Thirty-eight years later.
Bela Bartok (1881-1945), Piano Concerto No. 3 (1945); Toho Gakuen Orchestra (Yuri Bashmet, cond.) with Martha Argerich (piano), live, 2007
***
And an encore.
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), Sonata in D minor; Martha Argerich (piano), live, 2008
4ⁿ
Bela Bartok (1881-1945), String Quartet No. 4 in C major, Quatuor Ebène, live
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lagniappe
reading table
Sometimes it feels like a writer is speaking directly to you. Yesterday, before catching a flight to Orlando, then driving sixty miles to this hotel, which I’ll soon be leaving to see a client at a federal prison, I happened upon this.
in and out
of prison they go . . .
baby sparrows—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827; translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
Want to be swept away?
Bela Bartok (1881-1945), String Quartet No. 5 (excerpts); Aeolus Quartet
first movement
***
fifth movement
joy, n. exultation of spirit; gladness, delight. E.g., Calvary Baptist Church in West Philadelphia, with John Legend singing “How I Got Over” (2011).
**********
lagniappe
listening room: (some of) what’s playing
• Theo Parrish, Sound Sculptures, Vol. 1 (Sound Signature)
• Coldcut, 70 Minutes of Madness (Journeys by DJ)
• O.V. Wright, Wright Stuff (Hi UK)
• Bertha “Chippie” Hill, 1925-1929 (Document)
• Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
• The Fisk Jubilee Quartet, There Breathes A Hope (Archeophone)
• This May Be The Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel on 45 RPM 1957-1982 (Tompkins Square)
• Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy, I Only Have Eyes For You (ECM)
• Chicago Underground Trio, Slon (Thrill Jockey)
• Charlie Christian, The Genius of the Electric Guitar (Sony)
• The Best of the Nat King Cole Trio: Vocal Classics, 1942-46 (Blue Note)
• Chicago Underground Trio, Slon (Thrill Jockey)
• Miles Davis, Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions (Prestige)
• Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra (Thrill Jockey)
• Mahmoud Ahmed, Ethiopiques 19 (Buda Musique)
• Ludwig van Beethoven/Julliard String Quartet, String Quartets Nos. 13 & 16 (Sony)
• Ludwig van Beethoven/Solomon, Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 5 (EMI)
• Ludwig van Beethoven/Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan cond., Symphony No. 7 (Deutsche Grammaphon)
• Bela Bartok/Hungarian String Quartet, String Quartets Nos. 1-6 (Deutsche Grammaphon)
• Bela Bartok/Takacs Quartet, String Quartets Nos. 5-6 (Hungaroton)
• Boulez Conducts Boulez (Deutsche Grammaphon)
• Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez cond./Mitsuko Uchida, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg (Philips)
• Morton Feldman, For Bunita Marcus, Markus Hinterhauser, piano (Col Legno)
• Morton Feldman, Piano and String Quartet, Aki Takahashi, Kronos Quartet (Nonesuch)
• Hawthorne String Quartet, Pavel Haas (String Quartets Nos. 2 and 3), Hans Krasa (String Quartet) (London)
• Pavel Haas Quartet, Leo Janacek (String Quartet No. 1), Pavel Haas (String Quartets Nos. 1 and 3) (Supraphon)
• Arvo Part, Litany (ECM)
• Arnold Schoenberg/LaSalle Quartet, String Quartets Nos. 3 and 4 (Brilliant Classics)
• Robert Schumann/Zehetmair Quartett, String Quartets Nos. 1 & 3 (ECM)
• Zehetmair Quartet, Bela Bartok (String Quartet No. 5), Paul Hindemith (String Quartet No. 4) (ECM)
• WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University)
—Bach Festival
—Bird Flight (Phil Schaap, jazz [Charlie Parker])
—Eastern Standard Time (Carter Van Pelt, Jamaican music)
• WFMU-FM
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads (Kevin Nutt, gospel)
—Give the Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis, Web only)
—Lamin’s Show (sui generis)
two takes
“Don’t sit around in a dead church and die!”
Take 1: Brother Anthony Wynn (Oasis Ministries, Riceville, Tennessee)
*****
Take 2: Sensimo
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lagniappe
listening room: (some of) what’s playing
• Theo Parrish, Sound Sculptures, Vol. 1 (Sound Signature)
• Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Come On Back (Rounder)
• Rare & Collectible Fine Wine: 27 Soulful Ultra-Obscurities From the Cellars (WMFU-FM 2011 Premium; Mr. Fine Wine, Downtown Soulville)
• Cooking Cherries (WMFU-FM 2011 Premium; Terre T, The Cherry Blossom Clinic)
• Miles Davis, The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions (Prestige)
• Don Pullen Plays Monk (Why Not)
• Lucky 7s, Farragut (Lakefront Digital)
• Julius Hemphill, One Atmosphere (Tzadik)
• Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet, with WLS, trumpet; Anthony Davis, piano; Malachi Favors, bass; Jack DeJohnette, drums (Tzakik)
• Goodbye, Babylon (Dust-to-Digital)
• Nikhil Banerjee, Raga Purabi Kaylan (Raga)
• Bela Bartok, String Quartets, Keller Quartet (Erato), Hungarian String Quartet (Deutsche Grammaphon), Takacs Quartet (Decca)
• Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 6, North German Radio Orchestra (Gunter Wand, conductor) (RCA Victor)
• Morton Feldman, For Bunita Marcus, Markus Hinterhauser, piano (Col Legno [import])
• Morton Feldman, Three Voices, Joan La Barbara (New Albion)
• Morton Feldman, Piano and String Quartet, Aki Takahashi, Kronos Quartet (Nonesuch)
• WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University)
—Jo Jones Centennial Festival
—Thelonious Monk birthday broadcast
—Bird Flight (Phil Schaap, jazz [Charlie Parker])
—Traditions in Swing (Phil Schaap, jazz)
—Eastern Standard Time (Carter Van Pelt, Jamaican music)
—Amazing Grace (various, gospel)
—Rag Aur Taal (various, Indian)
—Jazz Profiles (various, jazz)
—Out to Lunch (various, jazz)
• WFMU-FM
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads (Kevin Nutt, gospel)
—Give the Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis, Web only)
—Daniel Blumin
—Cherry Blossom Clinic (Terre T, rock, etc.)
