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Heartfelt wishes for the people of Japan in these their tragic, challenging times.
Peace, blessings.
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To anyone who has seen Akira Kurosawa’s beautiful, magical film Dreams, the coincindences are unsettling. Along with the surreal episode featuring Martin Scorsese as Vincent van Gogh, the film is wonderfully bracketed by opening and closing processional dreams – the ending, hopeful and complete.
The haunting, closing music by Ippolitov–Ivanov, “In the Village” from his Caucasian Sketches, is reminiscent of Andrei Tarkovsky’s films.
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From beloved Saint Amadeus’ Die Zauberflöte. Here’s a more recent, hellacious ‘live’ version performed by Erika Miklosa. Wow. One comment mentions she could EAT YOUR SOUL, indeed! Those high Cs should tickle your kundalini.
Overture from same, from Ingmar Bergman’s joyful 1975 film production, a classic.
Is that Julian Assange at 1:34? Mostly likely not.
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Whatever gets you through the night, it’s alright, it’s alright. The incomparable Hélène Grimaud, performing J.S. Bach’s Concerto in D minor, first movement. Though abridged (0:57 – fire Herr Direktor) a spectaculum performance nonetheless of our Great Grandaddy of Western Musik’s First Concerto for Harpsichord, albeit v. 2008.
For those perhaps a little unfamiliar, it’s easy enough to imagine the music blazing along like a fast and furious Indy race – cars/notes constantly jockeying for position, strategies, fake-outs and the ever possible thrill (did you catch it?) of that one missed note – a catastropic Spinout and Crash! One almost fears that at any moment, any one of those trills could come flying spectacularly loose, taking out the first violinist – Rites of Stravinsky be damned! Fortunately, this driver/pianist is locked in, in full control.
By way of comparison, here, another equally superlative interpretation, movement in full, by legendary Glenn Gould.
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For those of you on the upper side of the Equator, a little nachtmusik to help you make it thorough the long cold wintery nacht. For those of you below, well, Hail Invictus!
