Think you’ve heard it all?
How about a septet with six string players and a drummer?
Tomeka Reid Septet,* “Tokens” (T. Reid), New York, 2017
*TR, cello, composition; Christopher Hoffman, cello; Mazz Swift, violin; Sarah Bernstein, violin; Jason Kao Hwang, viola; Adam Hopkins, bass; Tomas Fujiwara, drums, percussion.
trumpet festival
day one
Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die (JB, trumpet; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Ajemian, bass; Chad Taylor, drums), live, Toronto, 5/6/17
“theme 1,” “. . . meanwhile,” “theme 2”
***
“theme nothing”
tomorrow night
They’re playing at the University of Chicago—Bartok and Ligeti.
Wolfgang Rihm (1952-), String Quartet No. 13
Arditti Quartet, live, London, 2012
what’s new
Danish String Quartet, “Shine You No More” (R. T. Sørensen), Last Leaf (2017)
more
Kaija Saariaho (1952-), Petals (1988; cello and electronics); Imke Frank (cello) and Gary Berger (live electronics), live, Switzerland (Winterthur), 2011
This piece, in over forty years of listening, has never—not once—let me down. And this performance, which I encountered last night, is among the strongest I’ve heard.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Suite No. 5 in C minor for Unaccompanied Cello
Mischa Maisky, live, 1991
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lagniappe
reading table
Unable are the Loved to die
For Love is Immortality,
Nay, it is Deity –Unable they that love – to die
For Love reforms Vitality
Into Divinity.—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), 951 (Franklin)
tonight in Chicago
He’s singing in Millenium Park.
Youssou N’Dour, “Lang,” live
*****
And they’re playing at Elastic.
Daniel Levin (cello) & Tim Daisy (drums), live, Bloomington, Ind., 2015
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lagniappe
reading table
The least misfortune can do to make up for itself is to be interesting.
—Michael Kinsley, Old Age: A Beginner’s Guide
Want to be swept away?
Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Cello Concerto in A minor; Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra with Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), live, Amsertdam, 2016
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Lewis Wickes Hine (1874-1940), Fresh Air for the Baby, New York East Side, c. 1910
old instruments, new sounds
Daniel Levin (cello), Mat Maneri (viola), live, Norway (Oslo), 2017
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday, Art Institute of Chicago
Robert Frank (1924-), US 285, New Mexico, 1955 (The Photographer’s Curator: Hugh Edwards at the Art Institute of Chicago, through October 29th)
like nobody else
Anthony Braxton Accelerator Ghost Trance Septet (AB, reeds, composition; Taylor Ho Bynum, trumpet, flugelhorn; Jessica Pavone, viola; Chris Dahlberg, bass, cello; Mary Halvorson, guitar; Jay Rozen, tuba; Aaron Siegel, drums, percussion, vibraphone), live, Spain (San Sebastian), 2008
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, outside Chicago (Forest Park)
*****
random thoughts
Aging criminal-defense lawyer’s retirement plan: drop dead at my desk.
music clip of the day 