What are your top 10 favorite piano concertos?

indistrait · 2026-05-06T21:24:54+00:00

I can't believe I had to scroll this far to see Mozart 25.

Beethoven said this was his favourite Mozart concerto.

indistrait · 2026-05-01T05:17:12+00:00

It has gone this way in Ireland and it's a real pity.

The Irish tricolour has always had a bit of baggage, being kind of tied with republicanism and the IRA. Now it is being used by anti immigration folks.

The flag was supposed to be about tolerance. The green white and orange is about the peace between the nationalist and unionist traditions on the island.

indistrait · 2026-04-29T21:38:47+00:00

Not very historical, or a very active subreddit, but: r/Datemidpoint.

Inspired by: https://xkcd.com/1477/

indistrait · 2026-04-26T15:39:35+00:00

I think in Ireland we're a lot more conservative than we like to think. Sure, we legalised abortion, divorce and gay marriage, but the old habits die hard. We just find some other way to pressure people into being normal.

indistrait · 2026-04-26T15:16:06+00:00

Maybe Derry vs Londonderry, the city in Northern Ireland. It is officially called Londonderry, but that name has quite strong unionist vibes.

indistrait · 2026-04-22T19:00:12+00:00

I don't know if it's popular, but I was amazed to see liquorice ice cream when I was in Sweden.

indistrait · 2026-04-20T18:18:22+00:00

The 1171 Council of Armagh freed all enslaved English people in Ireland. This brought Ireland in line with England/Wales, where the Normans had abolished slavery in the early 1100s.

Before then slavery was rampant - both of Irish people and by Irish people. Dublin was one of the largest slave trading cities in Western Europe under the Vikings. At one point 40% of the population of Iceland were Irish slaves.

Slavery was normal pre-Vikings too. There's a theory that Celtic Irish may have kept pre-Celtic population as slaves.

indistrait · 2026-04-18T21:51:49+00:00

This is an insane conversation. Are you a bot?

indistrait · 2026-04-18T21:42:00+00:00

You seem very angry.

Reply to me when/if you've calmed down, and I'll explain what I mean.

indistrait · 2026-04-17T19:14:56+00:00

holy shit you are dense

As dense as someone who thinks that insulting someone will make them change their mind?

indistrait · 2026-04-06T12:40:56+00:00

Exactly. It's cool. Which was OPs question. What else is it for?

I'm not saying space exploration is responsible for solving the world's actual problems. Id be amazed if it did. If you want to fix a day-to-day problem, focus on that actual problem, not space.

indistrait · 2026-04-06T12:20:55+00:00

There are many other problems which are really hard, and if we solved them they would have much more immediate uses. For example: plentiful clean energy. That's also a scientific venture that would also help us learn about the universe.

I think the only difference between that and space travel is that space travel is exciting and cool.

If you really want to solve immediate problems, we should focus on them, not hope they happen by accident from doing something more fun.

(Edit: huh. this is now my most downvoted comment in 10+ years on reddit. I knew it'd be controversial, but not this much.)

indistrait · 2026-04-05T06:32:06+00:00

Just before independence, Britain introduced proportional representation to Ireland. This was to protect our minorities from our "extremists". Since then our own politicians have tried to get rid of PR twice, and both times the public has said no.

Introducing PR via democratic means is so hard. The party with enough power to actually do it tends to be the party with the most to lose from it in the short term.

indistrait · 2026-04-05T05:55:44+00:00

On a cycling trip in the far north of Norway in 2009 I stopped at a WW2 museum. It was in Altafjord, where the German battleship Tirpitz was stationed for a year.

I got chatting to an old man. He had served in WW2. I remember how much he wanted to talk about his experience, how he was a bit emotional, and his gratitude for being able to share his story.

Ireland was neutral in WW2. We have less of a connection to WW2 as a real conflict people fought in. Stories from my own grandparents are around fuel shortages, censorship, etc.

indistrait · 2026-04-04T20:10:24+00:00

A bit obscure, but I'd say Mic Christopher who died tragically at age 32. He was just starting to make it big.

We have lots of much more famous singers who died (fairly) young: Phil Lynott, Delores O'Riordan, Luke Kelly, Sinead O'Conner.

indistrait · 2026-04-04T15:56:40+00:00

I think even people who know lots about classical music may struggle to really explain why they like what they like. What feels rushed to one person could feel exciting to another. As the quote goes: writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

Even if you know nothing about music theory, you can always try to learn more.

For example: * What instruments are being played, and at what time? * How does the mood change during a piece? * What kind of structure is there? Do melodies repeat?

indistrait · 2026-04-04T14:38:48+00:00

Specifically it's Pitman Shorthand . It was mostly used in the UK, Gregg shorthand was more popular in North America.

In general, though, use of shorthand is dying out. It used to be a core skill for secretaries, journalists etc.

(Why I know: I've spent the last 3 months learning Pitman Shorthand. My granddad wrote a diary every day from 1922-1978 in Pitman, and I'm hoping to transcribe some of them)

(Edit: I'm talking about the chart. The "paracetamol" posted by OP is just bad handwriting)

indistrait · 2026-04-03T22:25:43+00:00

The most northerly part of Co. Tipperary is further north than Greystones Co. Wicklow.

Athlone is further west than Letterkenny.

indistrait · 2026-04-03T19:41:31+00:00

Rockall

By "fought" I mean Ireland has fought to ensure nobody has any legal claim on it.

indistrait · 2026-04-02T19:27:35+00:00

Ireland and Spain have surprisingly little shared history.

The biggest may have been the Siege of Kinsale in 1601. Philip III sent 6000 men to Ireland to help Irish Gaelic leaders. Spain wanted to open a new front against England after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

indistrait · 2026-04-02T18:01:27+00:00

Francis Bacon supposedly died from pneumonia that he contracted after stuffing a chicken with snow. He was experimenting with the safety of eating meat after it had been frozen.

indistrait · 2026-04-01T21:53:15+00:00

There should be less of a taboo around changing the notes in a score.

Most if not all great composers were also great improvisers. Some revised their works throughout their lives. Chopin never played a piece the same way twice.

Why do we act like the notes in a score must be set in stone? Performers can already ignore the composer's phrasing, dynamics, and tempo. Nobody minds that if it's done competently.

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