Tuesday, May 9th
more
A week ago I hadn’t heard of this guy—now I can’t get enough of him.
Enno Poppe (1969-), Trauben (“Grapes”), (2004); ATOS Trio,* live, Berlin, 2016
*Annette von Hehn, violin; Stefan Heinemeyer, cello; Thomas Hoppe, piano.
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: viola
2017
2017
Tuesday, April 18th
sounds of Russia
Alfred Schnittke (1934-98), Piano Quintet (1972-76), live (Katya Apekisheva, piano; Boris Brovtsyn, Julia-Maria Kretz, violins; Amihai Grosz, viola; Torleif Thedéen, cello), Netherlands, 2010
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, outside Chicago (Chicago Botanic Garden)
(Taking a break—back in a while.)
2017
Wednesday, April 5th
Another take.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), String Quartet in F major (1903)
Hagen Quartet, live, Austria (Salzburg), 2000
1st movt.
2nd movt.
3rd movt.
4th movt.
2017
Tuesday, April 4th
Sometimes I just want to be swept away.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), String Quartet in F major (1903), 1st Mvt.
Takács Quartet, live, New York, 2017
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lagniappe
reading table
cloud becomes a mountain
becomes
a cloud—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue
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
Thursday, February 2nd
Last night, in Chicago, worn out by work and the world, I walked from my office to Symphony Center, where I heard these folks perform pieces by, among others, this composer—and I’m so glad I did.
Kremerata Baltica with Gidon Kremer (violin), live; Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996), Sinfonietta No. 2, excerpt (3rd mvt., Adagio)
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
2017
Tuesday, January 24th
In a world so noisy what’s more precious than sounds so quiet?
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Piano and string quartet (1985), Sed Contra Ensemble, live (performance begins at 4:11), Ukraine (Lviv), 2016
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Whitney Museum of American Art (New York)
Edward Hopper (1882-1967), A Woman in the Sun, 1961
2016
Wednesday, December 7th
Sometimes I want to hear something that will quicken my pulse; sometimes I want something that will slow it—like this, for instance, which I heard the other night in Chicago, played by the group for whom it was written (a.pe.ri.od.ic). One sound . . . another . . . another . . .
Jürg Frey (1953-), Fragile Balance (2014), excerpt; Ensemble Grizzana (Jürg Frey, clarinet; Mira Benjamin, violin; Richard Craig, flute; Emma Richards, viola; Philip Thomas, piano; Seth Woods, cello); 2015
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lagniappe
reading table
Winter seclusion—
sitting propped against
the same worn post—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill (The Sound of Water: Haiku by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Other Poets)
2016
Tuesday, September 13th
Sometimes, in the middle of the night, if sleep leaves and doesn’t return, I’ll put one of these on repeat, softly.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Piano and String Quartet (1985); Aki Takahashi and Kronos Quartet, 1993
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John Luther Adams (1953-), The Farthest Place (2001), 2002
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
2016
Tuesday, July 5th
All that holiday noise—BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!—leave you with a hangover?
Here’s the perfect antidote.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Piano and String Quartet, 1985; Aki Takahashi and Kronos Quartet, 1993
(Taking a break—back in a while.)
music clip of the day 