“EQUINOXES” BY TIBERIU OLAH

"Overwhelming dramatic tensions, lyricism going up to the the inner tear, fine humor with a touch of malice, overflowing colourful imagination, all embedded in a whole managed with unrivalled sense of time: a music you cannot pass by, which turns you upside down and brings you closer to the deep meanings of existence" (Olguţa Lupu)[1]. Not unlike grand personalities, Tiberiu Olah understood music on large areas and ample dimensions of time. He thoroughly researched and applied very well the expressive means of popular and classical instruments, as well as those of the human voice, but he especially explored Romanian folk dances and mainly their rhythm, suggestively expressed by the hidden language of modern percussion. The composer creates a world of celestial sonorities where musical time and space are very well outlined. [1] http://www.tiberiuolah.ro

BERCEUSES DU CHAT BY IGOR STRAVINSKY

Berceuses du chat by Igor Stravinsky. Berceuses du chat by Igor Stravinsky for voice and clarinet trio - picollo clarinet, clarinet in A, bass clarinet - is a cycle of four vocal-instrumental miniatures that are part of the Russian period of the composer’s work, being completed in 1915-1916. The timbral balance achieved between the voice and the instrumental ensemble, the lyrical manner of musical expression, the specific rhythmic-melodic typologies of writing, the chromatic versus diatonic dichotomy, the affiliation of the opuses to the comic aesthetic category are characteristics of this series of four micro-art-songs, cradle songs, dedicated to and apparently describing the characteristics of a cat

“SONATA FOR CLARINET SOLO” BY TIBERIU OLAH

. "A man of short stature, but with tremendous force of communicating by means of sounds; modest, but aware of his own value; secluded and slightly detached from the practical aspects of existence, but proving, in everything connected with the art of sounds, an inexhaustible energy and passion, an amazing capacity of observation and synthesis, unparalleled culture and memory as well as extraordinary precision and exigency. Apparently, Olah led an ordinary life, among us; in fact, music permeated his life as an uninterrupted ostinato, to the point of identification with it, in symbiotic communion. His personality takes prominent shape even from his first works: a strong lyrical nucleus, intense dramatism and contaminating kinetic energy " (Olguţa Lupu - March 2010[1]). [1] http://www.tiberiuolah.ro/lucrari.html, visited on December 10, 2011

“SONATA FOR CLARINET SOLO” BY TIBERIU OLAH

. "A man of short stature, but with tremendous force of communicating by means of sounds; modest, but aware of his own value; secluded and slightly detached from the practical aspects of existence, but proving, in everything connected with the art of sounds, an inexhaustible energy and passion, an amazing capacity of observation and synthesis, unparalleled culture and memory as well as extraordinary precision and exigency. Apparently, Olah led an ordinary life, among us; in fact, music permeated his life as an uninterrupted ostinato, to the point of identification with it, in symbiotic communion. His personality takes prominent shape even from his first works: a strong lyrical nucleus, intense dramatism and contaminating kinetic energy " (Olguţa Lupu - March 2010[1]). [1] http://www.tiberiuolah.ro/lucrari.html, visited on December 10, 2011

STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS IN HANS PETER TÜRK'S “SUITE FOR CLARINET SOLO"

The Suite for clarinet solo composed by Hans Peter Türk was written in 1972 and is made up of three parts: Prelude - which is based on a form of sonata (even sonatina, due to its reduced length); Melopoeia - is an Arioso with a three stanza form of the type A B Av in which the predominant interval, also gaining an essential role in structuring the musical discourse, is the major and minor third; and Ostinato – which I consider to be the most complex part from the point of view of composition techniques. It contains two successive musical “moments” in contrast with one another. The score has a rich palette of instrumental colours, unified by a melodious modal-chromatic writing

