November 25, 2012
Gradus 179 - Neal Meyer
Sequence of incident serves dynamic configuration
how it goes by is only to get at how it hangs in space
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| Paradise, Mt Rainier National Park - October 2005 |
Lifting solid sound into thin air
Caligaverunt - de Victoria - [from Rassegna Internazionale di Capelle Musicali Loreto 15-19 Aprile 1998]
Short phrases make intimate conversation
Salve Regina - Lodovico Grossi da Viadana - [from Rassegna Internazionale di Capelle Musicali Loreto 15-19 Aprile 1998]
Clarity of encounter phrase to phrase voice to voice chant to canon
Violinkonzert in E Major BWV 1042 - Bach - Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Kahane, Hilary Hahn
Violinkonzert in A minor BWV 1041 - Bach - Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Jeffrey Kahane, Hilary Hahn
An interesting thing is that in the movements of these concerti the play of balanced answering phrases is not the default method of unification. Here, often, subsequent phrases echo or amplify, veer or renew. When they do answer and balance, they do so with a vengeance.
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| Florida - 1983 |
The headphrase provides a handle to which all else attaches, a hub, a stable configuration. The text for glossing.
Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild BWV 79 - Bach - Gächinger Kantorei, Helmut Rilling
There is some intensely complex music here, especially the opening chorus.
Süsser Trost, mein Jesus Kommt BWV 151 - Bach - Gächinger Kantorei, Helmut Rilling
Expressive, but not dramatic.
November 26, 2012
Weichet nur, betrübten Schatten BWV 202 - Bach - Gächinger Kantorei, Helmut Rilling
The introduction to this set of bucolic dance-y songs is devastatingly beautiful.
November 27, 2012
L'Amant malheureux - Sylvius Leopold Weiss - Lutz Kirchhof
It may have something to do with how a late baroque sense of what can count as music fits itself onto the exigencies of the lute, but there is something about how the melodies hang within the figuration that reminds me of much older music, Machaut perhaps.
Symphony in D Major Hob. I:104 - Haydn - Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
November 29, 2012
Symphony in E-flat Major Hob. I:103 - Haydn - Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
In number 104 the slow introduction is a way of setting up goal posts and corners on the field within which the tonality is then to play. Once the movement proper begins the introduction vanishes. In 103 the introduction becomes part of a much crazier, Romantic idea, turning the entire movement, and thereby the symphony inside out. For some reason I wrote in my notebook that "2nd movement is like breakfast" but I can't remember why.
Piano Concerto in C minor Op. 37 - Beethoven - Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, Rudolf Serkin
Serkin is generous with clarity, almost to a fault.
Upcoming
Saturday May 4, 2013 at 8:00 PM
Keith Eisenbrey and Neal Meyer at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle
Music for solo piano
Eisenbrey: Welcome to my planet. I come in peace.
Meyer: Cage - Solo for Piano
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