This is a short post about unculturally cultural five days in Prague on a break of summer. I flew back to Prague on Friday (May 21) to satisfy my thirst for classical music and to attend at least some of the concerts of Prague Spring me and my brother bought tickets for. Basically out of the eight concerts I originally intended to see I managed to attend only four but luckily for me at least two of them were THE Concerts.
On Friday we had pleasure to listen to conductor / piano soloist Mr. Perahia and The Academy of St Martin in the Fields. As a typical uneducated eastern Slovak, I was so tired my head dropped every few seconds and I almost fell asleep during the best part of the performance (Concert for piano and orchestra in C moll, KV 491).
After nurturing (or torturing) our sight sense by attending screening of new Ridley Scott / Russel Crowe vehicle – Robin Hood (incomparably worse than good old Gladiator) we attended concert of Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra (‘BRO’) which is according to some, one of the best ensembles in the world. Although half of the audience preferred to watch Hockey World Championships final game (congrats to Czech Republic as it won gold) this was a concert of the concerts. Mahler’s Kindertoddliche Liede were nice although not-understood appetizer for main course of Schubert’s Great symphony (No. 9 but depends on who is doing the numbering). BRO can claim that they awaken Schubert’s appreciation in me. Their rendition of his grandest symphony was pure pleasure and received standing ovation of a half empty Obecni dum.
On Monday we continued to broaden our horizons (in my brother’s words – ‘self-educate’) and attended Prague chamber orchestra performance. Out of the four concerts we attended, it was the most uninteresting (if someone like can say something like this) but still important piece of puzzle of overall Prague Spring 2010 experience. Last but most definitely the first concert among those I attended had almost everything - charismatic conductor, full count orchestra, world premier, exceptional soloist and many other attributes I do not know about. State Philharmonic from Kosice performed in a Czech premier concert for giora and orchestra of Peter Breiner (who was also conducting). What a pleasure! What a joy! The concert was so good and so much enjoyed by performers (ensemble, conductor and soloist), audience and everyone else that it received standing ovation.
Wonderfully played by a by-far the youngest orchestra we have seen this year it handily overcome performances of Mr. Gardiner and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (as described in previous posts) or BRO. It should be duly noted that I am biased Kosice-born observer :) Second half composed of short Mozart’s concert and another masterpiece of Jean Sibelius (a selection from Kuningas Kristian II) performed by Kosice orchestra.
It appears that those culturally overdosed days in Prague had to leave some impression on me as I am writing this post just before boarding plane to Prague and c. one month after the above mentioned happened. Or maybe it’s just me trying to present myself as a intellectually deep person. In this case please take my post with huge pile of salt as it is well known that there are no intellectuals born in eastern Slovakia :)
Showing posts with label Culture and "Science". Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture and "Science". Show all posts
6/29/2010
3/05/2010
Springs of culture
Finally spring arrived to Prague and in its footsteps my mom for a short visit combined with conference she participated at. Upon her request we make arrangements for all three of us to visit certain cultural events. Events handpicked by my little brother were concert of Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (with Sir John Eliot Gardiner acting as visiting conductor) and theatre play Hrdina Zapadu (written by Mr. John Millington Synge) in Cinoherni klub. This weekend with its loaded cultural program turned out to be ideal spring board for our eight concert marathon during Prague Spring festival (oh boy am I giddy about this :) ).
We were particularly delighted by tickets to Sir Gardiner concert as we previously fruitlessly pursued these for his Prague Spring performances. Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under his leadership played two Schuman’s symphonies (Concert piece for 4 horns and Symphony no. 2 C dur op. 61) and two pieces from Mr. Martinu (Symphony no. 6 and Frescoes of Piero della Francesca). Two and a half hour long pure delight of music put all three of us into completely different dimension. Of course, some mean individuals would be all too eager to point out that me and my brother drunk ourselves to this dimension as we drunk three and four pilsner beers during our dinner just before the concert – believe me (as I want to believe myself) it was not the case. Especially the Concert piece and its horns’ parts were particularly beautiful causing my mom to reflect on it and happily talk about it for the rest of the weekend.
For the first time I had also opportunity to see an artist who knows his value and is not willing to reward audience which does not value his performance. Especially during last part of the concert some of spectators were napping or their heads started nodding. Also during applause those who preferred to get their coats and jackets as soon as possible turned their backs to Sir Gardiner and orchestra hurrying towards the exits. Seeing this, Sir Gardiner turned his back in return and left the podium although half of us applauded while standing. Hats off for his courage :) Of course, more possible explanation would be that he was really tired after more than two hours of intensive physical conducting (and sweating from pure exhaustion).
On Saturday we decided to quench our thirst for theatre and experienced above mentioned play. Maybe a socially groundbreaking play in 1900’s and also winner of 2007 Radok Prize for the best production, we did not find it particularly funny or outstanding. Probably it is due to fact that we do not find couple of curses and middle finger that humorous...
Anyway, overall it was pleasant experience and some culture for all of us after long winter hiatus. Let the Prague Spring come!
