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Category: classical

2019

Thursday, October 17th

lucid, adj. clear, transparent, luminous. E.g., Víkingur Ólafsson playing Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Aria variata (alla maniera italiana) in A minor; Víkingur Ólafsson (piano), live, Berlin, 2018

 

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

*****

reading table

[B]y the latest count, there are 70 million persons displaced from their homes worldwide.

—J. M. Coetzee, “Australia’s Shame” (review of No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani), New York Review of Books, 9/26/19

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2019

Wednesday, October 9th

sounds of the 14th century

Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377), Messe de Notre Dame (begins at 6:15; preceded by Introit [polyphonic chant]); Ensemble Gilles Binchois, live, France (Le Thoronet Abbey, Provence), published 2011

 

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lagniappe

reading table

Identity is made
of select experiences.

***

If you are genuinely sick,
the leaves recede

and the flickering holes between them
come forward—

not angels, but
unnamed objects

—Rae Armantrout (1947-), from “Vultures” (Poetry, 10/19)

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2019

Tuesday, October 8th

more sounds of Ukraine

Valentin Silvestrov (1937-), Requiem for Larissa (1997-1998, written for the composer’s wife); National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, National Academic Choir of Ukraine, live, Kiev, 2000

In this world of too much, too fast, too loud, something slow and deliberate can seem subversive.

,

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Chicago

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2019

Monday, October 7th

sounds of the 12th century

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), excerpts from O quam mirabilis, O tu suavissima virga, Ave Maria; Hirundo Maris (Arianna Savall, vocals, et al.), live, 2014

 

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lagniappe

random sights

other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)

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2019

Thursday, October 3rd

sounds of Ukraine
day four

How about something quiet, delicate, beautiful?

Valentin Silvestrov (1937-), Post-scriptum (1990); Movses Pogossian (violin), Alexei Lubimov (piano), live, Los Angeles, 2016

 

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lagniappe

reading table

Floating on a Marsh
by Wang Wei (701-61), translated from Chinese by David Young

Autumn
the sky huge and clear
the marsh miles from farms and houses

overjoyed by the cranes
standing around the sandbars

the mountains above the clouds in the distance

this water
utterly still
in the dusk

the white moon overhead

I let my boat drift free tonight
I can’t go home.

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2019

Thursday, September 26th

never enough

This kaleidoscopic collection of miniatures—many lasting less than a minute—I return to again, and again, and again.

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), 24 Preludes, Op. 28; Shura Cherkassky (1909-1995, piano), 1968

 

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lagniappe

reading table

just one
but he goes honking . . .
departing goose

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

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2019

Monday, September 23rd

Why not start the week with something kinetic?

Unsuk Chin (1961-), Gougalōn (Scenes from a Street Theater for Ensemble) (2009-2011); Ensemble Intercontemporain (Duncan Ward, cond.), live, Paris, 2017

 

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

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2019

Tuesday, September 17th

sounds of New York
day two

Sam Pluta (1979-), Broken Symmetries (2011-12); Wet Ink Ensemble (Sam Pluta, electronics; Joshua Modney, violin; Erin Lesser, piccolo; Alex Mincek, tenor saxophone; Eric Wubbels, piano; Ian Antonio, percussion), live, New York, 2016

 

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lagniappe

random sights

other day, Bellwood, Ill.

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2019

Wednesday, September 4th

string quartet festival
day three

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

1st movt.

2nd movt.

3rd movt.

4th movt.

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lagniappe

random sights

this morning, Oak Park, Ill.

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2019

Tuesday, September 3rd

string quartet festival
day two

Elliott Carter (1908-2012), String Quartet No. 5 (1995); Pacifica Quartet, live, Tokyo, 2004

 

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lagniappe

reading table

The book itself is sort of a perfect metaphor for a human being. It’s got a front and a back, it’s got a spine, and it’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

—Chris Ware

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