Saturday, March 25th
never enough
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor
Daniil Trifonov, live, New York, 2014
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lagniappe
art beat
Robert Frank (1924-), View from Hotel Window—Butte, Montana, 1955/56
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: classical
2017
2017
Thursday, March 16th
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major (“Coronation”); Munich Philharmonic Orchestra with Friedrich Gulda (conducting, piano), live, 1986
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lagniappe
reading table
How I wish I’d been a painter . . . that must really be the best profession—none of this fiddling around with words—there are a couple of Daumiers at the Phillips that make me feel my whole life has been wasted.
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), letter, 1977
2017
Wednesday, March 15th
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Piano Sonatas 9 (D major; K. 311) and 12 (F major; K. 332); Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Rookery Building)
2017
Tuesday, March 14th
never enough
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor; Munich Philharmonic Orchestra with Friedrich Gulda (conducting, piano), live
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lagniappe
random sights
today, Oak Park, Ill.
2017
Monday, March 13th
Saturday night, in Chicago, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, I heard the Spektral Quartet. They performed a single piece, this one, which lasted not one, or two, or three, or four, but five hours. Awash in sounds and silences, I got up out of my metal chair, I looked at my watch, I checked my text messages, my email, not once.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame*), String Quartet No. 2 (excerpt), Flux Quartet, live, 2013
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
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*With saxophonists Von Freeman and Henry Threadgill; trumpeter Lester Bowie; drummer Hamid Drake; gospel singer Dorothy Love Coates; poets John Berryman, William Bronk, and Wislawa Szymborska; and photographer Helen Levitt.
2017
Tuesday, March 7th
can’t wait
Tonight he’s conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra—Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, John Adams’ Scheherazade.2, and this.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), The Rite of Spring (1913); Los Angeles Philharmonic (Esa-Pekka Salonen [1958-], cond.), live, Los Angeles
2017
Saturday, March 4th
never enough
This took my breath away—more than once.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Violin Concerto; Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (Philippe Herreweghe, cond.) with Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), live, 2014
2017
Saturday, February 25th
A handful of pieces I never tire of, no matter how many times I hear them. This is one.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987; MCOTD Hall of Fame), For Bunita Marcus (1985); Stephen Drury (piano), live, Boston, 2016
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Jasper Johns (1930-), In Memory of My Feelings—Frank O’Hara, 1961
2017
Wednesday, February 22nd
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Miranda Cuckson, violin; Michael Hersch (1971-), Fourteen Pieces for unaccompanied violin, excerpt; live, 2009
2017
Monday, February 20th
Yesterday, in Chicago, at the Art Institute, I heard this woman play the violin. She played for well over an hour, by herself, without intermission. She performed seven pieces: the earliest, by Pierre Boulez (Anthèmes 1), was composed in 1992; the latest, by Steve Lehman (En Soi), this year. When a performer surrenders to the music wholeheartedly, she invites you, the listener, to do the same. And I did, gratefully.
Miranda Cuckson, violin
Ralph Shapey (1921-2002), Etchings (1945; excerpt), 2009
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Playing and talking, 2015
music clip of the day 