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Category: classical

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, obituaryWashington Post, 3/14/20

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lagniappe

random sights

early yesterday morning, Oak Park, Ill.

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.

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

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”

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.

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2nd movt.

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3rd movt.

***

4th movt.

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lagniappe

art beat: yesterday, Art Institute of Chicago

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

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.

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.

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.

Tuesday, February 11th

How about something different?

Clara Iannotta (1983-), Limun (2011); International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), live, New York, 2016

 

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Chicago

Saturday, February 8th

passings

Peter Serkin, pianist, January 24, 1947-February 1, 2020

Live, Tokyo, 2003: Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), Rain Tree Sketch (1982)

 

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Live, New Jersey (Ridgewood), 2017: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Adagio in B minor, K. 540

 

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Chicago, Ill.

*****

lagniappe

reading table

Even in Kyoto—
hearing the cuckoo’s cry—
I long for Kyoto.

—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Robert Hass