December 13, 2015
Finnegans Wake Part I, Chapter 2 - James Joyce
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| the table is set for Finnegans Wake |
Neal Kosály-Meyer, with Jake Thompson
Karen and I played a small part at the end of this production, aiming spotlights at Neal as he circumnavigated the space while performing The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly, shadowed by Jake Thompson playing bodhrán. The staging was less elaborate than last year's Chapter 1, but it really doesn't need much. He performed the greater part of it off to the side, allowing his amplified voice to occupy the dark stage alone.
Recorded
December 15, 2015
Quartet for Winds - Arthur Berger - Boehm Quintet
Subject matter: How harmonies arise from melody's twinings, and how they persist within their further twinings.
Concerto for Oboe - Richard Strauss - English Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim, Neil Black
Pleasing to the very end.
Sonatine - Karlheinz Stockhausen - Saschko Gawriloff, Aloys Kontarsky
A clever, attractive little piece from early in Stockhausen's oeuvre, with hints of Monk among his own clearly emerging voice. It is a short stylistic step from here to the music box pieces.
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra - Roger Sessions - Westchester Philharmonic, Paul Lustig Dunkel, Robert Taub
The murky motor rhythm strenuously fails to hold things together, threads slip out on their own cognizance - things to do, places to unravel.
December 17, 2015
Elis - Heinz Holliger - Klára Körmendi
Strong keyboard gestures predominate. In the middle, suddenly, emerges what is about the most effective use of non-standard (inside the piano) techniques I can easily bring to mind, subtly integrated with some exquisite pedal work.
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| Greg Short (1938-1999) |
This was from my recital, Preludes in Seattle, of June 10, 2006, at University Temple United Methodist Church. I first encountered Greg Short in about 1970, when I performed two of his teaching pieces, Knuckle Rag and Little Rose, at a concert sponsored by one of the local music teachers' associations. His preludes are thorny pianistic puzzles in the Lisztian stamp. For a pianist of my modest technique the experience of performing them can be terrifying, but listening back after nearly a decade I find the pieces themselves to be quite attractive. I just wish some better pianist than I would pick these up and work on them. Though difficult, the piano writing is deeply intelligent, always effective, and well worth the trouble. Cristina? Tiffany? Julie? Adrienne? Anybody?
You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks - Funkadelic [collected from Dave Marsh's Heart of Rock & Soul]
The backing chorus arrangement features impressively reckless Bach-like stretto, ultra-quick, and is that ring modulation I hear on some of those bass tones? Gobs of great.
The Montreux/Berlin Concerts (cuts 1 and 2) - Anthony Braxton
A little jazz number of Brucknerian proportions.
In Session at the Tintinabulary
December 14, 2015
Banned Telepath 42 Seattle 151214
Banned Telepath 42 Somerville 151214
Banned Rehearsal 900 151214 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Neal Kosály-Meyer (in Seattle); Aaron Keyt (in Somerville)
Wow. 900. Wow.
It took us 31 and 1/2 years, averaging 28 1/2 numbered sessions per year. My how the time has flown.
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