Sincerity is the emotional component of honesty – the desire to be honest. Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite. [attributed to Charles Spurgeon] . . . for a creative writer possession of the “truth” is less important than emotional sincerity. [George Orwell] I suppose my best attribute, if you want…
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Value for Friday of Week 19 in the season of Growth
Being Serious and Attentive
Meeting worldly obligations requires seriousness and attentiveness. The characteristic attitude at this level is attentiveness, as in “Pay attention.” A person who characteristically and as a matter of routine pays attention to his responsibilities has reached at least the second developmental level.
- I’ve always taken “The Wizard of Oz” very seriously, you know. I believe in the idea of the rainbow. And I’ve spent my entire life trying to get over it. [attributed to Judy Garland]
- Compassion may be defined as the capacity to be attentive to the experience of others, to wish the best for others, and to sense what will truly serve others. [Joan Halifax]
- Meditation is a state of mind which looks at everything with complete attention, totally, not just parts of it. And no one can teach you how to be attentive. If any system teaches you how to be attentive, then you are attentive to the system, and that is not attention. [Jiddu Krishnamurti]
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Real
True Narratives
From the dark side: capturing people’s attention for profit:
- Chris Hayes, The Siren’s Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource (Penguin Press, 2025), “is an ambitious analysis of how the trivial amusements offered by online life have degraded not only our selves but also our politics.”
Technical and Analytical Readings
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Poetry
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
These Schubert piano sonatas demand careful attention from the performer and the listener.
- Piano Sonata No. 7 in E-flat Major, Op. posth. 122, D. 568 (1817) (approx. 29-31’) (list of recorded performances)
- Piano Sonata No. 14 in A minor, Op. 143, D. 784 (“Grande Sonata”) (1823) (approx. 18-25’) (list of recorded performances)
- Piano Sonata No. 15 in C Major, D. 840, “Relique” (1825) (approx. 23-27’) (list of recorded performances)
- Piano Sonata No. 16 in A minor, Op. 42, D. 845 (1825) (approx. 29-38’) (list of recorded performances)
- Piano Sonata No. 17 in D Major, Op. 53, D. 850, “Gasteiner” (1825) (approx. 38-42’) (list of recorded performances), “was the product of what might have been the last untroubled time in Schubert’s life before the darknesses of his final years.”
- Piano Sonata No. 18 in G Major, Op. 78, D. 894 (1826) (approx. 37-46’) (list of recorded performances): “Robert Schumann called this ‘the most perfect in form and substance’ of all of Schubert’s sonatas.”
Compositions by Richard Dubugnon:
- Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op 63 (2013) (approx. 16’)
- Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 77 (2016) (approx. 22’)
- Klavieriana, Op. 70 (2015) (approx. 27’)
Organ music sounds so very serious:
- Jean Langlais, organ works, performed by Ann Lebounsky (Volume I; Volume II; Volume III; Volume IV; Volume V; Volume VI; Volume VII; Volume VIII), François-Henri Houbart, Luca Massaglia and Michelle Leclerc.
- Louis Vierne, 6 organ symphonies (list of recorded performances), performed by Pierre Labric and Hayo Boerema (approx. 225-229’)
- Maurice Duruflé, organ works, performed by Thomas Trotter, Stéphane Mottoul, Henry Fairs and Francesca Massey (approx. 73-77’)
Other compositions:
- Roland Szentpáli, Tuba Concerto (2002) (approx. 20’): “The music imagines a group of people gathered around the táltos to pray to the gods. The táltos plays his drum to induce a trance, in which those around him rise and dance ‘an unsophisticated dance, rhythmically and metrically unbalanced’. Szentpáli writes that he ‘wanted to create melodic lines that sound as if they were “out of tune” and imitate the sounds of untuned, ancient instruments’.”
- Geraldine Mucha, String Quartet No. 1 (1941) (approx. 16’)
- Mucha, String Quartet No. 2 (1988) (approx. 14’)
- Valentin Silvestrov, String Quartet No. 1 (1974) (approx. 25’): “An amalgam of Death and the Maiden and Verklarte Nacht figurations near the beginning is confronted with irreconcilable dissonances which quietly but inexorably bring the piece to a standstill. The figurations then recur in a coda of sorrowful, spectral regression.”
