The classical music world has been undergoing something of a sea change in recent years.  For a long, it was dominated by major labels such as Columbia, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, and others.  In the late 1980s, an upstart record company based out of Hong Kong by the name of Naxos released its first recordings.  For many of the older labels, their prices remain high, mostly because of the cost of paying prominent stars in the music world.  However, now there are so many good musicians, many of whom despair of ever getting recorded, that budget labels such as Naxos have put them to work recording both the standard classics and a great deal of lesser-known music.  (Ever hear a Glazunov symphony?  For $6.99 a CD, you can buy all nine of his symphonies on Naxos.)  Naxos has also done American music a world of good, too.  There is so much good music out there written by Americans.  Copland was not the only American composer you know!  Naxos is now giving composers such as Virgil Thomson, Roy Harris, William Schuman, Nicolas Flagello, Vittorio Giannini, and others their due.  The founder of Naxos, Klaus Heymann sets forth his philosophy in this interesting interview.  As Heymann points out, there isn’t a lot of difference in interpretations between some of the more prominent musicians and some of the lesser known artists.  Unlike earlier, idiosyncratic interpretations just won’t fly anymore, though the recordings of older, more idiosyncratic artists countinue to be treasured and reissued. 

2006 was, by any estimation, a big year in the classical musical world.  It marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  To celebrate, another independent label known as Brilliant Classics brought out the complete works of Mozart.  They were able to do this by either licensing previous recordings from other record companies or making their own recordings using talented, though not as well known performers such as Jaap ter Linden and the Mozart Akademie Amsterdam or the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim.  Rather than printing lush booklets, they put everything on one CD-ROM where listeners can browse through the files.  The complete set, which I have seen, is on 170 CDs and is about the size of a shoebox.  It sells for about $120 on Amazon and includes just about everything Mozart ever wrote.  You can read about Brilliant Classics and their work here.  They have sold over 300,000 sets in Europe alone.  For those who prefer Bach, they also have a complete Bach edition which sells for about $150.  They’ve been working on a complete Haydn edition which might go as far as 230 CDs (!!).  It is amazing how much that man wrote, over one hundred symphonies for a start.

While there will always be stars, labels such as Brilliant and Naxos provide those interested in the music more than the performers a means to explore the vastness of the western classical music heritage without shelling out huge amounts of cash in the process.  Naxos is now making a lot of money from the internet, as they’ve put their entire collection up online where subscribers can download just about anything they want for a monthly fee.  The classical music industry is changing.  Entrepreneurs such as Klaus Heymann and Brilliant’s Pieter van Winkel have taken great advantage of the opportunities.

Because of last week’s influenza closure, I found myself with some time off.  I decided last Thursday to pay a visit to Changdeok Palace.  This palace has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Unfortunately, unlike Gyeongbok Palace, you usually have to take a tour if you want to visit Changdeok Palace.  I am not a fan of tours.  I like to walk around the buildings and sort of experience them for myself. 

Changdeokgung is famous for its beautiful gardens, especially the “secret garden” in the rear of the palace complex.  It blends in with nature very well.  Here we see the main gate, Donhwamun, originally built in 1607.  Once again, we see the typical Korean version of the taegeuk, known in English perhaps as the yin and yang symbol.  Unlike the Chinese version, which is in two halves, the Korean version is in thirds representing heaven, earth, and mankind. 

As is traditional in East Asian palace design, you have to cross a bridge over a stream of water.  The Japanese wreaked great havoc upon Korea’s royal palaces.  Currently, only about 30% of Changdeok Palace remains. 

Changdeok Palace has some surprising aspects.  Unlike Gyeongbok Palace, which resembles the Forbidden City in that everything is laid out in a very orderly fashion, when you enter Changdeok Palace, rather than walking straight to the throne hall, you go through a couple of twists.  You have to pass through a couple of gates before coming to the throne hall.

If you look carefully at the stone pathways, you will notice something unique about them.  They are raised in the centre.  During the Joseon Kingdom and the Great Korean Empire, only the king or emperor could walk on the raised centre.  His officials would walk on either side.  While these strictures are no longer followed today, the palaces have happily retained them as a part of the historic design of the place.

