(program)
Melodiya recording, printed in Canada
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Transcendental Etudes for Piano #10-12
Pianist: Lazar Berman
The green of your hair
And the blue of your skin
Love is a mirror
Where nobody sees
Look at your eyes and look at your soul
A little leaf in the love tree
“” Abre Las Manos —Devendra Banhart
it was hard to hear the music this week. i imagine it’s been a tough week for you too. i did my share of online shouting this week—if ever there was a week that was needed—but amidst all of that i tried to add to what i believe to be the most salient message right now: don’t burn the house down (to borrow again from that killer Killer Mike speech). i’m tired of talking about race, because at this point i want to believe that there’s nothing new to be added, and the points to be made are either too obvious to belabour, or too subtle to parse at this moment of heightened sensitivity.
nevertheless, the cause is too important to flaunt one’s fatigue as a reason to not iterate and reiterate what generations of activism has made loud and clear: 1) black lives matter—that’s one of those things that should be too obvious to utter, and yet here we are, and 2) race is a false identity, and we must do whatever is needed to get to place where black or white has no baring on how we perceive each other (that falls into the camp of concepts that are perhaps too subtle for this moment, as it is too easily conflated with the purported virtue of ‘colourblindness’, which is just another form of doing nothing). because we could all use further education on the complexities of race relations—regardless of how obvious the moral corruption of racism is—i’m grateful to be able to join forces with writer Erin Baldwin and put together a list of books on the subject. on the other hand, one of the better pieces of writing i’ve seen this week about the aforementioned place we eventually need to get to—particularly in the performing arts—is baritone Andrew Adridge’s contribution to my on-going series with Ludwig Van Toronto. i urge you to give it a read, in it he describes how and why being conscious about the way black artists and creatives are made to feel like the other, is what organizations large and small will need to do before we can arrive at a place of race neutrality.
the combination of using this groundswell of activism to restate the obvious, and finding spaces to highlight the often very subtle and invisible obstacles to a future of race neutrality, is exactly how we don’t burn the house down. it’s how we don’t allow timidity to promote injustice, and don’t allow the anger and frustrations, though rightly felt, to disband a movement supported by burgeoning majority.
turning back to the music: like with everything else recently—disruptions, disruptions, disruptions. my initial album choice for this week was Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No.3 (Kaddish); but at the ten-minute-mark i could already tell that it’s hyperactive percussions and shouts of god-this and god-that was not going to match the mood of the week at hand. so i went back instead to complete the last three of Franz Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes, which i started last june. there’s just something about the summertime humidity in toronto that drives me towards music for the piano.
the piano at this time of year is for me a sort of reminder to adjust my metabolism. as the weather warms up: less symphonies, more french horns, less violins, more piano. rather than gulping nine of these Etudes in one week, like i did last year, taking them three at a time is a pace more conducive to slowing down a little, not using one’s resources up too quickly. the trio is as studious as any of the total twelve Transcendental Etudes, but there’s an alacrity to the way they leap off the instrument, a furrowed tension to their surface—a befitting soundtrack to a week that just wouldn’t let up.
Liszt nearly exhausts his repertory of difficulties in this piece, including rapid skips, octave passages, intricate figurations, rapid passagework , and so on. “” Leslie Gerber, notes for the recording.
In some respects this piece is similar to Chopin’s Nocturnes, except that it is more extended in development than most of them and demands considerably greater facility. “” Leslie Gerber, notes for the recording.
The literal translation of the title is “snowplow,” although surely something more like a sleigh must have been meant. The snow itself is clearly heard in the swirling chromatic scales as it is blown about in the wind. “” Leslie Gerber, notes for the recording.
(song of the week: ‘Abre las manos’ — Devendra Banhart)
this is my favourite song off of Devendra Banhart’s 2019 album titled Ma, though ‘Memorial’ comes in a close second. i’ve been thinking: about what it means to be adamant, but with an open hand. to be unyielding, yet with arms wide open. to be able to open and close in response to the presence of all kinds of light—the virtue of tulips—strikes me as the most profound sense of self-preservation.
Abre las alas el mundo te espera
Una sorpresa que Dios te guarda
Abre las manos el cielo te guarda
Un regalito que es solo pa' ti
El verde de tu pelo
Y el azul de tu piel
El amor es un espejo
Donde nadie se ve
Cierra tus ojos y mira tu alma
Una hojita en el árbol de amor
Abre los ojos mira quien te ama
Una rama, rama, rama, rama
Tu dios es mi diosa
No puede ser differente
Mi diosa es tu dios
No le pares a la gente
Mira el abasto cubrido de sangre
Te estaba buscando pero no hay nadie
Mira el museo fue destrozado
Por gente que nunca habia entrado
Mira la fila, veinte mil horas
Ahí está mi tía esperando su pan
Qué porcentaje de gente con hambre
Es necesario pa' que algo cambie
Ayer mi vecina fue secuestrada
Quería contarte pero eso no es nada
Abre las manos, el mundo te espera
Un regalito que es solo pa' ti
Es solo pa' ti
Es solo pa' ti
Es solo pa' ti
Open your wings the world awaits you
a surprise that God keeps you
Open your hands the sky keeps you
A gift that is only for you
The green of your hair
And the blue of your skin
Love is a mirror
Where nobody sees
Look at your eyes and look at your soul
A little leaf in the love tree
Open your eyes see who loves you
A branch branch branch branch
Your god is goddess
It cannot be different
My goddess is your god
Do not stop people
Look at the supply covered with blood
I was looking for you but there is nobody
Look at the museum was destroyed
For people who never entered
Look at the line, a thousand hours
There is my aunt waiting for her bread
What percentage of people gone hungry
Is necessary for something to change
Yesterday my neighbor was kidnapped
I wanted to tell you but that's nothing
Open your hands the world awaits you
A gift that is only for you
It's just for you
It's just for you
It's just for you
Throwback to: Year 1, Week44 / Year 2, Week44
Click here for the full 2019/2020 roster of composers