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I was going through my messy ‘Desktop’ and found my speech note that I used on 1st May 2014 @ Macquarie University.

One day you will face the moment when you must make a choice – One path that leads to your success and prosperity at the cost of others; and one path that leads to success and prosperity of others at the cost of your own (aka sacrifice).

One day someone might ask you to do something which is completely illegal, but will give you a substantial return.

One day you have no choice but to do what your boss says, because your job will be on the line if you fail to comply, despite the fact that you know what he asks of you is morally wrong.

The purpose of sharing the BPO, how it is perceived in general, and the dark side of corporate social responsibility today with you is

– To simulate fear;
– Fear in the face of certain unavoidable outcomes; and
– To accept that consequence, and maintain control of yourself and make the right decision that leads to success and prosperity of others.

This is the quality expected in every Macquarie University graduate like yourself, and I believe that you must have that quality.

Good luck to you all and thank you very much for listening.

After (voluntarily) surrendering my car space for work in early February 2014 I have been using public transport to commute to work since then. It spend about 45 minutes to travel between home and work and I utilize the time to listen to a symphony or a concerto per day.

A few days ago there was an accident on the bus. I was listening to Dvorak Cello Concerto and I saw a woman who was doing a makeup and using her mobile phone simultaneously while she was standing. Two ideas immediately came to my head – women can really multitask and never underestimate the power of makeup.

The moment of diverting my focus to Pierre Fournier’s play , I heard something – the multitasking woman fell because she was not holding the handle properly. Assuming that she is an ordinary person with an average intelligence, she would have been embarrassed because of her own fault. However, she started accusing the bus driver explicitly as the source of the embarrassment and endlessly expressing a series of impulsive comments to discrediting the bus driver.

Under normal circumstances I would have intervened but I was mellowed by the music hence I decided to stay away from it and let someone restore the peace. Soon an old man stood up and said in a very unrelenting and assertive manner – “Lady, I understand that you are upset. However, this is a public bus full of civilized people. With all due respect, there are the handles to grab but no cage for farm animals available that prevents from falling on this bus.” She said no more afterwards.

“The ability to control our impulses helps distinguish us from animals and represents our psychological maturity” – I am pretty sure my mother told this me when I was young.

and he can cook, he can sing, he can play guitar well, he is good at soccer, his parents are rich (and the boasting continues on endlessly).

Here is my usual (and sarcastic yet but very realistic and pragmatic) counter-argument, which seems effective RE: ceasing a conversation in rather an abrupt manner (and also prevents the party to re-engage any further conversation in near future).

I almost forgot what my counter-argument is here – ‘While I understand he has many talents but unless they can be utilized to generate a steady income stream, these talents are no use in the world of capitalism. On top of it, graduating from a medical school may appear as an exclusive privilege to give your fiance a head start but unfortunately her assumption is completely wrong. I will explain why.

Doctors, lawyers, bankers no longer recognize as a symbolic figure of success, job security, and high social class any more or perhaps not as much as once it was. Marrying a doctor was like marrying a prince and this was true and applicable to baby-boomers generation but not any more. Why? Because doctors are no longer rare – perhaps they are currently in the status of ‘over-supplied’.

Doctors and hospitals are correlated in a positive linear fashion. More hospitals means more patients hence more doctors. In order to create more jobs for new young graduate doctors, having more patients and either increasing the capacity of current hospitals or build new hospitals. Alternatively you will need to have your own medical practice but this option is not available to every graduate doctor.

Fortunately I get to meet with different people in different industries, including the young doctors who are struggling to establish their career path. Almost all of them shares one common problem – there are too many doctors hence the competition is fierce. Some of them have taken a decisive action for own survival by forming a group and opening a medical centre. It is true that opening a medical centre would be a commercially sensible decision but unfortunately this option is subject to your (or your parents) financial constraint.

What now happens to those young talented doctors who are less fortunate than others? Some may form an alliance and look for an investor who can open a clinic for them and split the earnings. Under this scenario the investors have a substantial bargaining power which allows him to ‘adjust’ the split in rather unfair fashion – a typical ratio is 7 (for the owner) : 3 (for the doctor). Does this sound like a modern version of master & slave agreement, doesn’t it?

