less is more*
Rashied Ali (drums), Leroy Jenkins (violin), “Swift Are the Winds of Life,” 1975
*****
*Sometimes, anyway.
This I could listen to forever.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987), Piano and String Quartet (1985)
Aki Takahashi (piano) and Kronos Quartet
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Earlier in my life there seemed to be unlimited possibilities, but my mind was closed. Now, years later and with an open mind, possibilities no longer interest me. I seem content to be continually rearranging the same furniture in the same room. My concern at times is nothing more than establishing a series of practical conditions that will enable me to work. For years I said if I could only find a comfortable chair I would rival Mozart.
***
If a man teaches composition in a university, how can he not be a composer? He has worked hard, learned his craft. Ergo, he is a composer. A professional. Like a doctor. But there is that doctor who opens you up, does exactly the right thing, closes you up—and you die. He failed to take the chance that might have saved you. Art is a crucial, dangerous operation we perform on ourselves. Unless we take a chance, we die in art.
love it or hate it
Anthony Braxton 12+1tet, Composition 355, live, Italy (Venice), 2012
*****
Anthony, a MacArthur “genius” award winner (1994) and professor at Wesleyan University, talks about this and that:
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music can take us places we’ve never been before, if we’re willing to listen to sounds we’ve never heard before.
Some folks are intimidated by this stuff. Part of the problem is the label: “classical” music. That sounds like something for graduate students. Nonsense. You don’t need to know anything—anything at all—to connect with this. All you need are two ears, a mind, and a heart.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), String Quartet in F major (1903), first movement; Chiara String Quartet, live, University of Nebraska, 2013
alone
This is something I would never tire of hearing, not even if I were to live a thousand years.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor, 2nd movement (fugue)
Henryk Szeryng (1918-1988), violin
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music offers a respite from the mind’s incessant chatter.
sounds of Chicago
Edward Wilkerson, tenor saxophone (with Kidd Jordan, tenor saxophone; Henry Grimes, bass, violin; Isaiah Spencer, drums, et al.), live, Chicago, 2010
alone
Jürg Frey (1953-), A Memory of Perfection (2010)
Mira Benjamin (violin), live, London, 2013
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lagniappe
reading table
Two more words from Seamus Heaney, who died Friday in a Dublin hospital:
noli timere
[don’t be afraid]—text message to his wife minutes before his death
MCOTD mailbag
Dear MCOTD,
I need your advice. I’ve developed this mad crush on a musical instrument—the viola. It’s so dark, so mysterious. I’m obsessed! What should I do?
Sincerely,
Desperate in Denver
***
Dear Desperate,
There’s only one thing you can do—give in.
Yours,
MCOTD
***
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), Lachrymae (1950; arranged for viola and string orchestra, 1976); New York Classical Players (Dongmin Kim, cond.) with Kim Kashkashian (viola), live, New York (Church of the Heavenly Rest), 2011
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Four things are needed to survive: air to breathe; water to drink; food to eat; music to hear.
sounds of Brazil
Gilberto Gil (1942-; vocals, guitar) with Dominguinhos (1941-2013; accordion), “Lamento Sertanejo,” live, 2010
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
What would it be like to live in a world that sounded everywhere the same?
More sounds from the shadows.
György Kurtág (1926-), 12 Microludes for String Quartet (Hommage à Mihály András) (1978), Maxwell Quartet, live, Scotland (Argyllshire), 2012
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lagniappe
reading table
“Chartres”
By George Oppen (1908-1984)The bulk of it
In airIs what they wanted. Compassion
Above the doors, the doorwaysMary the woman and the others
The lesserAre dreams on the structure. But that a stone
Supports anotherThat the stones
Stand where the masons locked themAbove the farmland
Above the willBecause a hundred generations
Back of them and to another peopleThe world cried out above the mountain
music clip of the day 