Gergiev Festival

This week I switched my weekly Wednesday afternoon off for a Thursday, to attend a concert that was part of the Gergiev Festival at De Doelen concert hall (Rotterdam).

It started with a performance by three 15-year old people: Sumire Hara, Andrea Vasi, and Joris van den Berg, who recently won the Prinses Christina competition. They played the first movement of a piano trio by Arensky, and did that very beautifully. Then, Naum Grubert played an impressive program of Russian compositions by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Scriabin (see below)

Afterwards, there was a surprise for me: I was “ambushed” by an interviewer and a camera man, working for the TV program NPS Matinee, who started asking questions like:
- Do you know Tchaikovsky?
- Where was he from?
- Do you know any music by him?
- Why do you like his music.
Sigh…
So last Sunday, I turned on the TV with mixed feelings and expectations, but (un)fortunately I didn’t see myself. Maybe next Sunday?

Sidetracked

Just finished reading Henning Mankell’s novel “Villospår”, which in translation is entitled Sidetracked. Actually, I finished *listening* to it, because I bought it as an audio book at the Book Fair (Bokmässa) in Gothenburg. It came on 13 CDs, and considering its length I guess it’s unabridged. Audio books are really useful if you want to improve your command of a foreign language.

If you like crime novels, I can definitely recommend this book!

High-speed ADSL delivery

Yes, I’ve been back from Sweden for a while now. Just haven’t had the time to update this blog for the other days of my trip. Too much to tell, really. So maybe during my next holiday, I’ll have time to document those days.

Anyway, in this post I just want to express my amazement about the speed XS4ALL & KPN can work these days. I ordered an ADSL connection last Sunday, October 3rd, and today, Saturday October 9th, just six days later, the postman already tried to deliver the installation package. Unfortunately, I wasn’t at home, so I’d have to wait until Tuesday.

That’s because the tiny post office in my neighborhood, Tanthof in Delft, only opens between 9:00 and 12:30, and only on weekdays.