＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
The other day, I happened to be watching NHK BS Premium and saw a rebroadcast of a program called “Wandering Pianist Afanasyev: Playing the Pathos of Things” (originally aired in 2008).
It was a scene in which he was performing Chopin’s well-known “Waltz,” and although I started watching midway through, I was captivated and watched until the end.
1. About Afanasyev
Valery Afanasyev (1947- ) is a Russian-born pianist, poet, and writer.
He is not Japanese, but he belongs to the same “baby boomer” generation as me.
Born in Moscow, he studied under Emil Gilels and Yakov Zagh at the Moscow Conservatory. He won the Leipzig Bach Competition in 1969 and the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels in 1972.
However, he became suspicious of the Soviet Union’s “state-controlled music” situation and decided to defect to the West. After completing a concert tour at the Château de Chimay in Belgium in 1974, he sought political asylum in the West and acquired Belgian citizenship.
2. The Wandering Pianist
Previously based in Versailles, he now lives in the suburbs of Brussels, where he also writes poetry and novels in French. Initially, he lived in Paris, France, enjoying the freedom he had never experienced during his time in the Soviet Union. At the same time, he continued to harbor the pain of having left his homeland.
However, he gradually became disillusioned with the “Western society, where commercialism controls music.” The Western music world constantly promotes new “stars” with flashy advertising slogans. This began to make him feel uneasy. He no longer felt the same “passion for art” in Paris as he had once felt.
3. Playing Mono no Aware
It was during this time that he encountered Japanese classical literature, such as The Tale of Genji. “Mono no Aware,” a concept that resonated with his experience of exile, became a source of inspiration for him.
“Mono no aware” is a concept or emotion uniquely Japanese, characterized by a “deeply moving emotion” and a “pathetic melancholy of the impermanence of things,” but as he got to know Japan, he realized that the emotion of “mono no aware” had always been within him.
When he visited Japan, he performed Franz Schubert’s (1797-1828) final piano sonata, No. 21, at Jisso-in Temple in Kyoto. According to him, this piano sonata well expresses “mono no aware” and “silence.”
He has been called a “prodigy,” a “genius,” and a “contemplative pianist,” but as young star pianists continued to appear and enjoy glamorous commercial success, he became aware that his own skills as a pianist had declined compared to their peak. He gradually became introspective.
In the midst of all this, he also created a musical drama in which he projected himself, inspired by the turbulent second half of Robert Schumann’s (1810-1856) life after he “injured his right hand from practicing piano technique too much.”
4. Afanasiev’s Quotes
The following three quotes from Afanasiev that were introduced in the program made a lasting impression on me. They’re based on my vague recollection, so they may not be accurate.
(1) Nostalgia is the noblest emotion.
(2) Music has rests because music also requires quiet moments of self-reflection.
(3) To move forward in life, we must return to the past many times. However, this does not mean descending, but also ascending into the future.
The last quote, (3), was inspired by the double helix staircase at the Château de Chambord, built in the 16th century 200 km north of Paris. This double helix staircase was designed by Leonardo da Vinci and is designed so that those ascending and descending the stairs never encounter each other.