Thursday, July 31st
Who needs coffee?
Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994), Variations on a Theme by Paganini
Martha Argerich & Gabriela Montero, pianos, live
Who needs coffee?
Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994), Variations on a Theme by Paganini
Martha Argerich & Gabriela Montero, pianos, live
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Suite No. 3 in C major for Unaccompanied Cello; Jean-Guihen Queyras (1967-), live, c. 2007
passings
Lorin Maazel (mah-ZELL), conductor, violinist, composer
March 6, 1930-July 13, 2014
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Symphony No. 41 in C major (“Jupiter”), Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia (Lorin Maazel, cond.), live, Spain (A Coruña), 2012
Charlie Haden, Tommy Ramone, Lorin Maazel: their differences are dwarfed by what, as music makers, they shared.
alone
Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major (2nd movt., Andantino), Paul Lewis (1972-), live, Boston, 2013
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lagniappe
reading table
During Wind and Rain
by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)They sing their dearest songs—
He, she, all of them—yea,
Treble and tenor and bass,
And one to play;
With the candles mooning each face. . . .
Ah, no; the years O!
How the sick leaves reel down in throngs!They clear the creeping moss—
Elders and juniors—aye,
Making the pathways neat
And the garden gay;
And they build a shady seat. . . .
Ah, no; the years, the years;
See the white storm-birds wing across!They are blithely breakfasting all—
Men and maidens—yea,
Under the summer tree,
With a glimpse of the bay,
While pet fowl come to the knee. . . .
Ah, no; the years O!
And the rotten rose is ript from the wall.They change to a high new house,
He, she, all of them—aye,
Clocks and carpets and chairs
On the lawn all day,
And brightest things that are theirs. . . .
Ah, no; the years, the years;
Down their carved names the rain-drop ploughs.
alone
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), organ, “Improvisations,” live, Paris
never enough
Same composer, same pianist—23 years earlier.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major (“Hammerklavier”), Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live, Germany (Bonn), 1970
1st & 2nd movements
3rd movement (beginning)
3rd movement (end), 4th movement
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lagniappe
art beat
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), Seville, Spain, 1933
alone
Searching, searching—never finding.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major (Third Movt.), Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live, Japan, 1993
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lagniappe
reading table
Imaginary Number
by Vijay Seshadri (1954-)The mountain that remains when the universe is destroyed
is not big and is not small.
Big and small arecomparative categories, and to what
could the mountain that remains when the universe is destroyed
be compared?Consciousness observes and is appeased.
The soul scrambles across the screes.
The soul,like the square root of minus 1,
is an impossibility that has its uses.
two takes
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), Prelude in C-sharp minor
Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano roll
***
Sun Ra (1914-1993), recording, 1980
**********
lagniappe
found words
Potentially fatal
dangers lurk in
your backyard—AOL
*****
taking a break
I’m taking some time off—back in a while.
No matter where you are, new sounds are just around the corner.
Marcos Balter (1974-), Strohbass (2011), Shanna Gutierrez (bass flute) and Ryan Muncy (baritone saxophone), live, Evanston, Ill., 2011