In a country that continues to coarsen, delicacy grows ever more precious.
John Luther Adams (1953-), there is no one, not even the wind (2017); Emerald City Music, live (world premiere), Seattle, 9/15/17
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
mesmerizing
John Luther Adams (1953-), Four Thousand Holes (2010)
Taka Kigawa (piano), Chris Graham (percussion), live, New York, 2017
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lagniappe
reading table
This road—
no one goes down it,
autumn evening.—Matsuo Basho, 1644-1694 (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
another take
John Luther Adams (1953-), The Light Within (2007); Late Music Ensemble, live, England (York), 2015
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
soundtrack to a dream
John Luther Adams (1953-), The Light Within (2007); Faculty & Fellows, Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, Mass., 2016
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lagniappe
reading table
John Ashbery (July 28, 1927-September, 3, 2017)
The bad news is the ship hasn’t arrived;
the good news is it hasn’t left yet.—He Who Loves And Runs Away (fragment; Planisphere, 2009)
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random sights
this morning, Chicago (Columbus Park)
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
John Luther Adams (1953-), In a Treeless Place, Only Snow (1999); Faculty & Fellows, Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, Mass., 2016
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Agnes Martin (1912-2004), Untitled #12, 1977
more
John Luther Adams (1953-), In a Treeless Place, Only Snow (1999); Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, North Adams, Mass., 2016
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
John Luther Adams (1953-), Dream in White on White (1992); Virtuoso String Orchestra (Joaquin Valdepeñas, cond.) with Sanya Eng (harp), live, Toronto, 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), Bush warbler on plum branch, 1840s
Sometimes, in the middle of the night, if sleep leaves and doesn’t return, I’ll put one of these on repeat, softly.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Piano and String Quartet (1985); Aki Takahashi and Kronos Quartet, 1993
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John Luther Adams (1953-), The Farthest Place (2001), 2002
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
Something to wash over you.
John Luther Adams (1953-), The Light Within (2007); New Music Detroit, live, Detroit, 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
spring rain—
the uneaten ducks
are quacking—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828; translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
sound and space
John Luther Adams (1953-), Sila: The Breath of the World (2014), live, New York, 2014 (performance begins at 4:45)
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lagniappe
reading table
We must be careful what we say. No bird resumes its egg.
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), letter to cousins Louise and Frances Norcross, 1872
music clip of the day 