Having passed through the gates, we finally come to the throne hall, Injeongjeon.  This hall is not as big or as impressive as the throne hall in Gyeongbok Palace, but it is still impressive all the same.  It has a couple of unusual features.  If you look at the exterior of the building along the top of the roof, you will see plum blossoms.  This was the imperial symbol during the days of the Great Korean Empire.  The family name of Emperor Gojong was Yi.  The Chinese character 李 for his family name also means “plum”.  The interior of the hall also features chandeliers and some Westernized decorations which seem a bit out of character.  During the reign of Emperor Gojong, or to be more respectful and use his title, the Gwangmu Emperor, modernization and westernization began in earnest.  The emperor developed a passion for coffee, cut his hair in a more Western style (something which just was not done in the old days), and also began to dress in a more Western fashion. 

In the first photo, you might notice what look like minature tombstones.  These indicate where the various ranks of officials are to stand during certain state ceremonials.  As always, the emperor only walked along the middle pathway.

Other imperial symbols which you are likely to frequently encounter in Korea, China, and Japan are phoenixes and dragons.  A pair of phoenixes as a symbol of power is one thing which has lasted to this day in Korea.  The flag of the President of the Republic of Korea is blue.  On it, are a pair of phoenixes.  (He also has a palace guard that dresses in authentic Joseon-style military uniforms for state occasions.)

Dragons are also a very prominent feature of East Asian palace architecture.  On the ceiling over the throne, one always finds a pair of dragons.  The Forbidden City in Beijing has a marvelous display of a river of dragons.

There are all sorts of other buildings within the palace complex.  The royal garage has since been moved to the National Palace Museum.  You used to be able to see the cars of the imperial family at Changdeok Palace.  Hyundai paid for their upkeep.

Following Korea’s resumption of independence, the Crown Prince Eumin and the Crown Princess Bangja were not permitted to return to Korea.   Prince Eumin had married a Japanese princess by the name of Nashimotomiya Masako.  She took the name of Princess Bangja.  The ban on their return to Korea lasted until Park Chung-hee took power.  In the 1960s, Crown Prince Eumin and Crown Princess Bangja returned to Korea where they lived in this rather modest complex of buildings known as Nakseonjae.  Following Prince Eumin’s death, Princess Bangja continued to reside at Nakseonjae until her death in 1989.  Unlike the rest of the palace complex, it is not brightly painted.  Rather, it is in the modest style of a nobleman’s house.  This home was originally built for one of the concubines of one of the kings.  His wife, the queen, lived in the queen’s residence right behind the king’s office.

Like Deoksu Palace, you can see quite a bit of the attempts at modernization and Westernization made during the reign of the Gwangmu Emperor (King Gojong).  Here are some western furnishings used by the emperor and his staff.  The palace did have one of the earliest electric generators in the country.  

This week, we heard the terrible news out of Fort Hood in Texas about the shootings there.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the families. 

Unfortunately, I’ve been through similar experiences as my uncle, whom I looked up to, was killed in a similar fashion in 1995 at Fort Bragg, NC.  As I watched the news reports on KBS at work, I thought that it just had to be a deranged soldier, one not unlike the man who killed my uncle.  I was very, very shocked when I saw that it was an officer and a doctor whose specialty was psychiatry. 

Much more will come out, I’m sure, in the days and weeks ahead.  I only hope that the prosecution handles this case well.  In the case of my uncle, an Army appeals court gave his murderer a new trial because his defense team was denied the right to have a “mitigation specialist”.  Apparently, his defense team had no real prior experience in capital cases so they felt unable to introduce all sorts of mitigating circumstances.  Thankfully, though, my uncle’s murderer did eventually plead guilty and spared my aunt and my cousins, her stepchildren, from having to go through the trial all over again. 

Were it not for quick thinking and action on the part of some soldiers at Fort Hood as well as a police officer in the area, things could have been much, much worse.  You can read about some of the heroes by clicking here.

My thoughts and prayers are very much with the families.  It is a sad and tragic thing.  May those who died, rest in peace.

Requiem aeternam, dona eis Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, et tibi reddetur votum in Ierusalem: exaudi orationem meam, ad te omnis caro veniet.  Requiem aeternam, dona eis Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Rest eternal, grant them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.  A hymn becometh thee, O God, in Zion, and a vow shall be paid unto thee in Jerusalem.  Hear thou my prayer, all flesh shall come unto thee.  Rest eternal, grant them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. 

Traditionally, Buddhist temples were built in rural locations, often on the sides of mountains.  Haeinsa is no exception to this.  Korea is an exquisitely beautiful country, something which is easy to forget admidst the ugliness of the cities. The land which the temple occupies is a part of the Mount Gaya National Park. 

