only got as far as Jupiter ...

Expand full comment
author

It’s a big old scroll...

Expand full comment

Me too!

Expand full comment

There's a quicker way using the rightmost of the row of planet symbols at the top.

And a lightspeed setting bottom right

Expand full comment

Captivated by your Nightingale “thing”, and will have to come back for the rest as it has already made me late for an appointment. But these things are so important, I don’t regret a moment, thank you ❤️.

I only learned recently (through a Wordle type game) that Nightingales are more closely related to Fly Catchers, than to Thrushes and Blackbirds (please correct me if I’m wrong).

Thank you so much for every thing 😀.

Expand full comment
author

Yup, the ‘Old World Flycatchers’, also including wheatears and chats and (confusingly) rock-thrushes. Thanks for your kind words!

Expand full comment
Sep 9, 2023Liked by Lev Parikian

I have listened through maybe half a dozen recordings of The Pines of Rome, and none of them has the dynamic range -- especially in the final movement -- that Toscanini wrung out of the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the 1954 rendition (still available on Amazon!). Please correct me if I'm wrong. But I found it really rewarding to watch him conduct the piece, and appear to become more and more emotionally invested by the end. And he could perspire like a rock star.

Expand full comment
author

Oh yes, he was an extraordinary musician. Also a terrible bully, by many reports...

Expand full comment

Hours of fun!

Expand full comment
author

And that’s just the knots...

Expand full comment

A couple of years ago, we went on holiday to Delaware, and stumbled on the Johnson Victrola Museum in Wilmington. It was amazing. Highly recommended in you're ever in the area. https://history.delaware.gov/johnson-victrola-museum/

Expand full comment

Yes, sorry to disappoint you but you need to curve around the molten middle of planet Earth to reach me!

Expand full comment

Birds eh? FASCINATING... yes, I seem to remember reading somewhere that those cellist recordings were a bit dodge... but who cares? They're fab! Thanks for another great read.

Expand full comment

Thank you for yet another superb article sir. 🙏💝

Expand full comment

Excellent call out for Pines of Rome. Thank you and I heard an except on BBC R3 last week. Poking around I found they offered a bi-aural version... here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08twbh0?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Hope the link works Oh and great piece on knots - like maps, an essential part of life! Thank you as ever. Tim

Expand full comment