In an effort to maintain what little sanity I have left I went out on the street yesterday and played music to the birds.
Or should I say the birds serenaded my music.
Keeping an eye out for the grumpy cop, I played Haydn, Bach and Mozart softly. The spring birds sang lustily from nearby trees. Very charming.
One friend remarked to me that the birds seemed to like “my” Mozart. I said that I liked the birds’ music.
Earlier I ran into some videos of an excellent pianist named Hiromi. I picked up on her “Choux a la Creme” which played on the streaming jazz station. And then there’s this:
You tell me what kind of music she is playing. I can close my eyes imagine it is written by Ligetti or some other “contemporary” composer. I quite like it.
This morning I started off listening to BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week show on Schubert. Click the pic below to stream it.
My brother recommended a Netflix streaming video of Harlan Ellison’s Dreams with Sharp Teeth. I have been a fan of Ellison’s for years.
This is a pretty clear picture of him, warts and all. He is full of shit, but I do love him and a lot of his writing.
At 72, he makes an excellent grumpy old man.
Ended the day cooking. Made marinated carrots, cubed rutabaga, sweet potato soup (withOUT the chipotle…. it was excellent), and served it to myself with some tabouleh and diet cherry Dr. Pepper. Ahhhhhh.
She plays at Tatumic speed! And I noticed, I think, that she used a technique of Fats Waller (or who was it?) — striking the piano with a fist and then resolving it into another harmony. Cool piece, cool playing.
Yes she has an interesting bag of tricks that she seems to use in much of her playing: the tone clusters, the damping of the bass notes to simulate a bass solo and others. I love her energy which comes through stronger to me in her playing than her energetic stage manner.
Speaking of piano, I recently made a brief return engagement at Our Lady of the Lake and was pleasantly surprised to find the Bluthner in good working order. What a piano!