When I was stationed in Korea, the opportunities for watching television after a day of playing Army was kinda limited. There was AFKN, and there were some Korean channels. Maybe we’d have had better options if we were further south, but up near Tongduchŏn (I think it’s spelled different now) we didn’t get a lot.
After one particular awful day, I was flipping the channels on my little black and white TV I had in the barracks and ran across the beginning of some symphony orchestra beginning Beethoven’s 9th. It didn’t make it all better, but it made it bearable.
I wish I could find that recording of Beethoven’s 9th, but really, any well-performed version will do.
So, what’s on your mind? Got something you’d like to share? It’s Saturday Night Open Thread.
Who wants to start?
NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
RCA Red Label # 76321 55837 2
Recorded in 1952 (yes, FIFTY-TWO) in Mono.
Don’t let that dissuade you. Maestro Toscanini brings out the best in both the musicians and singers. My go-to version of this greatest of compositions.
This isn’t quite as classical as Beethoven…but I like it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60vO4PttPdA
Leonhard Euler, a great mathematician and the most prolific mathematician (in terms of publications) ever, was born in Basel, Switzerland, April 15, 1707.
Since Basil posted some classical music today, I’ll post some less-than-classical music. Here’s Dave Gordon informing his former main squeeze that “You Gettin’ Bothered Doesn’t Marry Me”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoftjXh7xNo
From Isaac Asimov’s Book of Facts:
“The Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler was the most prolific mathematician in history. He went blind in 1766, but that didn’t stop him, and scarcely slowed him down, for he had a phenomenal memory and could keep in mind computations that would fill several blackboards. He published 800 papers, some of them quite long. At the time of his death he left enough papers in manuscript to keep the printing presses busy for thirty-five years before the last of them was published.”
Absolutely. He was one of the greatest of mathematicians. The late Morris Kline, a professor of mathematics at New York University, said that the three greatest mathematicians were Archimedes, Newton, and Gauss. He was certainly better qualified to judge than I am, so I’m not going to argue. It would be of interest to know whether he would have put Euler in the top five.