Suppose that, for the rest of your life, you could listen to only one piece of music. What would you choose? For me it might be this.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987; MCOTD Hall of Fame), Piano and String Quartet (1985); Kronos Quartet with Aki Takahashi (piano), 1993
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), Number 17A, 1948 (detail)
like nobody else
Lou Harrison (1917-2003), Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra (1959); Todd Reynolds (violin), Third Coast Percussion, John Corkill (percussion), 2018
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
I’d have to be really quick
to describe clouds—
a split second’s enough
for them to start being something else.— Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012, MCOTD Hall of Fame), from “Clouds” (translated from Polish by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak)
More beauty?
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), String Quartet in F major (1903); Sacconi Quartet, live, London, 2015
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
*****
reading table
The snow is melting
and the village is flooded
with children.—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by Robert Haas)
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
Claude Debussy (1862-1918), String Quartet in G minor (1893); Parker Quartet, live, Cambridge, Mass., 2019
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Dish, Hellenistic or early Roman; eastern Mediterranean; mid-2nd/early 1st century BC; glass, mosaic glass technique (detail)
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
John Luther Adams (1953-), The Farthest Place (2001); Robin Lorentz (violin), Amy Knoles (vibraphone, marimba), Bryan Pezzone (piano), Barry Newton (bass), 2002
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
what’s new
Sevdaliza (with Anthony Amirkhan, drums; Leon den Engelsen, keyboards; Jonas Pap, cello; Mihai Puscoiu, violin), live (“Human,” “Dormant,” “All Rivers at Once,” “Gole Bi Goldoon”), Amsterdam, published 1/5/21
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
string quartet festival
day three
Mivos Quartet, Bronx Community College Online Concert Series, 11/30/20: Michaela Catranis, Luminous Animal (2020); Linda Caitlin Smith, String Quartet No. 6 (2013); George Lewis, String Quartet 2.5: “Playing with Seeds” (2017)
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Old age is
a flight of small
cheeping birds
skimming
bare trees
above a snow glaze.—William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), from “To Waken an Old Lady”
string quartet festival
day two
JACK Quartet (with Conrad Tao, piano), Library of Congress Virtual Event, 12/3/2020*
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
*Program:
1. Rodericus (fl. late 14th century)/Christopher Otto, Angelorum psalat (c. 1390s).
2. Elliott Carter (1908-2012), Duo for Violin and Piano (1973-4).
3. Tyshawn Sorey, Everything Changes, Nothing Changes (2018).
4. Ruth Crawford [Seeger] (1901-1953), String Quartet 1931 (1931).
5. Tyshawn Sorey, For Conrad Tao (2020).
6. Elliott Carter (1908-2012), String Quartet no. 3 (1971).
string quartet festival
day one
Thomas Adès (1971-), Arcadiana (1994); Danish String Quartet, live, New York, 2015
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
sounds of Chicago
Saturday I posted the first of these two (wonderful) performances; here’s the second.
Mars Williams presents: An Ayler Xmas Vol. 4 (Night 2) (Mars Williams, tenor saxophone, toy instruments; Josh Berman, cornet; Jim Baker, piano, viola, ARP synthesizer; Krzysztof Pabian, bass; Brian Sandstrom, bass, guitar, trumpet; Steve Hunt, drums; Peter Maunu, violin), live (performance begins at 5:15), Chicago (Constellation), 12/19/20
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
An empty day without events.
And that is why
it grew immense
as space. And suddenly
happiness of being
entered me.I heard
in my heartbeat
the birth of time
and each instant of life
one after the other
came rushing in
like priceless gifts.—Anna Swir (1909-1984), “Priceless Gifts” (translated from Polish by Czesław Miłosz and Leonard Nathan)
music clip of the day 