Now I am about to share a story of a young doctor who has no power to select neither of the above options. I have seen his academic transcript and it is flawless. I have known him long enough to make a reasonable assessment on his integrity and dignity. He does have a genuine sincerity and care for the well-being of patients. What’s missing here is $$$.

Talking to me was more of a ranting session for him – how unfair the world is and how he has been constrained by it. To me personally at least he temporarily has lost an ability to expand his horizon to explore undiscovered (or not yet penetrated) territory (market) – mobile doctor aka home visiting.

As a being a father of 3, I understand the pain of taking children to a medical centre for an immunization. Excluding the very first immunization given for Hepatitis B at the time of birth, a mother needs to take a child at least 6 times for the mandatory immunization. Visiting a doctor 6 times over 4 years does not seem too bad but if you ever raise a child, I am sure that you have visited the emergency unit of a local hospital at least once or twice due to high fever, and waited at least for a couple hours. Having a home visiting doctor would eliminate this massive inconvenience.

I told the young doctor to do some search on the demographic characteristics of his area, especially the number of families with young children. I told him that inexperienced and worrying mothers would be the perfect customer base for his new venture. Just imagine you have a doctor who can visit your home at the time you want and provide a good care of your children as well as elderly citizen who requires periodic medical attention – wouldn’t it be lovely? If the revenue per head per visit is $60 and you have at least 35 patients to visit near your area per week, you could earn just little over $100K per annum. Perhaps you may hold the view that it is not much for a doctor but being free from paying a rent and signing up for an unfair contract to become a salary-paid doctor, I thought home visiting would be worth to try.

Chopin Polonaise in A major, Op. 40, No. 1, ‘Military’
Chopin (1810-1849) composed almost exclusively for piano. Chopin’s waltzes, mazurkas, and polonaises were often composed for his students and dedicated to them when published. All are extremely idiomatic for piano in their figuration and fingerings. The waltzes and mazurkas, although only moderately difficult, show off an amateur’s ability through brilliant passage work and expression of a mood. Part of Chopin’s genius was finding ways to write music that even players of limited skill could perform with satisfaction and feelings of accomplishment. His waltzes evoke the ballrooms of Vienna, but his mazurkas and polonaises are suffused with the spirit of Poland. Polonaises are dances in ¾ meter often marked by a rhythmic figure of an eighth and two sixteenths on the first beat. Chopin’s go beyond the stylized polonaise of Bach’s time to assert a vigorous, at times militaristic, national identity. Polskie Radio broadcasted this piece daily as nationalistic protest, and to rally the Polish people during the German invasion of Poland in September 1939.

Saint-Saens ‘The Carnival of the Animals’
Saint-Saens (1835-1921) was born in Paris. His father died three months after his birth and he was raised by his mother with the assistance of her aunt who found that Saint-Saens possess perfect pitch when he was only 2 years old and his first composition piece was published at the age 4. He composed The Carnival of the Animals while on holiday in a small village in Austria. The piece was written for a symphony orchestra and consists of 14 different movements that innovatively use sounds created by instruments to imitate the sounds of different animals. Saint-Saens actually forbade the release of the full score to perform in public because he feared that his reputation as a serious composer would be tarnished because the music was too frivolous. 30 years later after his death, it was performed in February 1922 and it has since become one of his most popular works.

Paolo Canonica Polka Concertata, Op. 190
Canonica was composer and music professor at the College Longoni in Milan, Italy. He was born in February 1846 and died in December 1902. He published many original pieces and transcriptions for piano with motive adapted from high quality theatrical works that were very much in fashion at that time. Polka Concertata is performed by 16 pianists on 2 pianos and it is often performed at the opening of a concert as a musical jest to creative an invigorating and comical atmosphere.

Beethoven Egmont Overture, Op. 84
Beethoven (1770-1827) was aware of Enlightenment ideals; absorbed the music of Haydn and Mozart; observed the French Revolution from a distance; idealized and then was disillusioned by Napoleon Bonaparte whom Beethoven admired until learning of his concealed imperialism; and lived his last dozen years under political repression. In his youth a promising piano virtuoso and composer, he was forced to cease performing because of deafness and became the first musician to make a living almost exclusively through composition. Between 1802 and 1812, it is commonly known as Beethoven’s ‘heroic’ period. Egmont Overture was composed towards the end of this time along with his famous 5th Symphony ‘Fate’ and 3rd Symphony ‘Eroica’. Egmont Overture evokes Beethoven’s hero ideal – gallant, fearless, honourable leader with uncompromising integrity and dignity, who upholds the value of utilitarianism and liberty. Thunderous timpani, unrelenting driving rhythms, and triumphantly shinning brass represent Egmont’s heroic glory and heroic martyrdom – the Flemish general Lamoral, Count of Egmont bravely fought for the freedom of Netherland and his death was not in vain.