We were particularly delighted by tickets to Sir Gardiner concert as we previously fruitlessly pursued these for his Prague Spring performances. Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under his leadership played two Schuman’s symphonies (Concert piece for 4 horns and Symphony no. 2 C dur op. 61) and two pieces from Mr. Martinu (Symphony no. 6 and Frescoes of Piero della Francesca). Two and a half hour long pure delight of music put all three of us into completely different dimension. Of course, some mean individuals would be all too eager to point out that me and my brother drunk ourselves to this dimension as we drunk three and four pilsner beers during our dinner just before the concert – believe me (as I want to believe myself) it was not the case. Especially the Concert piece and its horns’ parts were particularly beautiful causing my mom to reflect on it and happily talk about it for the rest of the weekend.
For the first time I had also opportunity to see an artist who knows his value and is not willing to reward audience which does not value his performance. Especially during last part of the concert some of spectators were napping or their heads started nodding. Also during applause those who preferred to get their coats and jackets as soon as possible turned their backs to Sir Gardiner and orchestra hurrying towards the exits. Seeing this, Sir Gardiner turned his back in return and left the podium although half of us applauded while standing. Hats off for his courage :) Of course, more possible explanation would be that he was really tired after more than two hours of intensive physical conducting (and sweating from pure exhaustion).
On Saturday we decided to quench our thirst for theatre and experienced above mentioned play. Maybe a socially groundbreaking play in 1900’s and also winner of 2007 Radok Prize for the best production, we did not find it particularly funny or outstanding. Probably it is due to fact that we do not find couple of curses and middle finger that humorous...
Anyway, overall it was pleasant experience and some culture for all of us after long winter hiatus. Let the Prague Spring come!
10/15/2008
Volatility forever...
Is it true that we entered the age of turbulence and volatility as former FED chairman suggests in the title of his book?* Should we expect even bigger swings on stock markets or the worst days are already over? Will the vision of the latest Nobel prize laureate Mr. Krugman (btw congratulations!!!) come true and the US will experience severe recession if not depression? Below you can find some thoughts re latest markets development and outlook.
In past two years (2007 and 2008) we experienced unusual financial markets development with wild swings both up and down perfectly illustrated by single day plunges of 679 points (Oct. 9) and 778 points (Sept. 29) and 936 points increase (Oct. 13) all withing 11 trading days**. And for the simplicity purposes we happily ignore intraday volatility which presents us with some really quirky numbers. As all reaction has its action, even this new found volatility is not self-invented. Whether it is just a prelude for the upcoming recession or has less simple explanation is a still open discussion. One of many reasons might be return to pre-Volckerian monetary policy (interest rates as main tool for fine-tuning of economy) and focus of new chairman (Mr. Bernanke) on bringing more clarity into it as opposed to "if it's not broken, don't touch / don't repair / don't explain" approach of Mr. Greenspan.
Mr. Bernanke's background (inflation targeting expert and promoter) and well documented remarks in first years of his tenur might have had exactly opposite impact than the one intended and eventually could have brought confusion and increased volatility to markets . That the volatility of the US markets (precisely Dow Jones Industrial Average index - which is the best measure of the US financial markets anyway) increased in past two years is confirmed by computations summarised in the table below. If we adjust data for a first 100 days "grace period" the difference increases (mainly due to exclussion of 1987 financial market meltdown from Mr. Greenspan datafile which he could not affect or eliminate anyway), showing that in fact we are entering the age of turbulence. More detailed analysis of annualized volatility rates*** (both for actual trading days in a year and 252-trading days year) is presented at the end of the text.
But is this volatility to continue? All evidence points out to the possitive answer to this question, meaning more uncertainity and damage to all investors. As previous slow-downs suggest higher volatility of financial markets in the periods of distress (see below and link) we should remember that technically we are still more or less not in the recession - although heading there at Jorg Haider speed. If Mr. Krugman's prediction will come true and the US and EU experience recessions in the immediate future (i.e. 2009 and beyond) we can expected increased volatility of financial markets in next years with new records for daily decreases and increases on pretty much regular basis. Ultimately this mean that smart investors can gain loads of money by entering and closing shor-term and/or intraday positions. On the other hand, all others (including me - to a great displeasure of my dad) should brace tehmeselves for a rough ride as they try to weather the downturn.
Unfortunately, governments with their bailout plans do not help to quickly resolve financial market crisis as participants keep testing the limits of government pockets and push for more (even by throwing word "panic" into the mix). By enabling them to do that, ultimately I might end up living in the country with the highest company private ownership participation rate in the world. Just don't tell me it is so bad or I am that smart and picked it upfront - all of us know it is not true :)
Note: * Be warned that as I did not read the book, basically I do not know what I am talking about. I did not have spare time for this type of "light reading" literature in past two years.