I hadn’t expected find Smokey the Bear in Korea, but here he is!  If you want to see more about Korea’s national parks, please visit the Korea National Park Service website at http://english.knps.go.kr.  

The New York Times recently did a feature on Julie Seltzer, a calligrapher who is working on completing a copy of the Torah, or the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures.  Synagogues generally have what is known as a sefer torah, a hand copied scroll of the first five books of the Bible.  Very few women work as scribes in the Jewish community.  Ms. Seltzer is one of the few.  As the article points out, the process of making a copy of the Torah is quite lengthy and can take nearly a year and a half to complete. 

The article goes into detail about some of the practices involved in making a sefer Torah which you may read by clicking here.

Recently, I paid a visit to Haeinsa, one of Korea’s Three Jewel temples.  The three jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha, the Dharma which is the teaching of the Buddha, and the Sangha which is the community of Buddhists.  Haeinsa is the temple devoted to the Dharma.  It is very famous, owing to the fact that it has one of the greatest treasures of Korean printing, the Tripitaka Koreana.  This collection of the complete Mahayana scriptures is carved in classical Chinese onto woodblocks and dates back to the thirteenth century.  You are still allowed to visit the building which houses these woodblocks, but they are very, very careful with them.  They have since been digitised and put onto CD-ROM.  Additionally, translations have been into modern Korean from them as well.  Haeinsa is also a teaching temple and there were quite a few young monks about.  It is home to one of the Buddhist seminaries for young monks.

Unlike Jogyesa, which I posted photos of quite a while ago, Haeinsa is in an out-of-the way location and it involves a bit of hiking just in order to reach it.  After climbing up hill for about a kilometre or so, you come across the first gate.  Iljimun or the one-pillar gate marks the leaving behind of the secular world and the entrance into the realm of the Buddha.

As you approach the second gate, there is a very interesting historical relic.  According to temple lore, this tree was planted by the founders of Haeinsa in the eighth century.  Nothing of the original buildings remain, as wood buildings are not the most permanent.

Next, one must pass through the four guardians gate.  There are paintings of four scary-looking guardians inside.  As the story goes, these guardians protected the Buddha as he left his father’s house and began his life as a mendicant.

Near the Four Guardians Gate, you find a shrine dedicated to the Mountain Spirit, one of the many gods of Korean shamanism.  Shamanism and Korean Buddhism have had a rather peaceful co-existence.  Shrines to various shamanic deities are common in Korean temple complexes.  However, as Professor Robert Buswell, a former monk in Korea states, the monks never chant in those buildings as they do in the various Buddha and Bodhisattva halls.

Finally, we come to the Nirvana gate which leads to the temple complex proper.  There are thirty-three steps from the one-pillar gate to the temple complex.  The steps are quite steep indeed.

As befits its role as a teaching temple, Haeinsa participates in a programme sponsored by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism known as Templestay.  In this program, interested people can spend a weekend (or longer) living the life of a Korean Buddhist monk or nun.  Also, some laypeople who are undergoing periods of strict practice will sometimes make retreats at the temple for longer periods.  They often dress in the grey hanbok of a monk as well.  Haeinsa is currently building a new Templestay building.  For the roofing, they are going to tile it in the traditional fashion.  A common fundraising technique among temples in Korea is to allow donors to buy a tile on which their name is written.  Temples also make some income by selling lanterns, which are then hung from the ceiling of the main Buddha hall with the names and prayers of the donors.  Korean monks do not beg, as Thai or Cambodian monks do. 

Haeinsa has a large information centre and gift shop.  Sadly, they don’t seem to have much in the way of postcards, so this will have to suffice.

Before the main chanting periods which take place in the very early morning hours and in the afternoon, a monk will play the four percussion instruments in the bellfry.  These are meant to awake all living things to the teaching of the Buddha.  The drum, cloud-shaped gong, bell, and wooden fish are the instruments. 

Finally, we come to the main Buddha hall.  It is decorated with scenes from the Buddha’s life.  Generally, the temples do not want you take photos of the interior, though sometimes permission is granted.  As you can see in this photo, I ended up getting a photo of a young monk.  The younger monks were engaged in some construction work.  However, they still retain their monastic dress. 

