Why not begin the week with something that will take you somewhere you haven’t been before?
Philippe Manoury (1952-), Melencolia (third string quartet), 2012; Arditti Quartet
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
never enough
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), String Quartet No. 13, excerpt (Mvt. V, Cavatina), 1826; Guarneri Quartet
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
During a fraught 17-day stay in the hospital because of post-surgical infections 10 years ago, Beethoven’s Cavatina furnished the only moments during which I was released from suffering.
—Susan Gubar, “When Music Is the Best Medicine,” New York Times, 9/26/19
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random sights
yesterday, Chicago
sounds to get lost in
Jessica Pavone String Ensemble (JP, viola, composition; Joanna Matrey, viola; Erica Dicker, violin; Angela Morris, violin), “Hurtle and Flow,” published 9/4/19
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday morning, I-80 rest stop, Iowa (near Grinnell)
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reading table
big rainbig mooncicada in the pine—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue
sounds of New York
Is there any greater joy, as a listener, than being swept away by sounds unlike any you’ve heard before?
Jason Kao Hwang (composer, conductor, violin) and the Spontaneous River Orchestra (Andrew Drury [drums], Ken Filiano [bass], 37 string improvisers), Symphony of Souls, live (studio), New York, 2011
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
sounds of New York
Why not begin the week with something new?
Jason Kao Hwang’s Sing House (JKH, violin, viola, compositions; Kalun Leung, trombone; Christopher Forbes, piano; Ken Filiano, bass; Andrew Drury, drums), live, New York, 9/29/19
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
not grown to a butterfly
this late in autumn
a caterpillar—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Makoto Ueda
One-word review: Wow!
Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998), String Quartet No. 3, 1st movt.; Danish String Quartet, live (studio), Seattle, 2015
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
sounds of Haiti and Chicago
Nathalie Joachim (vocals, electronics) with Spektral Quartet, “Papa Loco” (trad.), live (studio), New York, published 10/29/19
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
She cries. Oh no. Oh no no no.
—Eimear McBride, A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing
never enough
Bela Bartok (1881-1945), String Quartet No. 4 in C major (1928); Quatuor Ebène, live, France (Wissembourg), 2013
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Domestic as
an empty shopping cart
parked on a ledge
above a freeway.—Rae Armantrout (1947-), from “Hang On” (New Yorker, 10/21/19)
sounds of New York
Jason Kao Hwang (1957-), If We Live in Forgetfulness, We Die in a Dream (2011); Momenta Quartet, live, New York, 2012
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
*****
reading table
If you have some photos of yourself when you were four or eight or twelve or fifteen, hold them up against the mirror. Are you the four-year-old, the eight-year-old, the fifteen-year-old, the twenty-five-year-old, or the one who is looking into the mirror, or all of them? If you are all of them, then by now you must be thousands of different people.
—Ayya Khema (1923-1997), Being Nobody, Going Nowhere: Meditations on the Buddhist Path (1987)
Why not begin the week with something new?
Nathalie Joachim (vocals, flute, electronics) with the Spektral Quartet and a Haitian children’s choir (recorded), “Suite pou Dantan: Prelid” (Fanm d’Ayiti [Women of Haiti]), 10/8/19
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day 