** For more details please refer to DJIA development chart available at any major financial portal.
*** Volatility is the most commonly measured as a standard deviation of continously compounded returns. This standard deviation is usually annualised in order to show comparable measures. Circa 252 trading days are within one year (in our sample it was the most common number of trading days) although differences arise (most notably in 2001 and the incomplete years at the begining and end of each chairman tenure).
In past two years (2007 and 2008) we experienced unusual financial markets development with wild swings both up and down perfectly illustrated by single day plunges of 679 points (Oct. 9) and 778 points (Sept. 29) and 936 points increase (Oct. 13) all withing 11 trading days**. And for the simplicity purposes we happily ignore intraday volatility which presents us with some really quirky numbers. As all reaction has its action, even this new found volatility is not self-invented. Whether it is just a prelude for the upcoming recession or has less simple explanation is a still open discussion. One of many reasons might be return to pre-Volckerian monetary policy (interest rates as main tool for fine-tuning of economy) and focus of new chairman (Mr. Bernanke) on bringing more clarity into it as opposed to "if it's not broken, don't touch / don't repair / don't explain" approach of Mr. Greenspan.
Mr. Bernanke's background (inflation targeting expert and promoter) and well documented remarks in first years of his tenur might have had exactly opposite impact than the one intended and eventually could have brought confusion and increased volatility to markets . That the volatility of the US markets (precisely Dow Jones Industrial Average index - which is the best measure of the US financial markets anyway) increased in past two years is confirmed by computations summarised in the table below. If we adjust data for a first 100 days "grace period" the difference increases (mainly due to exclussion of 1987 financial market meltdown from Mr. Greenspan datafile which he could not affect or eliminate anyway), showing that in fact we are entering the age of turbulence. More detailed analysis of annualized volatility rates*** (both for actual trading days in a year and 252-trading days year) is presented at the end of the text.
| Standard deviations of continuosly compounded day-to-day DJIA closing values | |||
| Greenspan | Bernanke | ||
| Standard deviation (Stdev.) | 0.0111 | 0.0126 | |
| Stdev. adjusted for first 100 days | 0.0100 | 0.0133 | |
But is this volatility to continue? All evidence points out to the possitive answer to this question, meaning more uncertainity and damage to all investors. As previous slow-downs suggest higher volatility of financial markets in the periods of distress (see below and link) we should remember that technically we are still more or less not in the recession - although heading there at Jorg Haider speed. If Mr. Krugman's prediction will come true and the US and EU experience recessions in the immediate future (i.e. 2009 and beyond) we can expected increased volatility of financial markets in next years with new records for daily decreases and increases on pretty much regular basis. Ultimately this mean that smart investors can gain loads of money by entering and closing shor-term and/or intraday positions. On the other hand, all others (including me - to a great displeasure of my dad) should brace tehmeselves for a rough ride as they try to weather the downturn.
Unfortunately, governments with their bailout plans do not help to quickly resolve financial market crisis as participants keep testing the limits of government pockets and push for more (even by throwing word "panic" into the mix). By enabling them to do that, ultimately I might end up living in the country with the highest company private ownership participation rate in the world. Just don't tell me it is so bad or I am that smart and picked it upfront - all of us know it is not true :)
Note: * Be warned that as I did not read the book, basically I do not know what I am talking about. I did not have spare time for this type of "light reading" literature in past two years.
** For more details please refer to DJIA development chart available at any major financial portal.
*** Volatility is the most commonly measured as a standard deviation of continously compounded returns. This standard deviation is usually annualised in order to show comparable measures. Circa 252 trading days are within one year (in our sample it was the most common number of trading days) although differences arise (most notably in 2001 and the incomplete years at the begining and end of each chairman tenure).
| Annualized volatility | ||||
| Greenspan | Bernanke | |||
| act. days | 252-days | act. days | 252-days | |
| 2008 | 0.2784 | 0.3110 | ||
| 2007 | 0.1452 | 0.1455 | ||
| 2006 | 0.0302 | 0.1073 | 0.0937 | 0.0979 |
| 2005 | 0.1028 | 0.1028 | ||
| 2004 | 0.1082 | 0.1082 | ||
| 2003 | 0.1653 | 0.1653 | ||
| 2002 | 0.2540 | 0.2540 | ||
| 2001 | 0.2122 | 0.2139 | ||
| 2000 | 0.2074 | 0.2074 | ||
| 1999 | 0.1611 | 0.1611 | ||
| 1998 | 0.1985 | 0.1985 | ||
| 1997 | 0.1880 | 0.1876 | ||
| 1996 | 0.1201 | 0.1197 | ||
| 1995 | 0.0866 | 0.0866 | ||
| 1994 | 0.1090 | 0.1090 | ||
| 1993 | 0.0868 | 0.0866 | ||
| 1992 | 0.1035 | 0.1031 | ||
| 1991 | 0.1461 | 0.1458 | ||
| 1990 | 0.1635 | 0.1631 | ||
| 1989 | 0.1429 | 0.1429 | ||
| 1988 | 0.1823 | 0.1819 | ||
| 1987 | 0.3436 | 0.5427 | ||
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