Top Ten for November 26, 2020

Sibelius’ Voces intimae, Op 56 (1909)

The insane engineering of Apollo’s computers and rope memory

A lecture on Kurtag’s musical setting of Beckett’s Fin de Partie, with the premiere in French with Italian subs, its libretto in French and Italian, and the text of the full play in English

Penguin Cafe Orchestra on the Beeb in ’89

I may or may not be responsible for destroying American working-class prosperity

The Grand Unification Proposal

Finnish Radio TV Symphony Orchestra playing Lutosławski

The Best Man (1964)

“We are not the leader of first choice because we’re always right, or because we’re universally liked, or because we can dictate outcomes,” he said. “It’s because we strive to the best of our ability to align our actions with our principles, and because American leadership has a unique ability to mobilize others and to make a difference.”

Politics, Science and the Remarkable Race for a Coronavirus Vaccine