Economics Business Music Politics Altruism : November 2008

Over the weekend, I had an interesting back and forth email exchange with my close friend who was born in Singapore but had since given up her red identity card for a green card after marrying an American and has been living in Atlanta which is the capital for the southern state of Georgia. Atlanta is also dear to me as it is home to my favourite drink Coke. I must first profess that any racial or religious mentioned in this article is not to accentuate and amplify the racial and religious issues but merely to pen down the state of the union on where such issues stands. I am pro affirmative action in achieving equality along all lines including racial and religious lines.

This state is interesting in that it is both predominantly non-white and part of the bible belt. From reason standpoint, the bible belt tend to belong to the Republican due to their conservative stand especially on being anti-abortion which tend to win them popular votes. Being predominantly non-white, I would reason that racial lines would draw them towards Obama on the Democrats ticket. At the end of the day, the results partially spoke for itself as the state of Georgia went to the Republican candidate. I could read the results in many ways and one of which is that America has grown up in terms of racial equality in that a predominantly non-white state did not vote along racial lines The other way is that religion issues has won the day. A third alternative being that there are other factors that could have affected the results.

Firstly, I was shocked to hear that polling day is NOT a national holiday in the world's champion of democracy. Although I have been to America numerous time, I have always assumed that polling day is a national holiday to allow citizenry enough time and opportunity to vote. I was wrong. Democracy does have a voice and voters have to take time off work on their own private account to vote as not all companies are lucid enough to grant time off for voting. This could be part of the reason why the voter turn out has been fairly poor compared to other democracies around the world. It is either American could not be bothered or there is just too much barrier to the poll station. I was told that some queue up for as long as 3 hours to vote and I salute these brave souls especially in these tough economic season where time away from work might not be too popular. To me it is a resounding mandate for Obama to win by both a large majority and having record voter turn out.

Secondly, it is one rare occasion for a single party of have a clean majority sweep of the presidency, senate and house of congress. Americans, I believe still stand by the maxim that absolute power corrupts absolutely and this could be one of the reason why it is rare to a single party to have control over the presidency and both houses thereby leaving less check and balance. Another indicator is the freedom to bear arms as citizenry as no government is infallible. Perhaps it is the unprecedented economic backdrop of a looming crisis on a scale and complexity not seen before and therefore, it is better to have a coherent government rather than a balanced and divisive government that could make unpopular but needful policies difficult to carry out. Perhaps it is the stomach that won the day as what the use of being a free but hungry man.

My selection of the State of Georgia is a personal one as I have been there and have a close friend there. My next choice of state is more deliberate; the State of Massachusetts. The capital of this state Boston is very unique town as it has produced the most number of nobel laureates as well as home to many of the country's ivy league schools. I would say that on this count without checking the census, the per capital wealth and income is likely to exceed that of Atlanta. Again this state has defied one norm of the richer generally tend to vote for Republican and one of the reason is that they tend to favour tax cuts which tend to favour the richer more economic wise. This has been shrink wrapped into a popular postulation of Reganomics or supply side economics that has largely gone out of fashion and thought leadership. I salute the voters of Massachusetts for not voting according to their pockets but for a higher calling of the good of America. Perhaps the strong academia population could have an effect on the level of altruism in the voters.

All said and done, my approach is too simplistic to be a viable gauge of the actual current that carried Obama to the White House but the simpleton mind could only process that much of complexity. Lastly, those who are in my inner circle of friends who grew up with me as a student will know who I am talking about in Atlanta. No prizes for the right guess.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter.blogspot.com

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye

Mendelssohn wrote two violin concertos at two ends of his career both of which are based on the Minor scale. The first one written at the start of his career is aptly named Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in D Minor which shows traces of his teenage youthful exuberance whilst his final violin concerto is marked by emotional depth and quest for perfection. This is reflected by the fact that Mendelssohn took about 7 years to refine this major work of his that comes in three movements of about 25 minutes in total. The piece starts with a substantial Allegro con fuoco with strong melody lines followed by a leisurely Andante ending with a shorter but definitive finale. The thematic development and evolvement of the signature tune of the first movement progresses well through the three movements into the finale.

This concerto exits in two main forms; the original 1844 version which was autographed by Mendelssohn and dedicated to violinist Ferdinand David and the more modern and familiar version that is more widely played. The two versions is differentiated from each other in terms of tempo, orchestration, solo parts and orchestration mainly. I have a slight preference for the modern form instead of 1844 version as the modern version seems to be more coherent melodically but I must admit that perhaps familiarity bias could be the reason as the 1844 version is not widely recorded.

I have heard the following recordings of this piece:

1.Isabelle van Keulen with Lev Markiz conducting Amsterdam Sinfonietta (BIS)-1844 version

2.Janine Jansen with Riccardo Chailly conducting Gewandhaus Orchestra (Decca). Incidentally, the premiere performance of this piece in 1845 was Ferdinand David accompanied by Gewandhaus Orchestra.

3.Kyung-Wha Chung with Charles Dutoit conducting Montreal Symphony Orchestra. (Decca)

4.Shlomo Mintz with Claudio Abbado conducting Chicago Symphony Orchestra (DG)

5.Yehudi Menuhin with Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos conducting London Symphony Orchestra (EMI)

6.Akiko Suwanai with Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (Decca)

7.Ruggiero Ricci with Pierino Gamba conducting London Symphonic Orchestra (Decca)

8.Pinchas Zukerman with Pinchase Zukerman conducting St Paul Chamber Orchestra(DECCA)

Of the seven recordings listed above, my vote goes to the version by Janine Jansen as it has a good balance between good playing and great sound as it is a relatively newer recording that benefited from newer recording technology. The version by Yehudi Menuhin is an old EMI recording so sonically, it is not so great but this recording has one of the best solo playing by Yehudi Menuhin but there seems to be a tension between the soloist and the orchestra vying for the limelight. The version by Kyung-Wha Chung with Charles Dutoit conducting Montreal Symphony Orchestra is a coherent recording with very good chemistry between soloist and orchestra and this could be due to the fact that Kyung-Wha Chung has been bedfellows with Charles Dutoit and Montreal in a number of recordings and performance and so is more familiar with each other.

You be your own judge and let me know what you think.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter.blogspot.com

Economics Business Music Politics Altruism

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Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor Op 64-Nov 2008