Monday, February 16, 2004
Music for the month
Peace all.
I hate when this happens: my music club caught me for not sending an internet reply, so I found a cd in the mail. But you know, it was quite great. Never had a recording of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. Young pianist, Lang Lang makes my mouth water. Can't remember the orchestra, but until you listen about ten times to this, who notices the orchestra anyway?
Also revisited the Chicago Symphony's rendition of Rhapsody in Blue, the original Ferde Grofe wind arrangement that was played at that wonderful debut concert in ... 1924? Gershwin was sheer genius. I never appreciated him until about five or six years ago, and now I keep wishing I had more. I'm convinced he would have overshadowed Ellington as America's greatest composer if he had lived a few more decades. Surely Gershwin would have eventually tackled writing symphonies in his forties and fifties. (I can't imagine him writing pop music in the decades of Elvis and the Beatles.)
Not much to speak of in popular music this month. I'm not really listening to very much these days anyway.
Have you heard any good music lately? Any of your own thoughts on America's greatest composer(s)?