- Raga Shahana Kanada (Shahana Kannada – Shahana Kanara – Shahana Kannara) is a Hindustani raag performed after midnight. “The North Indian (Hindustani) Shahana is not to be confused with the Carnatic Ragam Sahana (28th Melakarta, Harikamboji) as the treatment of the two is completely different Shahana literally means ‘of royal demeanour’ (Shahi) and while it shares the notes with Bageshri, it has a measured gait and approach.” Performances are by Shujaat Khan & Ananda Gopal Bandopadhyay, and Venkatesh Kumar.
- Mieczysław Weinberg, Cello Concerto in C Minor, Op. 43 (1948) (approx. 29-31’) (list of recorded performances): “This concerto demonstrates great musical variety. The diversity of the work, its rhythmic simplicity, and folk thematic content make it accessible to a wide range of audiences.”
- Ernest Chausson, Concert pour piano, violin et quatuor à cordes en Ré Majeur (Concert for piano, violin and string quartet in D Major), Op. 21 (1892) (approx. 39-44’) (top recorded performances) (list of recorded performances): “Completed in 1892, Chausson’s Concert is a unique attempt at creating a score of symphonic proportions for just six musicians, with its rich harmonic language pointing towards the peak of the Romantic era.” “. . . the harmonic texture is heavily chromatic, the lyrical expressiveness rhapsodic and expansive, and the dramatics naively bombastic. The piece is also most unusual, in that, as its title readily suggests, it is frankly showy in a way that chamber music rarely is.”
- Benjamin Britten, Violin Concerto, Op. 15 (1939, rev. 1950, 1954, 1965) (approx. 33-34’) (list of recorded performances): “The sheer variety of invention is astounding, including an extended orchestral (so, sans soloist) Passacaglia . . .”
- Mieczysław Weinberg, Sonatas for Solo Cello (4) (approx. 87’): Op. 72 (1960) (approx. 16’) (list of recorded performances); Op. 121 (1965, rev. 1977) (approx. 32-33’); Op. 106 (1971) (approx. 22’) (list of recorded performances); Op. 140bis (1986) (approx. 17’): “The four sonatas for unaccompanied cello contain music of nobility, drama, and great beauty.”
- Marcel Poot, Symphony No. 3 (1952) (approx. 25’): “A lifetime of world experience rests heavily on the shoulders of the Third Symphony. This takes the form of a certain sobriety of mood to counterbalance a controlled serenade element. This is coupled with downbeat brittle reflections and a ruthlessness of jerky rhythmic activity. The finale embraces Poot’s delight in lofty writing for the French horns.”
- Grażyna Bacewicz, Piano Quintet No. 1 (1952) (approx. 23-26’) (recordings) “is a neoclassical composition that is lyrical and dissonant, dramatically powerful, technically demanding and emotionally passionate.” It “is flavoured with Polish folk music, and blends expressive intensity with sparky writing.”
Albums:
- Ballaké Sissoko, “A Touma” (2021) (40’): “During these strange and paradoxical ‘solitary dialogues’, he makes his kora speak and reacts to the emotions it arouses in him, letting his imagination and his fingers fly off to landscapes that are both magnificent and unknown.”
- The Rheingans Sisters, “Start Close In” (2024) (55’): “With experimental arrangements, feminist retellings, and explorations of European traditions, the album blends intensity and contemplation. It's a bold, magical work that redefines modern folk music, showcasing their fearless creativity.”
- Jane Chapman & Jan Hage, “Richard Rijnvos: La Serenissima” (2025) (122’) “bring(s) together organ and harpsichord pieces composed by Richard Rijnvos. He’s a radical Dutch composer whose work is often concerned with stacking melodic patterns. Or utilising non-musical elements such as magic squares and chessboards to create his work. Most of his compositions are themed around locations, as is this collection, which takes its title from a nickname for the historical republic of Venice.” The album challenges the listener by moving from musical tradition to avant-garde structure.
Not so serious:
- John Frederick Lampe, The Dragon of Wentley (1737) (approx. 108’), a comic opera in which “the ‘hero’ is the inebriate, preposterously attired but ‘valiant’ Squire Moore, who saves a village from a rampaging, child-eating dragon by despatching the marauding beast with a well-aimed ‘Kick on the Back-side’.”
Music: songs and other short pieces
- Ben Harper, “Excuse Me, Mr.” (lyrics)
- Pink Floyd, “Time” (lyrics)
- Bruce Springsteen, “Thunder Road” (lyrics)
Visual Arts
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Two Girls at the Piano (1892)
