The Dept. of Interior and the White House jointly hosted an awards ceremony and reception for our nations’ most visible volunteers today. My good friend Katie Loovis, exec. director of Take Pride in America, brought me in with my colleagues, bassist Bhagwan Khalsa, and clarinetist Marty Nau to assist in their annual awards ceremony. Secretary Kempthorne did far more than offer welcoming remarks. He wanted to connect to the assembly of volunteers from around the country, and he wanted them to connect with each other as well. It was really quite moving, and we enjoyed coloring it all in with tunes ranging from our extemporaneous arrangements of “Grand Old Flag” to “How Much is that Doggie in the Window” (…that’s a long story).
The Mughal India exhibit at the Sackler Gallery is a tough one to decipher. Unless, of course, you get the tour from Smithsonian docent Roshna Kapadia. At that point, the context, symbolism, politics and artistic content come alive. In fact, I will make a point of catching all of Roshna’s tours and recommend that all of you do the same. She has deep understanding and passion for the subject.
Muraqqa’ Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library
Say “Mughal India ,” and the first image to pop up in anyone’s mind is the Taj Mahal. Currently on view at the Sackler Gallery of Art in Washington DC , you can see miniature paintings from the ateliers of Emperor Shah Jahan (who had the marmoreal mausoleum built), his father, Jehangir, and grandfather, Akbar among other royal notables. This collection, on loan (more…)
I first met pianist Steven Beck when he was 16 or so. Martin Goldsmith was hosting a book event for Fred Starr, author of Bamboula, the bio of Gottschalk. Martin enlisted me to play some Gottschalk excerpts, and I in turn recruited Steve to play part of the Grande Tarantelle, which he was about to perform with the National Symphony Orchestra. For his reward, I gave him my copy of the book.
So 14 years later Steve is about to unleash all 32 of the Beethoven sonatas at Barge Music starting July 16, 2008. This is an effort that I simply cannot imagine myself doing, and is the domain of the rare pianist. The last time I attended such a marathon was when Wilhelm Kempff performed them to an exclusive audience at the Brahmssaal in Vienna in 1974. Kempf was at the very end of his career and the audience was worshipful to say the least. Every pianist and teacher was there, including John O’Connor, Dieter Weber, Noel Flores, etc.
So I am confident there will be a crowd of the cognoscenti lurking at Barge Music. I will attend on July 20 when he does opus 10 nr. 1, opus 22, 26, and 109.
Yes, we finally have an excellent cafe in the neighborhood, Pastry Xpo. Beautiful French delicacies and cakes, and superb coffee. I just hope it lasts. They offer samples every morning, and I could sustain myself on those alone. It is a very high end pastry shop, and a real treasure for the neighborhood… Just have a look at the rave from the Washington Post this week.
Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall welcomed our performance the other night. Cellist Alexander Scheirle and percussionist John Ostrowski joined us for this one. It occurred to me that the core of the program was the same as our first performance at the Kennedy Center in 1999. Otherwise, it was basically the program that we’ve been performing in China and in Washington, D.C. over the last couple of years. The Shepherdess, Deep Night, Listen to the Pines, Bach, Kreisler, Spirit of My Erhu were all on that first program. (We could have done the Bartok in 1999 as well, but ran out of time.) Alexander played a large role in this one, notably in the duets with Ma Xiaohui on Clear Night, and Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger melody, to say nothing of Mustafa, Adios Noninos of Astor Piazzolla, Horse Race, & Jasmine Flower. The after-concert party took place at China Regency restaurant across the street.
At Two Cities Gallery in Moganshan Lu, I stopped by to hear vocalist Jasmine Chen and my friend pianist Steve Sweeting on March 28. The Gallery was jammed, and I couldn’t even get close to the stage, but I did get a good idea of just what the performers were aiming for. It was Shanghai eclecticism at its best. It had a whiff of Barbara Cook with Wally Harper, the legendary duo of the 80’s and 90’s, with a relaxed, unhurried walk through thoughtful and unfamiliar repertoire. Well, unfamiliar because half of it was composed and written by the performers themselves, including Jasmine’s new lyric for the Paul Desmond classic, Take 5. Jasmine sings with a calm and pure understatement that allows the song to speak for itself. The audience loved this performance.
PROGRAM
莫愁湖边走 Mo chou hu bian zou: Describes Mo Chou Lake, (Chinese: “don’t be sad and worried,”) the writer is walking by the lake, where everything is beautiful and where one may forget sadness. (more…)
May 23, 2008
Coco Zhao, Peng Fei, Huang Jianyi, EJ Parker and Chris Trzinski paid a visit to Washington for a concert on May 3. Emceed by our friend Larry Appelbaum, the concert was a reminder of the finesse and power of this fine band, somewhat eponymously named Possicobilities. Almost as gratifying was our sightseeing trip around DC, including an exciting adventure downtown which you’ll have to inquire of the band to get the whole story. Hopefully DC is second or at least a third home for Coco, et al, and we are already planning a return visit. The concert merited an article in the Washington Post. The visit was entirely too short, but a welcome breath of Shanghai air! The illustrious Mark Elliot accompanied the group on the tour which started in Toronto.
Sangbok Lee is showing her works Georgetown Art Gallery in Washington, DC. In her words: “In recent years most of my paintings have been developed by using modally abstracted images. These images have been developed from my traditional value of Nature which is based on the far Eastern Asian culture. I believe that I have developed a style which is unique for producing these abstract images using Hanji, a Korean traditional paper that has several hundred years of history. My feelings are expressed in the delicately spreading colors and the creation of textures, and spiritual contemplation is expressed on my canvas.”
I had the pleasure of visiting the gallery yesterday. Indeed, Sangbok weaves a delicate, sinuous web, a highly refined style to express simple philosophical concepts. Her works are meticulously crafted, with subtle use of color. The website photos do a good job of representing the variegations in the paper, so have a look.
April 8, 2008
There are a million food joints in Shanghai, so new discoveries are made every second. My latest favorite is a Sichuan restaurant near my hotel. The address is 1297 Kai Xuan Lu, at Anshu Lu. It is a typical rustic style Chinese restaurant, with big wooden tables and plenty of big red lanterns hanging from the ceiling. A big feature is the home brewed beer. Yes indeed, you may order black or white, and both are superb. Otherwise, we ordered some fine dumplings, a tasty frog dish with plenty of that Sichuan whallop, and a very flavorful chicken dish. Flavor. No shortage of it at this joint. I was the guest of Shen Hong, a Shanghai educator, who graciously and patiently listened to my outrageous ideas on secondary education (exam free, arts heavy, etc.) Jing provided the lively conversation.
Yup, it was Jenny, Coco and the blogger for lunch in Xintiandi on March 28. Jenny is my Chinese teacher. She lives in Shanghai, I live in D.C. How do we do it? Chinesepod.com, of course! Jenny, truly one of the great slicers & dicers of language nuance, is my online Mandarin teacher. If you haven’t visited www.chinesepod.com, then you have not experienced modern education at its most sublime. I confess to spending at least 2 hrs per day, usually before 8 a.m., listening to Jenny & John go over the fine points of buying a battery or breaking off a relationship…in Mandarin, of course.
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