Archives for August 2005

Most people know Aaron Copland’s Rodeo and Billy the Kid (as well they should–they’re perfectly wonderful pieces, popular in the best possible way). Surprisingly few concertgoers, though, are familiar with the abstract instrumental pieces of Copland’s middle years, which are “abstract” only in the sense that they weren’t written to accompany ballets. In fact, you’ll find in them the same sweetly austere harmonies and long, leaping arches of melody that make Copland’s music so immediately distinctive and quintessentially American in sound and style.

I recommend the Violin Sonata of 1943, which Isaac Stern recorded in 1968 with Copland himself at the piano (he was a fine pianist, crisp and unmannered). It doesn’t get played much in concert, and I don’t know why, because it’s extraordinarily beautiful, from the gentle open-prairie lyricism of the first movement to the stomping vigor of the finale. Maybe it isn’t flashy enough for your typical hot-shot virtuoso. All I know is that the Copland Violin Sonata never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

– Jerome Robbins’ royalty in 1944 for each performance by Ballet Theatre of Fancy Free, his first ballet: $10

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $106.83

(Source: Deborah Jowitt, Jerome Robbins)

– Jerome Robbins’ royalty in 1944 for each performance by Ballet Theatre of Fancy Free, his first ballet: $10

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $106.83

(Source: Deborah Jowitt, Jerome Robbins)

I’ll go my way by myself, this is the end of romance.

I’ll go my way by myself, love is only a dance.

I’ll try to apply myself and teach my heart to sing.

I’ll go my way by myself like a bird on the wing,

I’ll face the unknown, I’ll build a world of my own;

No one knows better than I, myself, I’m by myself alone.

Howard Dietz, “By Myself” (music by Arthur Schwartz)

I’ll go my way by myself, this is the end of romance.

I’ll go my way by myself, love is only a dance.

I’ll try to apply myself and teach my heart to sing.

I’ll go my way by myself like a bird on the wing,

I’ll face the unknown, I’ll build a world of my own;

No one knows better than I, myself, I’m by myself alone.

Howard Dietz, “By Myself” (music by Arthur Schwartz)

Don’t know if anyone else caught the highly ridiculous yet entertaining premiere of Prison Break tonight–don’t look at me, I was diligently working on my review that’s due later this week!–but if nothing else it was notable for what I believe must be the first prominent use of Chicago’s Millennium Park as a dramatic backdrop. And a good use it was, too–I’m told–capitalizing on the Crown Fountain‘s big, spitting images for their creepy panoptical quality. Perhaps the next episode will treat us to some Bean action; there’s a star in the making if I ever saw one. (If you want to catch up, tonight’s premiere airs again Thursday at 7:00 pm Bean Daylight Time, 8:00 Eastern.)

Shepard Smith of Fox News was on Bourbon Street late Sunday afternoon, carrying a cell phone and watching the diehards party. He ran into one man who was walking his dogs.

“What are you still doing here?” he asked the man incredulously.

“None of your ——- business,” the man answered.

I wonder where that guy is now?

A few brief notes from a harried blogger:

– Last night’s Erin McKeown show at Schuba’s was a blast whose double aftereffect I’m still feeling: I’m still all charged up from it and at the same time rather crestfallen that it’s over. This show was quite different from her appearance last year on the same stage–as one of my companions put it, the brainy chanteuse of Distillation and Grand gave way to the brainy rocker of We Will Become Like Birds for this one–but no less exhilarating. McKeown played almost everything from the new album, recast some old favorites in new tempos, and generally poured her heart out all over the stage. This was not surprising, but the opening act was: Chicago-based folk singer and guitarist Rachel Ries was just captivating with her melodious waterfall of a voice and a very disarming stage presence. Her brand-new album is available here.

– Hooray–as promised, the Chicago Reader recently beefed up its on-line presence, adding features, reviews, and in fact all content to its website, here. The current issue of the free Chicago weekly notably contains a short story by local writer Kevin Guilfoile, of Coudal Partners and Cast of Shadows fame, that comes from a new anthology of Chicago Noir fiction. It’s available as a PDF.

– Memo to Random House production: If you must divide “Mussoliniesque”–especially at a page break–the only acceptable division is “Mussolini-esque.” Truly.