Dag Jensen is a world-famous bassoonist, a very unique soloist and recognised virtuoso. Born in Norway, he started his career early on as an orchestra player. He won the ARD competition twice and quickly established himself as a celebrated chamber musician and brilliant bassoon soloist, playing with eminent orchestras and high-ranking conductors of our time. Through his recordings he not only introduced famous works in new elegance, he also inspires his world-wide audience with new and rare repertoire. Dag Jensen shapes new standards in the bassoon world with his artistic oeuvre and holds the position of bassoon professor on the Academy of Music Oslo, Norway, and the Musikhochschule München, Germany.

Dear Dag, of course I already knew your name in my first year of learning the bassoon! When I listened to your legendary Jolivet Concerto recording, a new dimension in bassoon playing opened up for me. I was completely hooked by your colorful, layered sound combined with such technical brilliance. I still remember how I listened to that recording in an endless loop (seriously, I did that!! 😃). I was absolutely stunned and fascinated by all these fine nuances, I wanted to intensly absorb this amazing level of mastery.

– What’s the secret behind such brilliant music making?
Dear Anselma, thank you for your flattering words! I don’t know if I can do justice to all of that :) This recording was made when I was in my early years. I had been principal bassoonist with the WDR Symphony Orchestra for about five years and was in a phase where I constantly had to perform at my best. In such a phase, you are “in the flow” and don’t have to think too much about many things when making music. Of course, this was preceded by many years of intense practice. Fortunately, I do enjoy practicing and experimenting with different approaches.

– What was the most important lesson music making taught you?
The realization that it is human to fail – and to acknowledge that failing does not diminish one’s worth, not as a human being and not as a musician.

– I love that, your words are very touching! I know very well how devastating failure can feel. What would you advise our audience, what matters in life?
Being there for each other!

You find Dag Jensen on dagjensen.de, his 25 CD recordings are widely available. Besides his position as professor for bassoon at the Academy of Music Osly, Norway and at the Musikhochschule München, Germany he regularly teaches in Masterclasses all over the world.

Fall is coming and with it some new opportunities.
Will it be a burden to pick up work again?
Will it raise some sadness that summer’s freedom and vacation-time is gone?
Or are you excited to start into a new chapter that every fall opens up?

When the leaves are falling the sky comes closer.
That’s how I like to frame it to keep a fresh mindset.

 

 

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When I was in my teens, friends introduced me to a lady. I admired her for her wisdom. She became my beloved mentor. From an early age on, I liked to pick some heroes and tried to learn from these people. Instead of reading fantasy novels I bought biographies and studied how people with outstanding character and strength navigated their personal challenges.

This lady was special to my heart because she was one of the few adults who was preaching that disobedience was the way for humanity to get into a better future.

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When I was a student, we had an audition training with a timpanist. He patiently listened to our bassoon Mozarts and excerpts, thought about what to say and finally told us:

“I imagine the time of Mozart. Horses and buggies, no radio, no television, no devices. Silence. Listening takes space. At that time people had time – almost nobody had a clock.
So why do you play so fast then? We are so accustomed to rushing that we kill the music. Faster and faster. Our ears get trained to intoxicating speed. But what’s the cost of it?”

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Sometimes we make wrong deductions.
We might think, well, the Mona Lisa in the Louvre of Paris is such a famous artwork for its exquisit craftsmanship. The composition is immensely unique.

It does not only depict a stunning woman with a whimsical smile, it is said to be painted in the golden ratio of divine proportions. The foreground, middleground and background are perfectly balanced.

The colours of the painting are soothing to the eye. The image provoces the sensation of elegance and finest artistry. It is made in the sfumato technique to create a 3D illusion on a 2D canvas and gives the viewer the impression of looking into a window of perfection.

 

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What are young entrepreneurs at Stanford University – striving to build world spanning mega tech corporations – taught at their first course?
What are they told to be the basis of ALL success in the world?

Are they led to impress people with their nitty-gritty high-end business know-how?
Are they taught to dominate the market with the latest AI strategic tech marketing?
Are they told to search for the cheapest producer in China and further support slave labor?

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The greatest things in life are not things.
We all know that.
They can not be bought, not even be stolen.
They come to us when we don’t expect them.
And when we want to catch and conserve them, they shy away from us.

In Donizettis L’elisir d’amore, Nemorino wants to win the love of Adina, who ignores him, by purchasing a love potion. Nice try. At the end, they a couple. But not because of this drink (which turned out to be a bottle of regular red wine anyways).

