music clip of the day

jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more

Category: cello

Wednesday, October 1st

Three-word review: Don’t miss this.

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), String Quartet in F major (1903); Hagen Quartet, live, Austria (Salzburg), 2000

1st movt.

2nd movt.

3rd movt.

4th movt.

**********

lagniappe

reading table

Can I get used to it day after day
a little at a time while the tide keeps
coming in faster the waves get bigger
building on each other breaking records
this is not the world that I remember
then comes the day when I open the box
that I remember packing with such care
and there is the face that I had known well
in little pieces staring up at me
it is not mentioned on the front pages
but somewhere far back near the real estate
among the things that happen every day
to someone who now happens to be me
and what can I do and who can tell me
then there is what the doctor comes to say
endless patience will never be enough
the only hope is to be the daylight

—W. S. Merwin, “Living With the News” (New Yorker, 7/28/14)

Monday, September 29th

Why not begin the week with something beautiful?

Claude Debussy (1862-1918), String Quartet in G minor (1893); New England Conservatory Student Quartet (Minchae Kim & Harry Chang, violins; Heejin Chang, viola; Hsiao-Hsuan Huang, cello), live, Boston, 2014


*****

A big birthday shout-out to my son Alex (now twenty-seven), who’s enriched my life, musically and otherwise, more than he could ever know.

Saturday, September 20th

never enough

I could live happily inside a cello.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Suite No. 3 in C major for Unaccompanied Cello; Nathan Chan (1993-), live, San Francisco, 8/17/14

**********

lagniappe

art beat: more from Monday at the Art Institute of Chicago

Josef Koudelka (1938-), Slovakia, 1966 (from Gypsies)
Nationality Doubtful, through tomorrow

h2_1995.362

Wednesday, September 17th

tonight in Chicago

These guys will be at the Hideout, as will I.

Survival Unit III (Joe McPhee, tenor saxophone, pocket trumpet; Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello; Michael Zerang, drums), live, Denmark (Copenhagen), 2013

I could live a thousand years and never tire of going out in the dark to hear music.

**********

lagniappe

art beat: Monday at the Art Institute of Chicago (brief stop after lunch)

Josef Koudelka (1938-), Slovakia, 1963 (from Gypsies)
Nationality Doubtful, through September 21st

PAR65736-660x423

Wednesday, August 20th

Let’s return to New York for another take on piano and string quartet.

Vijay Iyer (piano) and the Brentano String Quartet, from “Time, Place, Action” (V. Iyer), live, New York, 2014


*****

Happy (88th) birthday to my mother, who’s been dead almost two decades. When it comes to longevity, my genes are lousy. But, always, there’s today.

Monday, August 18th

two takes

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), String Quartet No. 10, 3rd movt.

Fabian Almazan Trio with String Quartet, live, New York, 2012


***

Borodin Quartet, recording


**********

lagniappe

random thoughts

If life weren’t so sad, it wouldn’t be life.

Tuesday, August 12th

sounds of Chicago

8 Bold Souls,* live, Poland (Poznan), 2009

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


*****

*Edward Wilkerson Jr., reeds; Mwata Bowden, reeds; Tomeka Reid, cello; Isaiah Jackson, trombone; Gerald Powell, tuba; Robert Griffin, trumpet; Harrison Bankhead, bass; Dushun Mosley, drums.

Thursday, August 7th

4ⁿ

Bela Bartok (1881-1945), String Quartet No. 4 in C major, Quatuor Ebène, live


**********

lagniappe

reading table

Sometimes it feels like a writer is speaking directly to you. Yesterday, before catching a flight to Orlando, then driving sixty miles to this hotel, which I’ll soon be leaving to see a client at a federal prison, I happened upon this.

in and out
of prison they go . . .
baby sparrows

—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827; translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)

Thursday, July 17th

never enough

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Suite No. 3 in C major for Unaccompanied Cello; Jean-Guihen Queyras (1967-), live, c. 2007

 

Wednesday, July 16th

tonight in Chicago

This guy will be playing at the Hideout.

Daniel Levin, cello

With JP Carletti (drums), live, New Haven, Conn., 2013


***

With his trio, live, Jersey City, N.J., 2008


***

Solo, live, New York, 2009