As is customary, Buddhist temples in Korea and China tend not to be just one building.  Rather, they are complexes of buildings.  In your larger temples, such as Bulguksa in Gyeongju, you will see all sorts of halls each dedicated to a various Buddha or Bodhisattva.  The little boy in the picture here was earlier very enthusiastically taking part in the bowing and chanting in the main hall. 

Finally, we come to the thing which Haeinsa is best known for, the Tripitaka Pavillion.  While you can visit inside the pavillion, you are not allowed to take any photos.  It is remarkable that these woodblocks have lasted as long as they have.  They date back to the thirteenth century.  This temple is located in South Gyeongsang Province which originally was a part of the Shilla Kingdom.  The Shilla Kingdom was profoundly influenced by Buddhism.  It is therefore no surprise that many of the most important Buddhist temples and monuments are located in the Gyeongsang Provinces.

This year, the city of Seoul unveiled a new monument in honour of King Sejong the Great, the inventor of the Korean alphabet, a true Renaissance man, and Korea’s greatest king.  He truly was a ruler that comes along once in a millenium if you’re lucky.  We probably do not realise how fortunate we have been in America to have some very high quality leaders right from the start.  I do hope that we see them again.

The statue is huge and is appropriately situated on Sejong-ro (Sejong Street) across from the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and close to Gyeongbok Palace, his main residence.  There were also some inventions associated with him out on display such as the rain gauge. 

The statue itself is appropriately huge.  It states 세종대왕 which means King Sejong the Great.

Finally, here is the alphabet as it appeared in the Hunmin Jeongum, or The Correct Sounds for Instructing the People.  For the longest time, the alphabet was used by the elites as a means for teaching their young real reading and writing, which of course in those days was all in classical Chinese.  It seems as if hangeul is winning, given that very few things are written in the mixed script anymore. 

For the most part, this is the same alphabet in use in Korea today.  Four of the letters have since dropped from use, but perhaps they are still in use in Jeju-do.  Jeju-do is an island off the southern coast of Korea.  The people there speak a dialect of Korean which even native speakers of Korean can’t understand and which includes sounds that might have been used in standard Korean in the past.

KORAIL, the government-owned rail corporation, has spent all sorts of money building these massive, architecturally stunning, huge, and most probably costly new train stations.  Yongsan Station, close to the famed Yongsan Electronics Market, is one of these.  The trains departing from here serve mostly the Honam region of Korea which includes Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces. 

KORAIL, while giving pretty good service overall, has had problems which seem to endemic to government run operations.  It was revealed that the fastening devices used for some of the high speed rail lines had not been tested for winter.  It gets cold here.  The thought of one of those trains flying off the track at 300 km/h is terrifying.  I hope they’ve remedied it.  There have also been the usual corruption scandals, union troubles, and so forth.

It is also home to a huge mall, a movie theatre, and more.  I am not sure what they are trying to get out this promotion or what it might mean.  “White love in Lapland”?????   I sometimes wonder if there is a market for native English speakers, or at least for Korean fluent in English, to advise companies on the usage of English in advertising.  Thus, one could avoid such things as “White love in Lapland” and the whole “Mother’s Finger” brand of snacks.

I have been enjoying three days off this week due to concerns over the H1N1 flu virus.  All of the public schools have closed this week.  So have we.  In fact, not many students came in this week.  I will go back to work tomorrow.  We shall see which students bother to come. 

I have been watching this whole thing with some degree of apprehension.  While of course one can’t be too careful, especially with children, this is no time to give into mass hysteria.  And given the protests of last year, there is always a segment of society which is highly suceptible to it.  (They also tend to be the loudest.)

This year, elections were held for the European Parliament.  The huge parliament, which meets sometimes in Brussels and sometimes in Strasbourg, has some fairly interesting characters in it.  The UK Independence Party, made up of people unhappy with the liberal drift of the Conservatives, is very much a Thatcherite party with a healthy dose of Euroscepticism.  The left and centre-left parties suffered greatly during this election.  Spain, which is currently lead by the Socialist Party, saw the centre-right Partido Popular take a majority of Spain’s seats in the EU Parliament.

Interestingly enough, a Swedish single-issue party, the Pirate Party has gained a seat.  The Pirate Party has one major goal, that is to provide for free file sharing all across the internet and to get government oversight of the internet done away with.  You can read more about the Pirate Party here.  A number of far-right, rather than centre-right, parties also won election.  You can read more about them here.