music and workkk

I'm so glad I managed not to post on Valentines Day. I just never want to think too deeply about my love life, it depresses me really.

BUT, yesterday I did attend the Valentine's Day concert at the Royal Festival Hall to indulge in some lovey-dovey music. The programme was Rachmaninov: the 2nd piano concerto and the 2nd symphony. An introductory leaflet correctly wrote 'Rachmaninov means romance.' The number of couples present also added a matching atmosphere which made things work.

If you know me personally, you will know that I dislike symphonies, but have soft spots for Beethoven, Lalo, and HUGE soft spots for Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky. Also, Rach 2 being my favourite piano concerto for around 3-4 years now, I had been planning for sometime to see a live of it on Valentine's Day.

I won't go into depth about the concert (but if you haven't heard the piano concerto yet I highly recommend Evgeny Kissin's version [see end of post] *he's coming to London on the 2nd gush gush*), but I've got to take a moment and congratulate the London Philharmonic's performance of the 2nd Symphony. Normally that piece drives me to sleep, even though I understand why it's considered one of the best symphonic works of our times, but it is 1 hour long and if it's not deafening like Beethoven's 9th Symphony I can't see how any audience can get through the entire thing without feeling drowsy at some point.

The sound of the 1st movment was so overwhelmingly sweet it was hard to stop having stills from Audrey Hepburn films popping into your mind. As the whole symphony was written to express Rachmaninov's recovery from depression and writer's block, it was perfect for me because currently I want to forget some things and move on. I really FELT the 3rd mvt, the violins did a brilliant job.

Anyways, I can go on for years about music, but I've got to get back to my maths..
Also, my photos I took for my uni's fashion show MIGHT be appearing on the next issue on Tatler 8D really looking forward to that (but of course it's not a guarantee because there are 4 other photographers' works from which the magazine can choose from..)

A little update on my uni life: Maths is getting so difficult beyond anything I'd imagined. I'm starting to think whether I should post some questions on this blog just in case a genius happen to drop by and answer it for me...

Anyways, enjoy the discounted Valentines chocolates today! xx


The 1st movement is so perfectly written, I literally cannot find one fault in it



Here's the entire symphony in HD. Listen to the sweet melodies from around the 7:40 mark :)