Piano Concerto (1983). Peter Lieberson /aws: part 1 of 8/

I was in Berkeley today for the Alarm Will Sound Plays John Adams concert.

No trip to Berkeley is complete without visits to Amoeba, Cody's, and Moe's. At Amoeba, I actually had time to fish through the (dwindling) bargain bins on the floor and came up with Peter Lieberson performed by Peter Serkin, American music for the theatre from the Utah Symphony, Tchaikovsky Discovers America ("A Tale of Courage and Adventure." ???), and from the used bins, the Duke Quartet playing Barber/Dvorak/Glass and the California Symphony (with Al Jarreau ???) playing Lou Harrison. Finally, I found a new Chas Smith CD, descent.

At Cody's, I bought the new Wire magazine that has a stern-looking Phill Niblock on the cover. I also found Alberto Manguel's A Reading Diary. This is yet another book where the author takes a year to write about the books he/she is reading. I don't know why exactly but I enjoy reading about someone else's reading (e.g. this novelist/soccer geek). Manguel has also written a history of reading -- is there an equivalent for listening?

The consumer in me was satiated by the time I got to Moe's Books.

Comments

[David Ocker]

>is there an equivalent for listening?

The John CageBlog might be such a place
http://cageblog.blogspot.com/

[richard friedman]

If you like reading books about reading books, then you MUST read THE BOOKS IN MY LIFE by Henry Miller.

[Frank J. Oteri]

The Duke Quartet recording of the first Philip Glass quartet is quite a revelation. This early work (1966) predates 1+1 and Strung Out, his earliest canonical "additive process" minimalist pieces, but is not quite the Copland/Barber/Piston soundworld of his even earlier Brass Sextet (1964), the only other pre-signature Glass to make it onto CD. It's a transitional piece that shows Glass heading toward his subsequent compositional breakthrough although it is not quite there yet. As such, it is a fascinating time capsule as well as a tantalizing glimpse of a different path Glass's work might have taken. I'm eager to read your reaction to it!

[Steven Davies]

It is good to know that because I like classical piano music very much.
Keep up the good work.