passings
Larry Lujack, disc jockey, June 6, 1940-December 18, 2013
Live, WCFL-AM (Chicago), 12/23/72 (not ’73)
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lagniappe
Christmas, 1936
Fats Waller, “Swingin’ Them Jingle Bells” (1936)
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random thoughts
Sometimes I feel like a TV that works only on certain channels.
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach, Goldberg Variations (excerpts); Glenn Gould (piano), live, 1964
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lagniappe
radio: Bach Festival 2013
If, like me, you can’t get enough Bach, you’re in luck. Tonight through New Year’s Eve, it’s all Bach all the time at WKCR-FM (Columbia University).
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reading table
One, seven, three, five—
Nothing to rely on in this or any world;
Nighttime falls and the water is flooded with moonlight.
Here in the Dragon’s jaws:
Many exquisite jewels.—Setcho Juken (980-1052)
Something beautiful to begin the week.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, excerpt (2nd movt., Adagio); Hélène Grimaud (piano), Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
It is music and dancing that makes me at peace with the world and at peace with myself.
—Nelson Mandela (July 18, 1918-December 5, 2013)
passings
Jim Hall, guitarist, December 4, 1930-December 10, 2013
With Joe Lovano (tenor saxophone), “In a Sentimental Mood” (D. Ellington), live, Italy (Umbria Jazz Festival), 1996
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With Bill Evans (piano), Undercurrent (“My Funny Valentine,” “I Hear a Rhapsody,” “Dream Gypsy,” “Romain,” “Skating in Central Park,” “Darn that Dream,” “Stairway to the Stars,” “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You”), 1962
When I was in college in the early ’70s, this album was a frequent late-night companion. Since then I’ve listened to it more times than I could count. It never grows old.
serendipity
Last night I was feeling glum. Then I happened upon this. Listen to this piano sing.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major; Maria João Pires (piano), Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Trevor Pinnock, cond.), live
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lagniappe
reading table
Why love what you will lose?
There is nothing else to love.—Louise Glück, “From the Japanese” (excerpt)
Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Second Hand (1970),* New York (Brooklyn Academy of Music), 2011
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lagniappe
random thoughts
What if your entire life—every thought, every movement, every word—were actually a work of art, only pretending to be something ordinary?
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*Merce Cunningham, choreography; John Cage, music; Jasper Johns, costumes.
serendipity
This I bumped into the other day on the radio.*
Salvatore Sciarrino (1947-), Piano Trio No. 2 (1987); Alter Ego Ensemble, 1999
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lagniappe
art beat
Paul Strand (1890-1976)
Abstraction, Porch Shadows, Twin Lakes, Connecticut, 1916
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*WKCR-FM (Columbia University), Afternoon New Music (11/25/13).
alone
John Cage (1912-1992), In a Landscape (1948); Keiko Shichijo (piano), live, Amsterdam, c. 2009
This I could listen to all day, all week, all month.
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
I find that music is humans’ most advanced achievement, more so than painting and writing, because it’s more mysterious, more magical, and it acts in such a direct way.
alone
Something quiet to start the week.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987), Palais de Mari (1986); Michael Hicks (piano), live, Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah), 2006
His music, like Mozart’s, grants us access to an alternative world—one that’s clear, and light, and airy.
music clip of the day 