Complex? Yes. But its complexity is matched by its clarity. It breathes.
Milton Babbitt (1916-2011), Composition for Twelve Instruments (1948, rev. 1954): Ensemble conducted by Ralph Shapey (1921-2002), 1962
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
serendipity
What a joy, last night, to bump into this.
Perfect? No.
Exhilarating? Yes.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Suite No. 5 in C minor for Unaccompanied Cello: Isabelle Nichols (cello), live, Houston (Rice University), 2022
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
Rarely does a musician take your breath away so quietly.
Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950, piano), 1947: Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Nocturne No. 8 in D-flat major (Op. 27, No. 2)
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Claude Monet (1840-1926), Irises (1914-17), detail
more
Glenn Gould (1932-1982, piano), live (TV show [CBC]), 1975: Alban Berg (1885-1935), Piano Sonata (Op. 1), c. 1910
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), Checkered Tablecloth (1939), detail
like nobody else
Glenn Gould (1932-1982, piano), live (studio [CBC broadcast]), 1955: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Fifteen Three-Part Inventions
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
Beautiful, delicate, ever-changing: what better way to begin the week?
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), 24 Preludes (Op. 28): Maria João Pires (piano), live, Portugal (Évora), 1987
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Partita No. 1 in B-flat major: Maria João Pires (piano), live, Portugal (Évora), 1987
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
kaleidoscopic clarity
Brian Ferneyhough (1943-), Contraccolpi (2015): Talea Ensemble (James Baker, cond.), live, New York, 2016
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
(Taking a day off.)
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), The Musical Offering: Le Concert des Nations (Jordi Savall, cond.), published 2018
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lagniappe
reading table
Clarity, clarity, surely clarity is the most beautiful / thing in the world
—George Oppen (1908-1984), from “Route”
never enough
What better way to begin the week?
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Fifteen Three-Part Inventions: Boris Giltburg (1984-, piano), 2020
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday, Smart Museum (University of Chicago)
Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Concetto Spaziale, Attese (Spatial Concept, Expectations [1960]), detail
music clip of the day 