May 18 - Sokolov plays Rameau

One of our great living pianists Grigory Sokolov performing Les Cyclopes by the French baroque composer Jean-Phillipe Rameau.

I’ve watched this video quite a few times and I’m always astounded by the complexity of some of those overhand moves. Add to this that there is no sheet music to be seen – he’s playing entirely from memory – and this is an encore after he’s already performed for over two hours.

Reading

• The Myth of the Informed Citizen
• 100 Little Ideas
• Read Something Wonderful - ‘a portal to timeless internet writing’
• Read Something Wonderful (About Biology) - as above, but focused on the biological sciences.

Listening

• Your Friendly Neighborhood Hookworms is the latest episode from the Radiolab podcast, and it is absolutely bonkers. Your conception of parasites may be fundamentally altered.
• Similarily inspiring, Vox’s Unexplainable podcast recently featured an episode entitled A Better Black Death Story which draws into focus how tenuous the narratives we assume are true can be.

Until next time.