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Recently, in an illustrated art book I came across a beautiful painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema named “Pandora’s Box” depicting a lovely redheaded woman with flowers in her hair. She holds a greyish jar in her hands, watching it intently. The jar looks to be from dark marble, on its lid a sphinx is guarding the content.

The story told by Hesiod reads that Prometheus, who stole the fire from Mount Olympus to bring it to the humans of Earth had a brother, Epimetheus. Interestingly enough, the two brothers do have telling names, describing the ways we can move through the world. Prometheus means foresight, where as Epimetheus means hindsight.

They embody our tendencies of planning ahead and following a vision on the one hand and concluding and reflecting how things worked out on the other. Both are necessary, both are invaluable to human life.

 

In the story, Epimetheus was given a pithos, a greek jar made of clay, that contained all the things, humans don’t want to experience: death, sickness, troubles of all sorts and – take note – hope.

Out of curiosity, Pandora, Epimetheus wife, one day inspected the jar and opened the lid. Though she hastily tried to close it again, all the evil inside could escape and since that time, humans of Earth are plagued, having to cope with their existance all the time.

When it turned out that humanity would almost perish being confronted with all this evil, she let out hope as well to help them carry on.
It turned out, that hope was stronger than all the evils together. It would always prevail.

 

What an astounding story. It speaks about our ability to recover, to carry on, to triumph over misfortune and hardship. We can turn around almost we are determined to change into something useful and of value. Or, to use a Buddhist expression, we are able to turn poison into medicine.

I also like that the much-quoted box is actually a round pot of clay. Not rectangular, not an Ikea-style cardbaord box. So many things in reality are quite different upon close inspection than we might think. There is always stuff to examine, to ponder, to verify, very epimethian – so to speak.

So where do you need more hope to win over something uncomfortable or hindering?
Where did some evil weaken a part of your precious soul – waiting to be transformed into something of value, enriching your life again?

And don’t forget, next time you see a box:
Leave it alone, don’t touch it OR
open it twice immediately!

Much love,
Anselma

Back in the day, Adam was strolling around in the Garden of Eden. He just had been created and now stood on his feet, not quite knowing what to do with himself (ok, that’s my idea of it, I admit).

God was quite happy with him, but he thought, well, something is missing here! What could that be? He called Adam and said: “Hey Adam, I think you need a job. So go out and do something useful. Tend the garden. Make it beautiful and lush, prune the trees, collect dry grass and make sure the flowers have enough water.”

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The holiday season is approaching and we all
– have a chance to freak out in the pre-Christmas rush or
– to make the conscious choice to savor the yearly chaos and imperfections.

Imagine a time where your home is beautifully decorated with candles, sparkling lights and festive red ribbons, pillows and mistletoes. On the table there are nuts, fresh oranges and some fir branches, fruity and fragrant.

You planned some stuff, some things are working out, others (lots of!) just aren’t.
Still, you feel content, you lean back and take a long and calm look at things.

You probably notice something interesting.
It’s not about outer things. It’s not about what’s apparent.
It’s about kindness and the ability to say yes to life.

 

Here are some ideas how we bring some inner glow to all the sparkle, the presents, opulent meals, lucky (and sometimes clumsy) moments in the splendid gatherings with friends and family:

Full attention
Listen with your heart. This does not work when your mobile lies on the table. Electronic devices do not belong to any kind of face to face social interaction or party. Leave this stuff in the drawer. No technology, that’s important! It divides your attention.

Approval
Notice all the good things people tell you and confirm how much they are doing right. Life is difficult. We all give our best. Praise all the constructive ideas and personal accomplishments. It makes a difference!

Admiration
Say what you love. Nice dress, you look great! What a beautiful cake – how much effort it took you to make it for us! I like what you just said – you are so strong-willed!
– We are used to thinking these things but we are not used to say them out loud.

Greatfulness
Nothing is granted. We are all borrowing.
The cosy home, the furniture – we are lending what is given to us. The amazing people in our life – we are invited to enjoy their company, nothing more. Even our body ist just a loan. Some day we will have to give it back.

Have a wonderful December,
with so much love,
Anselma

p.s. Need some Christmas Tunes? For TWO and for THREE players, in beautiful arrangements. You are welcome! Thanks for choosing to play out of original sheet music books like ours, not from xerox-copies that destroy the publishing world and the livelihood of composers.