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) took less than 7 weeks to compose his first piano concerto in 1874. He showed his work to Nikolai Rubinstein – an exceptionally gifted pianist by all accounts. However, Tchaikovsky was devastated by Rubinstein’s comments – only a few pages could be salvaged and the remainder should be discarded; primitive melodic invention; lack in piano virtuosity; piano textures are lost beneath the overpowering orchestration; and technically impossible to play. Tchaikovsky wrote a letter to his sponsor whom he never met, a wealthy and mysterious widow, Nadezhda von Meck – “The work will be published as it exactly stands” and he was true to his word. About a year later the dedicatee of the piano concerto, Hans von Bulow, performed Tchaikovsky’s 1st piano concerto in Boston, Massachusetts, and received standing ovation from the crowd and endless curtain calls. Rubinstein soon recanted his position and became an ardent champion of the work. Perhaps the cause of Rubinstein’s impulsive comments was his tempestuous personality and jealousy but it was not repugnant enough to have the defiant young composer’s spirit compromised.

쇼팽 폴로네이즈 가장조 작품번호 40번의 1번 ‘Military’
가곡의 왕은 슈베르트, 교향곡의 대가는 베토벤, 실내악의 대가를 하이든이라고 한다면 쇼팽은 피아노의 시인이라고 한다. 폴로네이즈는 3/4박자의 행진무도곡인데, 대체로 기사풍의 화려하고 장려한 성질을 갖고 있다. 마주르카와 함께 폴란드의 대표적인 무곡으로 널리 알려진 폴로네이즈는 행진조의 궁정무곡으로 완성했는데, 무도로서의 전성시대는 쇼팽 출생전에 이미 사라지기 시작했다. 그래서 쇼팽은 폴로네이즈에 대해 연구를 했고 무곡형식에서 새로운 감각과 감정을 담았으며 용장한 애국적 정열을 담아 독창적인 폴로네이즈 17곡을 작곡했다.

생상스 동물의 사육제
카미유 생상스는 1835년 10월 파리에서 태어나 4살 때에는 이미 베토벤 바이올린 소나타의 피아노 파트를 능숙하게 연주했다고 한다. 13살에 파리 음악원에 들어가 작곡을 시작했고 모짜르트의 재현이라고 구가 되었던 신동으로서 많은 사람들을 놀라게 했다. 그는 동시에 시인이었고, 화가였고, 천문학자, 철학자이기도 했으며 한때 교회의 오르간 연주자로서 오랫동안 활동했다. 1886년 2월에 작곡된 ‘동물의 사육제’는 모짜르트의 고향인 오스트리아의 잘츠부르크에서 개최된 사육제의 음악회에서 연주하기 위해 작곡 되었고,생상스는 매년 2월 하순경에 열리는 흥겨운 축제에서 이 곡에 대한 영감을 얻었다고 한다. 이 곡은 기지와 해학이 넘치는 14곡의 소품으로 구성되어 있으며 각각의 부제는 사자 왕의 행진, 수탉과 암탉, 당나귀, 거북이, 코끼리, 캥거루, 수족관, 귀가 긴 사람, 뻐꾸기, 큰 새장, 피아니스트, 화석 , 백조 그리고 피날레로 되어 있다.

카노니카 폴카 콘체르타트
1846년 이탈리아의 밀란에서 출생한 카노니카는 우리에겐 비교적 생소한 작곡가이다. 원래 폴카는 1830년경 체코의 보헤미아 지방에서 시작된 민속춤곡이며 빠른 2박자 리듬을 특징으로 하는 이 춤곡은 금세 전 유럽으로 퍼져 나가 왈츠와 더불어 살롱음악의 대표주자로 각광 받으며 19세기 말까지 유행했다. 카노니카의 폴카 콘체르타트는 2대의 피아노를 16명의 연주자가 동시에 연주하면서 연주자간의 절묘한 호흡과 정교한 박자감을 요구하는 앙증맞으면서 밝은 곡으로써 피아노 연주회를 시작하기전 오프닝때 자주 연주 된다.

