Last night, at the University of Chicago (Mandel Hall), they opened with this piece, which was followed by Shostakovich (String Quartet No. 4 in D Major), Brahms (String Quartet in A Minor) and, in an encore, Webern (Langsamer Satz). One-word review: spellbinding.
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), String Quartet in D Major, Op. 20, No. 4 (excerpt); Takács Quartet, live, New York, 2018
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
this weekend in Chicago
They’re also playing at the University of Chicago—tomorrow night.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), String Quartet in F major (1903), 1st Mvt.
Takács Quartet, live, New York, 2017
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Six Cello Suites (excerpts); Yo-Yo Ma, live, Washington, D.C., 8/17/18
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lagniappe
random sights
other evening, Chicago (riding the Green Line)
My kind of “genius.”
Vijay Gupta, violinist, educator, social-justice advocate, 2018 MacArthur Fellow, talking and playing
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Filled with music, we’re free of all else.
more
Jürg Frey (1953-), Klavierstück Arrangement Nr. 1-3 (1991); Keiko Shichijo (piano), live, c. 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
On a journey, ill:
my dream goes wandering
over withered fields.—Matsuo Basho, 1644-1694 (translated from Japanese by Yoel Hoffmann; Japanese Death Poems, Yoel Hoffmann, ed.)
Need a break from the incessant noise?
Jürg Frey (1953-), Canones Incerti (2010), Jürg Frey (clarinet), et al., live
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lagniappe
baseball
Baseball is such a perfect game in some ways that it takes 162 to decide nothing.
—Cubs manager Joe Maddon on the Cubs/Brewers tie
otherworldly
This I could listen to all day.
John Cage (1912-1992), Three Dances for Two Prepared Pianos (1944-45); Seba Ali (piano) and Jacqueline Ching-Ling (piano), live, Stony Brook, N.Y., 2015
alone
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Palais de Mari (1986); Jesse Myers (piano), live, Seattle, 2018
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), First Stone (print, artist’s proof), 1961
alone
Brad Mehldau (piano), “Three Pieces After Bach,” live, Paris, 2018
sounds of Iceland
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
Anna Thorvaldsdottir (1977-), Heyr þú oss himnum á (2005); Hljómeyki chamber choir, 2005
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Bellwood, Ill.
