A sparkling operatic voice emanating from the 7-Eleven — strong soprano notes.
A woman passing, stunned, looked around her as if someone called her name, or like something she lost long ago was suddenly within walking distance.
Category Archives: music
On a cold note
Nonfiction stories dealing with surviving harsh rural winters appeal to me — a peculiar penchant.
I also have an affinity for the music of Russian composers, eg. Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich.
A parallel?
Chopin, too, is a favorite, and he’s from Poland — right up there, along with Schumann, a German.
Best books and music
These were the top three books and musical discoveries for me this year. They’re alphabetized and not in order of preference.
BOOKS
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer – Inspiring essays on preserving our ecosystem and restoring nature, written from the perspective of Native American tradition and spirituality.
- Essays One by Lydia Davis – A very rewarding and lively 512-page book, generally about the art and craft of writing. Davis discusses her own practices, and she also looks at the techniques of a wonderfully curated group of other writers. In addition, she discusses elements of visual art and photography.
- The Terrible by Yrsa Daley-Ward – A memoir dealing with self-discovery, empowerment and family upbringing, conveyed through prose and poetry, written in a unique voice.
Some notes
Schubert’s notes softly coexist. Variations like an energy field. Potentiality, then sonata eighth notes. Piano — universal life field. Bionetwork notes. I am a C major w/ tendencies of D minor. Do C major and D minor exist beyond the piano or any other instrument. If a note rang out in the forest and no one was there to listen.
Classical likes
For those who enjoy a good dose of baroque music, I’d like to recommend Gabrielli & Scarlatti: Complete Cello Works, by Guadalupe López-Íñiguez. It is quite exquisite…
If you’re into supporting women classical musicians like I am, then also check out the following:
- J.S. Bach: French Suites — Chopin: Mazurkas, by Alexandra Sostmann
- A Chopin Diary (Complete Nocturnes), by Claire Huangci
- Vivaldi: Complete Cello Sonatas, by Ophélie Gaillard
- The Baroque Harp, by Judy Loman
- The Genius of Salzedo, by Judy Loman
- Anything by pianist Yuja Wang
The clever reference in ‘Show Me’
It’s so cool that Chrissie Hynde repeatedly refers to love as “the word” in the Pretenders’ ’80s-era song Show Me. It seems a suave intracultural reference to the 1965 song The Word by the Beatles. That song, of course, was referring to love, as well. Also, a beautiful and poetic line in the Pretenders’ song: Welcome here from outer space / The Milky Way is still in your eyes. That line makes me think of a newborn coming into the world.
