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Category: classical

2020

Wednesday, March 25th

MCOTD Hall of Fame

Morton Feldman (1927-1986, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Rothko Chapel (1971); Markus Creed (cond.), SWR Vokalensemble (Vocal Ensemble), et al., live, Germany (Cathedral of Speyer, Schwetzinger), 2017

 

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lagniappe

art beat: other day, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Henri Matisse (1869-1954), The Red Studio (1911), detail

*****

reading table

Coolness—
the sound of the bell
as it leaves the bell.

—Yosa Buson (1716-1784), translated from Japanese by Robert Hass

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2020

Monday, March 23rd

like nobody else

His sound-world seems just right for these strange times—beautiful and solemn in equal measure.

Arvo Pärt (1935-), Tallinn Chamber Orchestra (Tõnu Kaljuste, cond.), live (Fratres, 1:30-; Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, 13:49-; Adam’s Lament, 22:10-; Salve Regina, 45:40-; Te Deum, 59:30-), Germany (Hamburg), 2/18/20*

 

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

*****

*ECM Records founder/producer Manfred Eicher (1943-), who has long championed Pärt’s music, joins the others onstage at the end.

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2020

Tuesday, March 17th

passings

Charles Wuorinen, composer, June 9, 1938-March 11, 2020

Flying to Kahani (2005); Orchestra of the League of Composers (C. Wuorinen, cond.), live, New York, 2016

 

In 2011, jazz composer Carla Bley called Mr. Wuorinen ‘the greatest composer working.’ And the proudly poly-stylistic composer John Zorn, who has worked in forms ranging from klezmer to punk rock, recently called Mr. Wuorinen ‘a true artist whose intense and uncompromising vision produced work of remarkable beauty and drama.’ ‘He never wrote an insincere note in his life,’ Zorn continued. ‘He was a powerful role model and I loved him dearly.’

—Tim Page, obituary, Washington Post, 3/14/20

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lagniappe

random sights

early yesterday morning, Oak Park, Ill.

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2020

Monday, March 16th

Want to be swept away?

Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915), Etude in D-sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12 (1894); Daniil Trifonov (1991-, piano), live, Berlin, 2019

 

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

*****

reading table

And I Was Alive
by Osip Mandelstam (1891-1938),
translated from Russian by Christian Wiman

And I was alive in the blizzard of the blossoming pear,
Myself I stood in the storm of the bird-cherry tree,
It was all leaflike and star shower, unerring, self-shattering power,
And it was all aimed at me.

What is this dire delight flowering fleeing always earth?
What is being? What is truth?

Blossoms rupture and rapture the air,
All hover and hammer,
Time intensified and time intolerable, sweetness raveling rot.
It is now. It is not.

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2020

Saturday, March 14th

never enough

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor, Violin Partita No. 1 in B minor; Rachel Podger (1968-, violin), live (performance begins at 2:00), London, 11/24/19

 

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lagniappe

art beat: other day, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Claude Monet (1840-1926), Water Lilies (1914-1926), detail

*****

reading table

Playing ball
With the children in this village
Spring day, never let the shadows fall!

—Ryōkan (1758-1831), translated from Japanese by Ryūichi Abé and Peter Haskel

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2020

Thursday, March 5th

never enough

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Nocturne No. 2 in E-flat major; Alfred Cortot (1877-1962, piano), 1929

 

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langiappe

random sights

other day, Oak Park, Ill.

*****

reading table

Error is boundless.
Nor hope nor doubt,
Though both be groundless,
Will average out.

—J. V. Cunningham (1911-1985), from “Meditation on Statistical Method”

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2020

Monday, March 2nd

Why not begin the week with something beautiful?

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

art beat: yesterday, Art Institute of Chicago

Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Untitled (watercolor), c. 1915

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2020

Monday, February 17th

sounds of New York

Why not begin the week with sounds that are enlivening?

Steve Reich (1936-), Double Sextet (2007), Music for 18 Musicians (1974-76); Ensemble Signal (Brad Lubman, cond.), live, New York, 2016

 

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

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2020

Saturday, February 15th

alone

Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), Air for solo flute (1995); John McMurtery (flute), live, 2007

 

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lagniappe

random sights

other day, Oak Park, Ill.

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2020

Thursday, February 13th

never enough

Looking for something to lift your spirits?

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 550; Matthias Havinga (1983-), live, Netherlands (St. Bravo’s Church, Haarlem), 2016

 

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lagniappe

random sights

this morning, Oak Park, Ill.

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