Ieri ho comprato uno dei pochissimi CD degli ultimi mesi. Sting - "Songs from the Labyrinth" - Deutsche Gramophon. Sting per la DG? Ya, ya! E' stupendo!
Ho avuto una fulminazione quando alla radio ho sentito "Sting canta le canzoni di John Dowland". Dowland? Ma chi, quello la cui reincarnazione mi rammaricavo di non essere quando ansimavo sui suoi pezzi più di 20 anni fa? Ma chi, Dowland, il contemporaneo di Shakespeare? Dowland quello sulla cui biografia e opere ho comprato un librone letto forse per il 25%? Sì sì, proprio lui.
Non mi sono ancora letta le note di copertina ben bene, ma pare che Sting sia stato stregato dalla sua musica e dalle sue canzoni, ancora per tanti versi (ah ah che bel gioco di parole) meravigliosamente moderne.
Il disco è per soli liuto e voce, quindi niente arrangiamenti moderni che potrebbero far storcere il naso ai puristi. Sting non ha una voce da tenore classico, non è impostato come il cantante de La Rossignol, però lo trovo comunque credibile.
E' sempre un'emozione quando pezzi della mia gioventù (gli aspetti belli) riappaiono. Devo telefonare a William, che mi sopportava quando tentavo inutilmente di dare una parvenza di decenza a Fantasia (che è proprio difficile eh!).
Stamane ne ho consigliato l'acquisto a due alunni di seconda C che amano la musica classica. Chissà, magari anche questa operazione di Sting potrebbe avvicinare qualche animo rockettaro alla musica rinascimentale... (e non ci vedrei in effetti nessuna contraddizione).

Riporto pari pari come ricevuto (con giusto quel due anni di ritardo...)

www.webmd.com/content/article/95/103242.htm
Being Bilingual Boosts Brain Power
Second Language Brain Benefits Start in Childhood, Study Shows By Miranda Hitti WebMD Medical News
Oct. 13, 2004 -- People who are bilingual have an advantage over the rest of us, and not just in terms of communication skills. The bilingual brain develops more densely, giving it an advantage in various abilities and
skills, according to new research.
Researchers Andrea Mechelli of London's Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience and colleagues, including experts from the Fondazione Santa Lucia in Rome, looked at brain densities of bilingual people.
First, they recruited 25 people who speak one language, 25 who learned a second European language before age 5, and 33 who became bilingual between ages 10 and 15.
All the participants spoke English as their primary language. Those who had learned a second language later in life had practiced it regularly for at least five years.
Bilingual Brains Do Better
The brain has two types of tissue visible to the naked eye, termed gray and white matter. Gray matter makes up the bulk of nerve cells within the brain.
Studies have shown an association with gray matter density (or volume and intellect), especially in areas of language, memory, and attention.
Brain imaging showed that bilingual speakers had denser gray matter compared with monolingual participants.
The difference was especially significant in the brain's left side -- an area known to control language and communication skills. The right hemisphere of bilingual speakers also showed a similar trend.
The researchers say that although language is thought to be mediated by functional changes in the brain, they show that being bilingual structurally changes the brain. Their study shows the effect was strongest in people who
had learned a second language before age 5.
In a second test, the researchers studied 22 native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between ages 2 and 34.
Those who had learned English at a young age had greater proficiency in reading, writing, talking, and understanding English speech.
As in the first test, increases in gray matter density in the brain's left region were linked to age at which a person became bilingual. The earliest second language learners had the densest gray matter in that part of the brain.
Of course, while it might seem easier to pick up a second language as a child, it's still possible to do so as an adult.
"Our findings suggest that the structure of the human brain is altered by the experience of acquiring a second language," write the researchers in the October issue of the journal Nature."