passings
Krzysztof Penderecki, composer, conductor, November 23, 1933-March 29, 2020
Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (1960), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Krzysztof Urbański, cond.), live, Helsinki, 2015
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
alone
Mat Maneri (1969-, viola), “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen” (trad.), live, Paris, 2020
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
A leaf, one of the last, parts from a maple branch:
it is spinning in the transparent air of October, falls
on a heap of others, stops, fades. No one
admired its entrancing struggle with the wind,
followed its flight, no one will distinguish it now
as it lies among the other leaves, no one saw what I did. I am
the only one.—Bronisław Maj (1953-), “A Leaf,” translated from Polish by Czesław Miłosz and Robert Hass
MCOTD Hall of Fame
Morton Feldman (1927-1986, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Rothko Chapel (1971); Markus Creed (cond.), SWR Vokalensemble (Vocal Ensemble), et al., live, Germany (Cathedral of Speyer, Schwetzinger), 2017
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Henri Matisse (1869-1954), The Red Studio (1911), detail
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reading table
Coolness—
the sound of the bell
as it leaves the bell.—Yosa Buson (1716-1784), translated from Japanese by Robert Hass
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), String Quartet in F major (1903); Hagen Quartet, live, Austria (Salzburg), 2000
1st movt.
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2nd movt.
***
3rd movt.
***
4th movt.
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday, Art Institute of Chicago
Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Untitled (watercolor), c. 1915
How about something different?
Clara Iannotta (1983-), Limun (2011); International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), live, New York, 2016
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
what’s new
Max Richter (1966-, compositions, piano, keyboard) with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (Clarice Jensen, cello & artistic director; Ben Russell, violin; Laura Lutzke, violin; Isabel Hagen, viola; Claire Bryant, cello), “On the Nature of Daylight,” “Vladimir’s Blues,” “Infra 5,” live, Washington, D.C., 1/22/20
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
I’m very interested in the idea of a piece of music being a place to think.
—Max Richter
*****
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
more
Agnes Obel, playing and talking (begins at 2:05; “Won’t You Call Me,” 3:00; “Island of Doom,” 13:55; “Broken Sleep,” 25:35), New York, 1/14/20
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
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
