alone
One-word review: Wow!
Mitsuko Uchida (1948-, piano), live (performance begins at 2:45), London, yesterday: Franz Schubert (1797-1828), 4 Impromptus (D899), 4 Impromptus (D935)
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
alone
Need more air?
Mitsuko Uchida (piano), live, London, 12/16/20: Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Piano Sonatas in C major (“Reliquie,” 3:40-) and G major (“Fantasy,” 42:00-)
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
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reading table
Listening deeply,
sometimes—in another—you can hear
the sound of a hermit, sighing
as he climbs a mountain trail to reach
a waterfall
or a Buddhist nun reciting prayers
while moonlight falls through the window
onto an old clay floor,
and once in a while, a child
rolling a hoop through the alleyways of Tokyo,
laughing,
or a farmer pausing in a rice field to watch
geese fly,
the thoughts on his lips he doesn’t think to say.—Dick Allen (1939-2017), “Listening Deeply”
If I learned I had a week to live, one afternoon, sunlight streaming through the windows, I’d listen to Mozart.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Adagio in B minor, K. 540
Mitsuko Uchida, live
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Entrance to the Public Gardens at Arles, 1888
(Taking a break—back in a while.)
Ever feel you can’t find a foothold?
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), Piano Concerto (1942); Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (Jeffrey Tate, cond.) with Mitsuko Uchida (piano), live
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lagniappe
reading table
Aspen tree, your leaves glance white into the dark.
My mother’s hair was never white.Dandelion, so green is the Ukraine.
My yellow-haired mother did not come home.Rain cloud, above the well do you hover?
My quiet mother weeps for everyone.Round star, you wind the golden loop.
My mother’s heart was ripped by lead.Oaken door, who lifted you off your hinges?
My gentle mother cannot return.—Paul Celan (1920-1970; translated from German by Michael Hamburger)
The other night, as Mitsuko Uchida was performing two of Mozart’s piano concertos (17, 27) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, there were moments so pure, so open, I would have liked nothing more than to disappear into one of the spaces between the notes and stay there.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, KV. 466; Mitsuko Uchida (piano and conducting), Camerata Salzburg, live, Germany (Salzburg), 2001
Mozart, Piano Sonata No. 18 in D. major, K. 576 (1789)
Mitsuko Uchida, piano
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Listening to Mozart is like entering a room where the walls, the ceiling, even the floor are made entirely of glass.
crystalline, adj. Clear and transparent like crystal. E.g., Mitsuko Uchida playing Mozart.
Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, KV. 466/Mitsuko Uchida (piano and conducting), Camerata Salzburg, live, Germany (Salzburg), 2001
Part 1 (first movement)
Part 2 (first movement, cont.)
Part 3 (second movement)
Part 4 (third movement)
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lagniappe
I like to make the gestures of the piano concerto, so big and public, much smaller and intimate, as if I were sitting alone or simply dreaming.
—Mitsuko Uchida
music clip of the day 