“EQUINOXES” BY TIBERIU OLAH

"Overwhelming dramatic tensions, lyricism going up to the the inner tear, fine humor with a touch of malice, overflowing colourful imagination, all embedded in a whole managed with unrivalled sense of time: a music you cannot pass by, which turns you upside down and brings you closer to the deep meanings of existence" (Olguţa Lupu)[1]. Not unlike grand personalities, Tiberiu Olah understood music on large areas and ample dimensions of time. He thoroughly researched and applied very well the expressive means of popular and classical instruments, as well as those of the human voice, but he especially explored Romanian folk dances and mainly their rhythm, suggestively expressed by the hidden language of modern percussion. The composer creates a world of celestial sonorities where musical time and space are very well outlined. [1] http://www.tiberiuolah.ro

BERCEUSES DU CHAT BY IGOR STRAVINSKY

Berceuses du chat by Igor Stravinsky. Berceuses du chat by Igor Stravinsky for voice and clarinet trio - picollo clarinet, clarinet in A, bass clarinet - is a cycle of four vocal-instrumental miniatures that are part of the Russian period of the composer’s work, being completed in 1915-1916. The timbral balance achieved between the voice and the instrumental ensemble, the lyrical manner of musical expression, the specific rhythmic-melodic typologies of writing, the chromatic versus diatonic dichotomy, the affiliation of the opuses to the comic aesthetic category are characteristics of this series of four micro-art-songs, cradle songs, dedicated to and apparently describing the characteristics of a cat

Genome-wide analyses identify common variants associated with macular telangiectasia type 2

Idiopathic juxtafoveal retinal telangiectasis type 2 (macular telangiectasia type 2; MacTel) is a rare neurovascular degenerative retinal disease. To identify genetic susceptibility loci for MacTel, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) with 476 cases and 1,733 controls of European ancestry. Genome-wide significant associations (P < 5 × 10−8) were identified at three independent loci (rs73171800 at 5q14.3, P = 7.74 × 10−17; rs715 at 2q34, P = 9.97 × 10−14; rs477992 at 1p12, P = 2.60 × 10−12) and then replicated (P < 0.01) in an independent cohort of 172 cases and 1,134 controls. The 5q14.3 locus is known to associate with variation in retinal vascular diameter, and the 2q34 and 1p12 loci have been implicated in the glycine/serine metabolic pathway. We subsequently found significant differences in blood serum levels of glycine (P = 4.04 × 10−6) and serine (P = 2.48 × 10−4) between MacTel cases and controls

The contribution of astrocytes to the regulation of cerebral blood flow

In order to maintain normal brain function, it is critical that cerebral blood flow (CBF) is matched to neuronal metabolic needs. Accordingly, blood flow is increased to areas where neurons are more active (a response termed functional hyperemia). The tight relationships between neuronal activation, glial cell activity, cerebral energy metabolism, and the cerebral vasculature, known as neurometabolic and neurovascular coupling, underpin functional MRI (fMRI) signals but are incompletely understood. As functional imaging techniques, particularly BOLD fMRI, become more widely used, their utility hinges on our ability to accurately and reliably interpret the findings. A growing body of data demonstrates that astrocytes can serve as a “bridge,” relaying information on the level of neural activity to blood vessels in order to coordinate oxygen and glucose delivery with the energy demands of the tissue. It is widely assumed that calcium-dependent release of vasoactive substances by astrocytes results in arteriole dilation and the increased blood flow which accompanies neuronal activity. However, the signaling molecules responsible for this communication between astrocytes and blood vessels are yet to be definitively confirmed. Indeed, there is controversy over whether activity-induced changes in astrocyte calcium are widespread and fast enough to elicit such functional hyperemia responses. In this review, I will summarize the evidence which has convincingly demonstrated that astrocytes are able to modify the diameter of cerebral arterioles. I will discuss the prevalence, presence, and timing of stimulus-induced astrocyte calcium transients and describe the evidence for and against the role of calcium-dependent formation and release of vasoactive substances by astrocytes. I will also review alternative mechanisms of astrocyte-evoked changes in arteriole diameter and consider the questions which remain to be answered in this exciting area of research