It seems that I have lost my ability to work. It is as though there is no more motivation that drives me forward.
Right now I am listening to Glinka piano music. The musical pieces are simple and very Russian. Rachmaninoff once quoted Tchaikovsky saying:
Glinka is like an acorn from which all of Russian music has sprung up.
I need to get back to taking pleasure from simple things. Simple things like the short polka for children composed by Glinka (listen here, here, or here). Listening to full-blown Rachmaninoff piano concertos has spoiled me to some extent. After I have heard them for more than a dozen of times, I started to feel like I have reached and glimpsed the top most level of perfection. As if I have reached the end. There is nothing more.
But this is wrong on so many levels. Life is infinitely more complex than the Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano concerto. I must return to the basics. Simple, elegant, music pieces.
This philosophy of simplicity can then be transferred from music to the rest of my life.