The only thing hard about listening to this is letting go of everything else.
John Luther Adams (1953-), Dream in White on White (1992); Virtuoso String Orchestra (Joaquin Valdepenas, cond.), Sanya Eng (harp), live, Toronto, 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
Barn’s burnt down—
now
I can see the moon.—Mizuta Masahide, 1657-1723 (translated from Japanese by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto)
lucid, adj. translucent, pellucid, clear. E.g., Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians.
Steve Reich (1936-), Music for 18 Musicians (1974-76)
Ensemble Intercontemporain with Synergy Vocals, live, Paris, 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
the door latch
rusting scarlet . . .
winter rain—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue
*****
random sights
this morning, Chicago (Columbus Park)
The more kinds of music you love, the more chances you have to make wonderful discoveries, as happened yesterday when I heard this for the first time (Oberon Ensemble, Art Institute of Chicago).
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor; Martha Argerich (piano); Gidon Kremer (violin), Yuri Bashmet (viola), Mischa Maisky (cello), 2001
#1
#2
#3
#4
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lagniappe
reading table
You don’t hear the sound; you go into the sound—you and the sound become one.
—Seung Sahn, Only Don’t Know
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin; Johnny Gandelsman, live, East Lansing, Michigan, 2015
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Dance?
Sing?
Why not both?
Sounds for a strange, scary, sad world.
Georg Friedrich Haas (1953-), String Quartet No. 8 (2014); JACK Quartet
two takes
“I Never Learnt to Share” (J. Blake)
Spektral Quartet (arr. Chris Fisher-Lochhead), live, Chicago, 2015
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James Blake, live, Berlin, 2011
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
When we’re full of music, we’re free of everything else.
*****
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
3n
Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006), Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano (1982); Tomas Major (violin), Zora Sloka (horn), Denes Varjon (piano), 2009
#1
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#2
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lagniappe
reading table
This World is not conclusion.
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #373 (Franklin)
3n
Albrecht Maurer (violin), Mat Maneri (viola), Lucian Ban (piano), “Irreverence” (L. Ban), live (recording session), Germany (Cologne), 2013
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
tonight in Chicago
These folks will be playing at Curtiss Hall.
Christopher Fisher-Lochhead (1984-), Dig Absolutely (2010); Spektral Quartet, live, Evanston, Ill., 2011
serendipity
When this came on the radio the other day (WKCR, Columbia University), background became foreground.
Luciano Berio (1925-2003), Differences (1959)
music clip of the day 