The Grant Park Music Festival’s outdoor venue is at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, sitting in the heart of downtown Chicago around the skyscrapers. Your browser doesn't support the video tag. Tonight’s concert featured the Grant Park Orchestra, Carlos Kalmar and pianist Olga Kern, playing a magnificent program: Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 Igor Stravinsky Game of Cards Edward Elgar In the South The outdoor festival is exactly like the Frank Gehry architecture — it pierce through the air and stand firmly among the Chicago skyscrapers. You feel more the shape and less the nuance. Rachmaninoff carries through with Olga Kern’s powerful playing, very metallic, sculptured and sharp. She played the first original cadenza for mvt I written by Rachmaninoff. My pianist friend think it’s the best cadenza ever written and its early appearance even shadows rest of the concerto movements.

The same nocturne, the other temperament.

The Goldbergs returned to the instrument they were written for.

The idea originates in Milton Friedman’s essay “The Methodology of Positive Economics” (1953), the opening chapter of his book Essays in Positive Economics (University of Chicago Press, 1953, pp. 3–43). Basically, Friedman’s central idea is, a theory should be judged by the accuracy of its predictions within its intended domain — not by whether its assumptions are realistic or descriptively accurate. And further — “the more significant the theory, the more unrealistic the assumptions.” So we should use the “as if” method. Model agents as if the assumptions held. Three examples: the expert billiard player (plays as if solving the physics), leaves on a tree (arranged as if maximizing sunlight), the profit-maximizing firm (behaves as if optimizing; competition weeds out those that don’t). Tie-breakers. When theories predict equally well, prefer greater simplicity and fruitfulness (scope, precision, new research). Friedman’s original essay is ambiguous, contested but never settled. I printed it as part of my Price Theory I readings and it now lies with my Bach sonata sheets… ...

Conducted by Edwin Outwater, with soloist Sara Davis Buechner, the Grant Park Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The evening also offered a pleasantly modern program: Jimmy López Loud Lou Harrison Symphony No. 2 (“Elegiac”) Amy Woodforde-Finden Kashmiri Song Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 The orchestra has a lovely sound and plays as a tight, well-coordinated ensemble. The pieces are a nice surprise — very well-curated. Even so, I wasn’t especially looking forward to the Tchaikovsky — this is a festival, and a free concert at that (bravo!) — since the concerto’s solemnity asks for a certain seriousness rather than a cheerful summer spirit. But the first three pieces eased the audience nicely into the mood. ...

I participated in Model United Nations during high school — I was then lotteried to represent Antigua and Barbuda. For a 100% geography idiot, I am proud to say that I happen to know this country well — climate, economy, geography etc. Now the world seems to be doing the same thing with Cape Verde, according to Google Trend — the time line June 15 vs. Spain (0–0 Draw): Cape Verde kicked off their tournament by completely shocking heavyweights Spain, holding them to a scoreless draw. This was likely the first major spike where people collectively googled, “Where is Cape Verde?” June 21 vs. Uruguay (2–2 Draw): Proving the first game wasn’t a fluke, they went toe-to-toe with Uruguay in an absolute thriller. June 26 vs. Saudi Arabia (0–0 Draw): Tonight, they capped off their group stage with a gritty draw against Saudi Arabia in Houston. Soccer fans around the world realized this tiny team went undefeated against top-tier global talent, query (Google Trends) related to Cape Verde is skyrocketing right now. ...

Creator 滤镜粉碎机 (Filter Crusher) on Bilibili undercovered one-month inside agencies that offer Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination) counseling and registration services. Parents pay thousands of yuan¥ to hire someone with zero credential to help their kids make the biggest decision of their life and career. These lucrative business do: Fabricated Credentials: The professional certificates and qualifications claimed by the “expert” counselors are frequently photoshopped or completely fabricated. Faked Experience: The extensive industry experience advertised to anxious parents and students is entirely made up to build false trust. AI-Generated Plans: Instead of receiving personalized, expert-driven guidance tailored to a student’s lifelong career goals, the actual college application and registration strategies are mass-produced using AI tools. It’s hard to predict job market and industry trend a few years away from now. Parents are partially buying for the information asymmetry, but also for their anxiety — just a piece of mind in face of uncertainty.

I’m not the biggest Chopin aficionado, but Tchaikovsky adored him — and I think he got a point. Chopin’s music is so layered that musicians can pull a lot out of it. In the right hand, every note carries their meanings. You hear the pianists themselves through their playings: Deutsche Grammophon wrote good caption: Music made in the present moment, unique and unrepeatable, is all that matters to Grigory Sokolov. Critical acclaim and audience ovations underline the humanity and compassion conveyed by Sokolov’s work, reflected not least in reviews that speak of his “genius” and status as a “living legend”. Grigory Sokolov’s charismatic artistry holds the power to cultivate the concentration necessary for audiences to contemplate even the most familiar compositions from fresh perspectives. In recital, he draws listeners into a close relationship with the music, transcending matters of surface display and showmanship to reveal deeper spiritual meaning. His latest release, a double album, comprises a selection of live recordings from three recitals given in the summer of 2019.

A while back I wrote a series on the divertissement in Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. The character dances — “fillters”, have some of the most under-appreciated writing in the repertoire, top-tier in color, melody, and orchestration, with almost nothing to set beside it. The complete ballet would never be staged in the United States until 1944, in San Francisco, and it didn’t harden into a Christmas fixture until Balanchine’s New York production in 1954. ...

Debussy wrote a Sonata for Flute Viola and Harp — a piece full of French spirit: Its ambiguity of harmony and form, fragmented, halting phrases, and almost pointillistic use of color bear striking resemblance to earlier orchestral works such as La mer and Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. Its opening harp arpeggio is joined by flute acrobatics; viola sneaks in in unison with the flute and introduces a disjointed, dreamy, watery theme. ...