Inspiration ~ Dec21
New music ~ Wongs Cafe ~ it is no secret I love Vulfpeck and all things Cory Wong and I’m hard pressed to ignore a new record from him at the time of Christmas. It’s more sonic ambrosia as you’d expect.
Performance ~ Marvin Gaye ~ not too much to say here except I was totally swept up in Marvin Gaye’s recording of “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” when walking to a carol concert weirdly and revisited this performance of “What’s Going On” which is so flawless.
Music geek stuff ~ Steven Isserlis ~ I was really inspired to listen to the Bach cello suites when I heard Steven Isserlis discussing his new book (which is excellent so far). I’ve included as the ‘classical’ bit of the playlist this month two recordings of Yo-yo Ma performing the most famous bit (No.1 in G Major); one from 1983 and one from 2018. Both demonstrate his skill and the beauty of the music, but they are also strikingly different in their interpretation which demonstrates why these pieces can be at once simple (an unaccompanied single line of music) and profound. Ma could not have played the later interpretation as he does without his years of lived experience. Nor could the notes tell the story they did in the 1983 recording under his fingers now.
This month’s playlist:
