Tag Archives: Roger Smith

re the development of musical appreciation, as seen in myself

Posted on August 9, 2018 by

    I am afraid some people will see this post as boastful. It is not intended to be.     *****************************************************     I have a good friend whom I share with my wife. He was a former teaching … Continue reading →

Posted in music (from the point of view of a listener), musings (random daily thoughts), Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

an early take by Walt Whitman on his conception of himself as America’s poet

Posted on August 6, 2018 by

    Walt Whitman began his writing career as a journalist. He was known early on for writing anonymous reviews of Leaves of Grass — in other words, reviewing himself, in laudatory terms. A motivation for his doing this was that … Continue reading →

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Ralph Colp, Jr. review of “The Gates of Memory” by Geoffrey Keynes

Posted on July 23, 2018 by

  Ralph Colp, Jr. review of ‘The Gates of Memory’ by Geoffrey Keynes     As shown in my post “tribute to Ralph Colp, Jr., MD” https://rogersgleanings.com/2016/02/16/tribute-to-ralph-colp-jr-md/   My former therapist, the late Ralph Colp, Jr., was an extraordinary man. Posted … Continue reading →

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“The Poet”

Posted on July 22, 2018 by

    In the “Divinity School Address” [given at Harvard Divinity School in 1838, Ralph Waldo] Emerson at times made it sound as though his understanding of Christ had transformed that figure into a type of the artist, a man … Continue reading →

Posted in general interest, literature, Walt Whitman | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5 in D minor; Шостакович, Симфония № 5 ре минор

Posted on July 22, 2018 by

          Posted here is the Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47, by Dmitri Shostakovich — in two different recordings. The first performance posted here is by Bernard Haitink, an outstanding Shostakovich interpreter. The second … Continue reading →

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Shostakovich, symphony no. 11 (“The Year 1905”); Шостакович, Симфония № 11 («1905-й год»)

Posted on July 19, 2018 by

      Posted here (above) is a recording of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 in G minor, Opus 103 (subtitled The Year 1905), conducted by Leopold Stokowski. It is a marvelous symphony. Extremely moving. Program music that works and … Continue reading →

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Saul Bellow on writing

Posted on July 15, 2018 by

    “I think … that the insistence on neatness and correctness [in writing] is one of the signs of a modern nervousness and irritability. When has clumsiness in composition been felt as so annoying, so enraging? The “good” writing … Continue reading →

Posted in writing (the craft of writing; good vs. bad writing; my training, experience, and lessons re same) | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment