A handful of pieces I never tire of, no matter how many times I hear them. This is one.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987; MCOTD Hall of Fame), For Bunita Marcus (1985); Stephen Drury (piano), live, Boston, 2016
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Jasper Johns (1930-), In Memory of My Feelings—Frank O’Hara, 1961
In a world so noisy what’s more precious than sounds so quiet?
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Piano and string quartet (1985), Sed Contra Ensemble, live (performance begins at 4:11), Ukraine (Lviv), 2016
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Whitney Museum of American Art (New York)
Edward Hopper (1882-1967), A Woman in the Sun, 1961
This I could listen to all day.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Three Voices (1982); Sonya Holowell (live and recorded voices), Australia (Sydney), 2016
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lagniappe
reading table
Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.
—Simone Weil (1909-1943)
*****
baseball: Chicago Cubs
Greg Maddux on tonight’s starting pitcher, Kyle Hendricks:
If it was a radar contest, then why play the game, right? Velocity is nice, but command and movement are better.
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He has the ability to throw a two-seam fastball to both sides of the plate. Most pitchers are four-seam to one side and two-seam to the other. If you can throw your two-seamer to both sides of the plate, that’s an advantage to the pitcher.
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He has the ability to recognize when a hitter is sitting on a certain pitch and throw something else.
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He relies on the low fastball that sinks pretty good. Very good at trying to keep the ball in front of the outfield with that pitch. That’s what it’s about—locating your fastball, changing speeds and keeping the ball in the ballpark.
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He’s fun to watch.
more
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), For Philip Guston (1984); Either/OR (Richard Carrick, piano/celesta; Margaret Lancaster, flutes; David Shively, percussion), live, Philadelphia, 2015
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lagniappe
reading table
flitting butterfly–
every corner of my hut
is inspected—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827; translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
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)
MCOTD Hall of Fame
Today drummer Hamid Drake (1955-) enters the MCOTD Hall of Fame, joining saxophonists Von Freeman and Henry Threadgill; trumpeter Lester Bowie; gospel singer Dorothy Love Coates; composer Morton Feldman; poets John Berryman, William Bronk, and Wislawa Szymborska; and photographer Helen Levitt. Whatever the situation, he adds oxygen.
DKV Trio (HD, drums; Kent Kessler, bass; Ken Vandermark, baritone saxophone), live, Chicago, 2010
MCOTD Hall of Fame
Morton Feldman (1926-1987), For Philip Guston (1984), excerpt; Claire Chase (flute, alto flute, piccolo), Steven Schick (percussion), Sarah Rothenberg (piano, celesta), live, Houston (Rothko Chapel), 2014
All that holiday noise—BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!—leave you with a hangover?
Here’s the perfect antidote.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Piano and String Quartet, 1985; Aki Takahashi and Kronos Quartet, 1993
(Taking a break—back in a while.)
More.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987), Palais de Mari (1986)
Ivan Ilić (piano), 2014
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Chicago (Columbus Park)
MCOTD Hall of Fame
Morton Feldman (1926-1987), For Bunita Marcus (1985), excerpt
Ivan Ilić (piano and commentary), 2015
music clip of the day 