베토벤 에그몬트 서곡 작품번호 84번
독일의 으뜸 시인이라고 일컬는 괴테의 5막 비극 ‘에그몬트’의 서곡 – 1810년 6월 15일 비엔나 궁정극장에서 초연 되었고 베토벤이 직접 지휘했다. 16세기의 실제인물이었던 네델런드의 에그몬트 백작 이야기는 정의파의 악성 베토벤에게는 매우 공감이 가는 테마이기 때문에 에그몬트 서곡은 베토벤의 ‘코리올란 서곡’과는 달리 비극적이지 않고 기백이 넘친 비장함을 담아 많은 클래식 애호가들에게 사랑을 받고 있는 곡이다.

괴테가 39살이 되던 해에 완성된 에그몬트의 줄거리는 이렇다. 네델란드의 백작 에그몬트는 조국을 스페인 왕의 학정에서 건지려고 궐기했다가 실패로 돌아가서 사형 선고를 받는다. 그의 연인 클레르헨은 에그몬트를 구출하려다가 실패하고 자살한다. 그러나 옥에 같혀 있는 에그몬트 앞에 그녀는 자유의 여신으로 나타나서 월계관으로 애국투사 에그몬트의 영광스러운 죽음을 축복한다. 고뇌에 싸였던 에그몬트는 마침내 죽음을 승리로 받아 들이며 단두대에 용감히 오른다.

이곡의 서주부는 스페인의 압제하에 압박 받는 네델런드 민중의 괴로움, 중심부는 반항하는 민중의 소리와 긍정의 정신과 자유를 위한 그들의 투쟁, 그리고 종결부는 그들의 필연적인 승리를 상징한다.

차이코프스키 피아노 협주곡 1번 내림 나단조 작품번호 23번
2008년 MBC에서 방송한 ‘베토벤 바이러스’에 젊은 지휘자 강건우가 스승인 강마에에게 반항하기 위해 선곡한 차이코프스키 피아노 협주곡 1번 – 1874년 늦가을에 시작해서 이듬해 2월에 완성을 본 차이코프스키의 35세 때의 이 작품은 당초에 러시아 최고의 피아니스트로 꼽히는 니콜라이 루빈슈타인에게 들려 주고 그 의견을 물었고, 그간의 사정을 차이코프스키는 그의 후원자였던 폰 메크 부인에게 이렇게 알렸다.

“내가 제 1악장을 연주했으나 루빈슈타인은 아무 말도 없었습니다. 불유쾌한 침묵이 흐르는 가운데 나는 끝까지 연주해 버린 뒤에 어떠냐고 그에게 물었습니다. 그는 이곡은 가치가 없고 절대로 연주가 불가능하며, 작곡 자체도 서툴러서 들을 만한 곳은 2-3장 정도라고 말했고, 난 대꾸도 하지 않고 2층으로 올라가 버리고 말았습니다. 조금 있다가 루빈슈타인이 올라와서 그대로는 연주 불가능이나 자기가 지적한 곳을 고쳐 주면 연주하겠다고 했지만 나는 음부 하나라도 정정은 안 할 것이며 이대로 인쇄 하겠다고 했습니다.”

차이코프스키의 첫 피아노 협주곡은 장중한 악상, 색채적인 관현악법, 러시아적인 테마와 정서가 전곡에 넘쳐서 훌륭한 내용이지만, 솔로 피아노는 연주에 힘든 복음과 화음, 옥타브의 연속으로 결과적으로는 무겁고 둔중하며 화려한 기교의 과시가 없는 것 때문에 러시아의 리스트 (Liszt)라고 불리던 루빈슈타인은 연주를 꺼려 했던 것이다.

결국 차이코프스키의 첫 피아노 협주곡은 대지휘자요, 명 피아니스트이기도 했던 한스 폰 뷰로에게 헌정 되었고, 그가 미국 연주여행 때 보스톤에서 초연했으며 박수 갈채를 받고, 나중엔 루빈슈타인이도 이 협주곡을 프랑스 파리에서 연주하여 격찬을 받았으며 그는 이런 말을 남겼다 – “작품이 예술적으로 훌륭한 것이면 연주의 곤란함을 극복하는 것은 연주자의 몫이다.”