this weekend, i returned to the brooklyn public library (grand army plaza) to return apollinaire caligrammes, iris murdoch's the black prince, peter høeg's the woman and the ape (pure genius) and italo calvino's under the jaguar sun for works by janet frame and reine maria rilke, among others.
i caught a few concerts of note:
- bang on a can all-stars and trio mediæval gave quite a performance of julia wolfe's steel hammer at zankel on saturday evening, which reminded me simultaneously-at once-of a mix between louis andriessen, arvo pärt and aaron copland. haunting open harmonies, playful intertweaving of americana and tall tale. for one guy up in the mezz with me, it was too much - he stalked out, throwing down his program about 30 minutes through.
- the latter half of ensemble acjw's turn of schubert, curated by the genial alfred brendel, who i caught at age 13 in cheltenham, england, giving his last round of performances of the complete cycle of beethoven piano concertos with the london symphony. the "notturno" piano trio was particularly stellar: i was floating, transfixed, without a sense of the moment. the concert closed with the effervescent "shepherd on the rock" (for soprano, clarinet, and piano), handled masterfully by 3 delightful young performers.
i met up with the venerable composatrice zosha di castri to share thoughts about my MSM audition, among other projects. on the docket: jonathan harvey's nataraja, a light sonata by michel blavet, and a piece for flute alone...
