Last night, after entering this sound world, I didn’t want to leave.
Christian Wolff (1934-), Mountain Messengers (for piano and orchestra, 2020), live (Nicolas Hodges, piano; Basel Sinfonietta [Ilan Volkov, conductor]), Switzerland (Basel), 1/24/21 (world premiere)
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
Judging from the sounds I hear outside my door in the morning, birds don’t seem to have gotten the memo.
John Luther Adams (1953-), songbirdsongs (1974-80); Callithumpian Consort (Stephen Drury, dir.), 2012
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Monadnock Building)
sounds of New York
day two
Sam Pluta (1979-), Broken Symmetries (2011-12); Wet Ink Ensemble (Sam Pluta, electronics; Joshua Modney, violin; Erin Lesser, piccolo; Alex Mincek, tenor saxophone; Eric Wubbels, piano; Ian Antonio, percussion), live, New York, 2016
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Bellwood, Ill.
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.
what’s new
Here’s something from Roscoe Mitchell’s new album, Bells for the South Side (ECM), a 2-CD set recorded in 2015 at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art.
“Spatial Aspects of the Sound,” Roscoe Mitchell (composition, piccolo), Craig Taborn (piano), Tyshawn Sorey (piano), William Winant (percussion), Kikanju Baku (wrist bells, ankle bells)
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, outside Chicago (Salt Creek Trail)
Whether you live for 50 years, 500 years, or 5,000 years, it makes no difference: always there are new things to hear.
Dieter Ammann (1962-), Violation (1999); Lemanic Modern Ensemble (William Blank, cond.) with Karolina Öhman, cello; live, Russia (St. Petersburg), 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
The old pond—
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694; translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
career plans for the next life
Maybe, instead of those other things (tap dancer, rubboard player in a zydeco band, bass player in a reggae band, guitar player in a Malian band, cellist in a string quartet), I’ll be a bird.
John Luther Adams (1953-), songbirdsongs (1974-80), Callithumpian Consort (Stephen Drury, dir.), recording (2012)
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art beat
Tony Fitzpatrick (1958-), Lunch Drawing #48: A Bird for Bruce Lee
sounds of Chicago
Matthias Kranebitter (1980-), pack the box (with five dozen of my liquor jugs) (2013)
Mocrep, live, Chicago, 2014
[vimeo 111677932 w=560&h=315]
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lagniappe
reading table
Collage=life.
—Joseph Cornell, diary entry, 1964
Five hours?
As far as I’m concerned, this could go on forever.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987), For Philip Guston (1984); Claire Chase (flute, alto flute, piccolo), Steven Schick (percussion), Sarah Rothenberg (piano, celesta), live (3:50-), Houston (Rothko Chapel), 11/2/14
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lagniappe
random thoughts: New Year’s resolution #1
Quit thinking other people should be more like me—if anything, be thankful they aren’t.
two takes
Need a lift?
Charles Ives (1874-1954), Ragtime Dance No. 4 (1904)
Alarm Will Sound, live, New York, 2013
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Orchestra New England, recording, 1990
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
As I remember some of the dances as a boy, and also from father’s description of some of the old dancing and fiddle playing, there was more variety of tempo than in the present-day dances. In some parts of the hall a group would be dancing in polka, while in another, a waltz. Some of the players in the band would, in an impromptu way, pick up with the polka, and some with the waltz, and some with a march. Often the piccolo or cornet would throw in asides. Sometimes a change in tempo, or a mixed rhythm would be caused by a fiddler who, after playing three or four hours steadily, was getting a little sleepy. Or maybe another player was seated too near the hard cider barrel. Whatever the reason for these changes and simultaneous playing of things, I remember distinctly catching a kind of music that was natural and interesting and which was decidedly missed when everybody came down ‘blimp’ on the same beat again.
—Charles Ives
music clip of the day 