Saturday, January 26th
timeless
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Prelude in C-sharp minor (Op. 45); Alfred Cortot (1877-1962), piano, 1949
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lagniappe
random sights
today, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: classical
2019
Thursday, January 24th
This I could listen to all day.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Palais de Mari (1986); Blair McMillen (piano) and Ryan Olivier (video processing), live, Philadelphia, 2014
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
My obsession with surface is the subject of my music. In that sense, my compositions are really not ‘compositions’ at all. One might call them time canvases in which I more or less prime the canvas with an overall hue of the music.
—Morton Feldman, “Between Categories” (Give My Regards to Eighth Street)
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random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Saturday, January 19th
what’s new
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, excerpt (Prelude); Yo-Yo Ma (cello), 1/14/19
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Thursday, January 17th
alone
Kim Kashkashian (viola), “character pieces” by György Kurtág (1926-), live, Cambridge, Mass., 2018
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lagniappe
reading table
the sound of the moat
cracking . . .
winter moon—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
2019
Saturday, January 12th
This I could listen to all day.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), For Philip Guston (1984); Claire Chase (flute, alto flute, piccolo), Steven Schick (percussion), Sarah Rothenberg (piano, celesta), live, Houston (Rothko Chapel), 2013
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lagniappe
random sights
today, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Tuesday, January 8th
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Cello Suite No. 1 in G major; Lucia Swarts (cello), live, Netherlands (Amsterdam), 2014
2019
Thursday, January 3rd
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Cello Suite No. 6 in D major; Sergey Malov (violoncello de spalla), live, Netherlands (Amsterdam), 2016
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lagniappe
reading table
from the hole
in the moneybox . . .
a katydid—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
2019
Tuesday, January 1st
2019?
Hard to believe.
But then so much is.
Arvo Pärt (1935-), Fratres for violin, string orchestra, and percussion (1992); Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra (Sergej Krylov, soloist and conductor), live, Lithuania (Vilnius), 2018
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lagniappe
reading table
New Year’s morning—
everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
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The Future is exactly the same . . .
—The Baffler, Jan.-Feb., 2019
2018
Monday, December 31st
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor; Steuart Pincombe (cello), live, Netherlands (Amsterdam), 2018
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lagniappe
radio
WKCR’s Bach Festival, which began the day before Christmas, concludes at midnight.
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random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2018
Thursday, December 27th
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin; Bella Hristova (violin)
first four movements, live (studio), Boston, 2012
fifth movement (Chaconne), live, Philadelphia, 2013
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lagniappe
radio
WKCR’s Bach Festival (until midnight New Year’s Eve)
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musical thoughts
On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind.
—Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), on Bach’s Chaconne, in a letter to Clara Schumann (translated from German)
music clip of the day 