What not start the week with something small, mournful, beautiful?
Komitas (AKA Soghomon Soghomonian, 1869-1935), Krunk (The Crane); Sergey Khachatryan (1985-, violin), live, France (Toulouse), 2015
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
what’s new
Balún, “Vaivén”, “La Nueva Ciudad”, “El Espanto,” “Punto De Encuentro,” live, Washington, D.C., 12/20/19
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor; Shunske Sato (violin), live, Netherlands (Haarlem), published 10/24/19
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lagniappe
radio
One of my favorite musical events begins today: the annual Bachfest on WKCR (Columbia University); all Bach, all the time, until midnight New Year’s Eve.
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random sights
other day, Chicago (Monadnock Building)
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
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor; Shunske Sato (violin), live, Netherlands (Haarlem), published 12/5/19
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Violin Partita No. 3 in E major; Shunske Sato (violin), live, Netherlands (Haarlem), published 11/28/19
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday morning, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Listen,
how your heart beats inside me.—Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012, MCOTD Hall of Fame), from “Could Have,” translated from Polish by Stanislav Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh
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
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Violin Partita No. 1 in B minor; Shunske Sato (violin), live, Netherlands (Haarlem), published 10/31/19
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
*****
reading table
along the mountain road
somehow it tugs at my heart—
a wild violet—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Makoto Ueda
