Copland, Cop Land, Kapell

I generally don't like much of Copland's music--though I haven't heard much of it, except in Spike Lee movies and the like--but the Piano Sonata (1941) is a great piece. HERE is a live recording made by the died-too-soon William Kapell at the Frick Collection in 1953. Also on the disk is Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, most memorable in Ravel's orchestration, or as an Emerson Lake and Palmer live album, or a Tomita album, or as the intro to Method Man's Tical. I've never seen Cop Land.

His Comics are better than His Paintings, but His Comics made me like His Paintings more

Ad Reinhardt and his comics and his paintings.

Dumb Japanese Doodles

Sengai Gibon (1750-1837) was a contemporary of Antonio Salieri (1750-1825).

Boring Dutch Squares

1658
1921

Uchida on Schoenberg

An illuminating discussion of some difficult 12-Tone music. Also, for the three people who look at this, below is an album with Uchida playing several Second Viennese School classics, including the Concerto for Piano in the clip, with Boulez keeping time instead of Tate. The disc also has some solo piano music by Schoenberg, Webern, and a Berg sonata that I've never really enjoyed.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/vefq3m

U.S.S.R.ichter

Sviatolslav Richter

Friday, May 25th, 2007

Initially I was mad, but then I thought it was really good

This one is a parody of a Beethoven Sonata.

Good Luck Segolene!

Avian Cannibals

Ambergris

A cute story about ambergris . Also this.

U.S.- Franco Relations

A Misfit Bibliophile

New York

DC

Abhorrence

Loren Mansfield

Whispers

Veronese

Paolo Veronese before the Inquisition in Venice

Great Lakes

Asymmetrical warfare is hard to beat

"They are smart, they are creative, they are committed. They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us."

Rear Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr. on the motives behind the suicide of three captives at Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.