—Antique Phonograph Music Program (MAC, “78s and cylinders . . . played on actual period reproducing devices”)
—HotRod (“Shamanic vibrational love frequencies for the infinite mind,” Web only)
• WHPK-FM (broadcasting from University of Chicago)
—The Blues Excursion (Arkansas Red)
Some music isn’t made for summer: it wants more night.
Bela Bartok, String Quartet No. 5, excerpt (3rd movement)
Calder Quartet, live, 2008, Los Angeles
More Bartok? Here.
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lagniappe
reading table
This road—
no one goes down it,
autumn evening.—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), trans. Robert Hass
Here, at Luther Vandross’s funeral, Stevie testifies.
Stevie Wonder, “I Won’t Complain”
Live, New York (The Riverside Church), 2005
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lagniappe
For as long as you’ve got a harp in your heart, God’s got a hymn for your hurt. And as long as you’ve got a hymn, then you’ve got hope.
—Maurice O. Wallace (funeral sermon, quoted in Karla FC Holloway, Passed On: African American Mourning Stories [2002])
(Originally posted 10/11/09.)
*****
listening room: (some of) what’s playing
• Coldcut, 70 Minutes of Madness (Journeys by DJ)
• Mahmoud Ahmed, Ethiopiques, Vol. 6: Almaz (Buda Musique [import])
• Staff Benda Bilili, Tres Tres Fort (Crammed Discs)
• Louis Armstrong, Hot Fives & Sevens (JSP [import])
• Jaki Byard, Solo/Strings (Prestige)
• John Carter & Bobby Bradford’s New Art Jazz Ensemble, Seeking (hat Art)
• Eric Dolphy, Out to Lunch (Blue Note)
• Bill Evans Trio, Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Riverside)
• The Great Concert of Charles Mingus (Verve)
• The Complete Dean Benedetti Recordings Of Charlie Parker (Mosaic)
• Sun Ra, Sleeping Beauty (Phantom Sound & Vision [import])
• The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic)
• Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet (Tzadik)
• Bela Bartok, String Quartets Nos. 5 & 6, Takacs Quartet (Hungaroton [import])
• David Behrman, On the Other Ocean (Lovely Music)
• Morton Feldman, Crippled Symmetry, Eberhard Blum, flute; Nils Vigland, piano, celesta; Jan Williams, glockenspiel, vibraphone (hat Art)
Morton Feldman, For Christian Wolff, Eberhard Blum, flute; Nils Vigland, piano, celesta (hat Art)
• Morton Feldman, For Bunita Marcus, Stephane Ginsburgh, piano (Sub Rosa) (available as a download from Amazon for 89¢)
• Morton Feldman, For Samuel Beckett, San Francisco Contemporary Players (Newport Classic)
• Morton Feldman, Triadic Memories, Markus Hinterhauser, piano (Col Legno [import])
• Morton Feldman, Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, Members of the Ives Ensemble (hat Art)
• Ingram Marshall, Kingdom Come (Nonesuch)
• Maurizio Pollini, piano, Arnold Schoenberg (The Solo Piano Music, Piano Concerto), Anton Webern (Variations, op. 27) (Deutsche Grammaphon)
• Dimitri Shostakovich, String Quartets Nos. 5, 6, & 7, Borodin Quartet (Melodiya)
• WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University)
—Lester Young/Charlie Parker birthday marathon
—John Coltrane birthday broadcast
—Bird Flight (Phil Schaap, jazz [Charlie Parker])
—Traditions in Swing (Phil Schaap, jazz)
—Eastern Standard Time (Carter Van Pelt, Jamaican music)
• WFMU-FM
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads (Kevin Nutt, gospel)
—Airborne Event (Dan Bodah, “electronic noise to free jazz, drone rock to a capella African song”)
—Give the Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis, web only)
—Transpacific Sound Paradise (Rob Weisberg, “popular and unpopular music from around the world”)
• WHPK-FM (broadcasting from University of Chicago)
—The Blues Excursion (Arkansas Red)
I find it hard to understand why some folks wall themselves off from classical music. Jazz, blues, rock, classical: it’s all music. Sure, the musical lines and paragraphs—the units of expression—are usually (though not always) longer and more complex in classical music. But that’s simply a matter of form. Raymond Carver and Marcel Proust, for all their formal differences, both take you places you can’t get to any other way. So too do both Beethoven and Art Pepper, both Magic Sam and Mozart.
Bela Bartok, String Quartet No. 1 in A minor, 3rd movement
The Parker Quartet, live, 11/23/09
music clip of the day