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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major (“Coronation”); Munich Philharmonic Orchestra with Friedrich Gulda (conducting, piano), live, 1986
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lagniappe
reading table
How I wish I’d been a painter . . . that must really be the best profession—none of this fiddling around with words—there are a couple of Daumiers at the Phillips that make me feel my whole life has been wasted.
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), letter, 1977
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Piano Sonatas 9 (D major; K. 311) and 12 (F major; K. 332); Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Rookery Building)
never enough
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor; Munich Philharmonic Orchestra with Friedrich Gulda (conducting, piano), live
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random sights
today, Oak Park, Ill.
I love his approach to Mozart. He’s never fussy or mannered. He plays simply, directly—like a bird flying from tree to tree.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Piano Sonata No. 12 in F major (:07-), Fantasia in C minor (22:42-), Sonata No. 14 in C minor (39:54-); Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live, Germany (Munich), 1990
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Mozart was a kind of idol to me—this rapturous singing . . . that’s always on the edge of sadness and melancholy and disappointment and heartbreak, but always ready for an outburst of the most delicious music.
—Saul Bellow (1915-2005)
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reading table
If, instead of the words ‘good’ or ‘right’ (or ‘sacred’) we use the words ‘beautiful’ or ‘pleasurable’ or ‘enlivening,’ . . . how would our lives be different?
—Adam Phillips, Unforbidden Pleasures (quoted in yesterday’s New York Times Book Review)
alone
This guy breathes life into whatever he plays. The other day we heard a Beethoven performance from 1993. Here he is in 1964.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue; Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), piano, live, 1964
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reading table
‘[O]ur days on Earth are numbered, and the numbers are not that big.’
—Samantha Harvey, Dear Thief
Three more takes.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, excerpt (third movt.)
Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live, Japan, 1993
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Maurizio Pollini (1942-), live
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Rudolf Serkin (1903-1991), piano, live, 1987
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reading table
‘A book is a device to ignite the imagination.’
—Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader
never enough
Same composer, same pianist—23 years earlier.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major (“Hammerklavier”), Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live, Germany (Bonn), 1970
1st & 2nd movements
3rd movement (beginning)
3rd movement (end), 4th movement
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art beat
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), Seville, Spain, 1933
alone
Searching, searching—never finding.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major (Third Movt.), Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live, Japan, 1993
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reading table
Imaginary Number
by Vijay Seshadri (1954-)The mountain that remains when the universe is destroyed
is not big and is not small.
Big and small arecomparative categories, and to what
could the mountain that remains when the universe is destroyed
be compared?Consciousness observes and is appeased.
The soul scrambles across the screes.
The soul,like the square root of minus 1,
is an impossibility that has its uses.
I love the way he plays Mozart. Simply. Directly. There’s nothing fussy here. Nothing fey. Melodies unfold with the ease and grace of a bird flying from branch to branch.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Piano Sonatas & Fantasia,* Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live, Germany (Munich), 1981
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*Program (courtesy of YouTube):
0:00 – Nº4 in E flat major, K.282
14:35 – Nº9 in D major, K.311
32:58 – Nº12 in F major, K.332
55:54 – Fantasia nº4 in C minor, K.475
1:06:55 – Nº14 in C minor, K.457
Few musicians get under my skin like he does.
Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), piano
Frederic Chopin, Preludes, Op. 28, Nos. 7, 13, 21, 24
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Play every note as if your life depended on it.
—Friedrich Gulda
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