lively

Modernism Monday: “Christopher Columbus,” David Polansky

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Welp, this is “a whimsical song whose lyrics tout factual and near factual tidbits.”  So says Polansky, at least, and really, who am I to quibble.  Columbus Day is one of the many Mattress Holidays that we enjoy in this country (if you don’t know what a Mattress Holiday is, type it into the Search bar) and I treat it just about as reverently as it deserves, as does this song.

Sacred Sunday: Steve Reich, “Tehillim (Parts I and II)”

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Tehillim, pronounced “the-hill-leem,” are psalms.  Reich wrote these pieces in 1981.  The words of part one are taken from Psalm 19:1-4: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheath his handiwork.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheath knowledge.”  The second part, which begins at 11:31, is Psalm 34:13-15, whose words are: “Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.  Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.  The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.”

These pieces just make me so very happy.  If you’d like to know more about this music, this is a really interesting interview with Reich about the Tehillim in which he talks about what it was that caused him to compose these pieces.  It’s wonderful.

Throwback Thursday: “A Lieta Vita,” Giovanni Gastoldi

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Oh you think this is, “In dir est Freude?”  Oh aren’t you clever.  And yet – it isn’t!  Ha!  Fooled you!  Gosh, isn’t this blog fun.  This is a secular madrigal written in 16th century Italy by Giovanni Gastoldi to the tune of IDEF.  Lyrics and translation below.  Google Translate turned this into gibberish, but, as you can probably guess, since it’s a peppy secular song in Italian, it seems to be about love and happiness.  So that’s nice.

 

A lieta vita
amor c’in vita
Fa la la la la la fa la la la.
Chi gior brama
se di cor ama
donerá il core
a un tal signore.
Fa la la la la la fa la la la.
<2>
Hor lieta homai
scacciando i guai
Fa la la la la la fa la la la.
Quanto ci resta
viviamo in festa
e diam l’honore
a un tal signore.
Fa la la la la la fa la la la.
<3>
Chi a lui non crede
Privo è di fede.
Fa la la la la la fa la la la.
Onde haver merta
Contra se aperta
L’ira e’l furore
D’un tal Signore.
Fa la la la la la fa la la la.
<4>
Ne fuggir giova
Ch’ogli ognun trova:
Fa la la la la la fa la la la.
Veloci ha l’ali
E foco e strali.
Dunque s’adore
Un tal Signore.

Throwback Thursday: “La Folia: Rodrigo Martinez,” Anonymous

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This piece was written two years before Columbus “sailed the ocean blue” to “discover” “new worlds.”  (“In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus ran into land that already existed filled with people who had been living there for eons” doesn’t make as easy or memorable a rhyme.)  Regardless, it’s neat to hear music that was playing around that time.

Termagant Tuesday: “Hawaii,” New York Ska Jazz Ensemble

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Aloha, Tune Sharks!  Your intrepid blogger is in delightful Honolulu this week — for work.  (I know, right?)  What with the six hour time delay, I only now had a moment to send you a musical postcard.  I hope its weirdness will make up for my tardiness.

 

Throwback Thursday: “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,” Bernard Herrmann

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Ok, perhaps I’m going out on a limb posting this as a Thursday song, but I have always believed film scores can fall into the classical bin. So there we go. Tune Sharks, meet Bernard Herrmann. Herr Herrmann composed this in 1958, towards the middle of his career. If this suite sounds at all sounds familiar or reminds you of something else, it might be because this was written three years before Leonard Bernstein wrote the music for “West Side Story.” Herrmann was a prolific film composer, first writing the score for “Citizen Kane,” most of Hitchcock’s films, including “Vertigo,” “North by Northwest,” and “Psycho,” and Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver.”

Now that I’ve left you with a few interesting factoids, I’m getting on a plane. Toodle-oo!

Termagant Tuesday: “Don’t Panic,” The Quintet of the Hot Club of San Francisco

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So, get this, Tune Sharks.  I have to figure out how to pack for an almost three-week-long trip that will involve three stops, three states, three entirely different climates, two conferences, one week-long meeting, and…a rodeo.

HOW DO I PACK FOR THAT.

Beyond that ridiculous question, how do I ready my house for that absence?  Do I really have to eat all of my yogurt?  How about my granola?  Do I have to Lysol my baseboards or can I just do my countertops?  What about moths?  What about the ghost who opens my cabinets – should I duct tape them closed?  Can ghosts peel off duct tape?  What about the slight gap between my air conditioner and the world outside?  Should I plug that with socks?  Will I have enough socks left over after I pack my rodeo socks?  Do I even own rodeo socks? What the hell are rodeo socks?  Do hotels have dry cleaning or will I have to bring every suit I own?  And when did I lose the international traveller part of myself for whom a 19-day trip would be child’s play?  But seriously – moths?

Balls.

Modernism Monday: “Rainbow,” Robert Plant

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I’m as much of a Led Zeppelin fan as anyone, but I have always loved Robert Plant’s solo stuff.  His newest album, “Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar,” from which this song comes, is my favorite of his albums.  He’s such a pure musician, traveling everywhere for new ways to access the music that is always inside him.  He’s a lot like Paul Simon in that way, I think.  This track, in particular, is stunning.  For a super cool article with Plant, check out this piece on NPR.