Josef Gabriel Rheinberger

When talking about organ music, while most people would think of the great composer Bach and a colossal ghastly gothic cathedral, some might remember Saint-Saëns' large spectacle Symphony No.3 in c minor, Op.78 Organ. Yet, few would know that there is an unfamiliar Liechtensteinian composer, Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, who was appointed as the organist at the Vaduz Parish Church at the age of only seven years and whose first composition was performed the following year.

As I'm going to have a church wedding on the 23rd of June at the 600-year-old Church of the Holy Rude, where James VI of Scotland, and later James I of England, was crowned on 29 July 1567, and our organist and music director Dr John Burnett would play for me whatever I choose, I've decided this morning that I'll have the third movement Scherzoso of Rheinberger's organ sonata No. 8 in E Minor, Op. 132, to conclude the wedding ceremony.

Why? I don't really know. Perhaps I just fancy something like the black comedy The Addams Family, but not too farcical.

Anyway, Rheinberger is really a great composer. His twenty organ sonatas are praised in the Grove's Dictionary

...the most valuable addition to organ music since the time of Mendelssohn. They are characterized by a happy blending of the modern romantic spirit with masterly counterpoint and dignified organ style.

I know it may be illegal to distribute a copyrighted audio track online, but I just want you to have a wee taste. Listen to this interesting yet awesome work.

It's just a low-fidelity and incomplete sound clip, and if you really like this work, you can buy the CD.

Tallest building in the world, for the time being

Perhaps you folks are all aware that Taiepi 101, original named Taipei Financial Centre, is the tallest building in the world at the moment, yet, I suppose, few of you know that my home in Taipei is just 500 yards away from this building.

Taipei 101 has 101 stories above ground, hence the name, and five underground. The construction of the building began in January 1998, half a year later after my family moved to Taipei from Keelung, a harbour city where I was born and brought up. Its roof was completed in July 2003 and its pinnacle was fitted in October 2003, which made it surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 57 meters. Unfortunately, I had been in Scotalnd when the entire building was formally opened on the 31st of December 2004 amid a spectacular New Year's celebration with live performances and fireworks. I've never attend any New Year shindig around the area since the building was opened.

Nevertheless, I made it last December when I was back in Taipei. I was among the boisterous, frenzied crowd on Hogmanay watching the extravagant firework display. Have a look at this!



Wow! Absolutely fascinating, isn't it? 10,188 rounds of fireworks featuring 15 differnt themes were launched from the illuminated Taipei 101 for 188 seconds.

As another tallest-building-to-be in the world, Shanghai World Financial Centre, is under construction and will be completed by the end of 2008, you still have one more opportunity to visit Taipei 101 to witness Hogmanay fireworks at the tallest building of the world on the 31st of December 2007.

I'm still alive and kicking

I can't believe it; this weblog hasn't been updated for a year. It's almost the end of January 2007, but the last entry was posted in 2006.

My desire to keep this weblog up with the ever-changing world has long been replaced by the desire to forget the fact that I simply cannot keep it up before emancipating myself from the slough of the esoteric doctoral study. Last Christmas when I panicked over the poor quality of written English in the draft of my thesis, as well as the endless musicological analysis of those immortal 1930s and 1940s oldies, I found my 18-year obsession with keeping a diary cured. Maybe it's just an excuse to exonerate myself from this admirable yet stubborn and time-consuming habit; nevertheless, it implies how serious the situation was: I was about to fail and therefore not a single minute should be spared for the diary, but rather every second should be spent on the bloody thesis.

However, as I was requested to sing a Spanish love song at my sister-in-law's engagement reception (I suppose that a guy must be insane if he dare reject such an 'invitation' from his in-laws), I had no alternative but to knock my socks off to present a show in front of 200 guests. It did take some time, because no one would afford to hire a cabaret band to accompany my solo and therefore I had to made a karaoke soundtrack for myself. Fortunately, because the song I planned to sing, Aquellos Ojos Verdes (Those green eyes), was so familiar that I could even belt it out when sleepwalking at a snowy night, it took only two hours to produce the accompanying soundtrack.

(Listen to the home-made karaoke!)


(And browse the lysics if you read Spanish. I'm sure that Pedro would be more than happy to translate it into English!)

AQUELLOS OJOS VERDES
DE MIRADA SERENA
DEJARON EN MI ALMA
ETERNA FE DE AMAR
ANHELOS DE CARICIAS
DE BESOS Y TERNURAS
DE TODAS LAS DULZURAS
QUE HAN PODIDO BRINDAR

AQUELLOS OJOS VERDES
SERENOS COMO UN LAGO
EN CUYAS QUIETAS AGUAS
UN DÍA ME MIRÉ
NO SABEN LA TRISTEZA
QUE EN MI ALMA HAN DEJARON
AQUELLOS OJOS VERDES
QUE NUNCA OLVIDARÉ

Although the sister-in-law and her husband-to-be told me that no one would notice if I blundered, I insisted that as a matter of 'performance', it had to be perfect. I happened to know that the godmother of the bridegroom-to-be was the wife of a military attaché of la Embajada de la República de China en la República del Paraguay, which made me really nervous. Thanks be to god; all went well at the reception. This lady who spoke perfect Spanish approached me aferwards and said that the music was great and every syllable poured out of my lips was perfect.

On the 23rd of December 2006, I had my first-ever life experience – sing a Spanish song in public, and it was successful.