Wednesday, December 16th
sweet soul music
D’Angelo & The Vanguard, “Ain’t That Easy”
Live, Netherlands (Rotterdam), 2015
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Like music, baseball is the universal language.
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
2015
2015
Tuesday, December 15th
Has anyone played Bach—or anything else—more searchingly?
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Partita No. 4 in D major
Glenn Gould (1932-1982), piano
#1
#2
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lagniappe
reading table
Musicians wrestle everywhere –
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #229 (Franklin)
2015
Monday, December 14th
This I turned to late yesterday afternoon, amidst darkness and rain and news of a neighbor’s terminal illness. I’ve been living with this piece for forty-some years, and it has never let me down—never failed, whatever the circumstances, to make life seem lighter, brighter, more porous, more spacious. Never.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Suite No. 1 in G major for Unaccompanied Cello; Mischa Maisky, cello
2015
Sunday, December 13th
Hearing this voice, from a gone world, gives me goosebumps.
Vera Hall, “Death Is Awful,” live, Livingston, Ala., 1939
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
2015
Saturday, December 12th
sounds of Chicago
DJ Heather, live, Chicago, 2015
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Interchanged, 1955
2015
Friday, December 11th
what’s new
Joanna Newsom, “Leaving the City,” live (TV show), 12/8/15
2015
Thursday, December 10th
alone
Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board), live, England
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2015
Wednesday, December 9th
Why God made “repeat.”
Morton Feldman (1926-1987; MCOTD Hall of Fame), Coptic Light (1986); Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Peter Eotvos, cond.), live, Amsterdam, 1998
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lagniappe
art beat
William Eggleston (1939-)
2015
Tuesday, December 8th
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Nocturne in E flat (Op. 55, No. 2); Ignaz Friedman (1882-1948), piano, 1936
The Friedman performance of Chopin’s E flat Nocturne (Op. 55, No. 2) is considered by many to be the greatest single recorded performance of any Chopin nocturne.
2015
Monday, December 7th
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
music clip of the day 