Wednesday, December 31, 2008

looking back and beyond


annus mirabilis, annus horribilis - this has been both and will always be remembered with (very) mixed emotions: a year which saw my work here recognised and respected by the subject who inspired it, yet which also saw me increasingly alienated from sections of the online musical community/-ies... which saw me evolve my work and then fail to carry on with it, beyond a certain point (for the time being) - a year, above all, which began with unexpected news and in many ways culminated with the birth of our daughter, yet which right at the end saw us put to sleep our beloved first dog. there has been more (di)stress crammed into this one year than i thought possible and i'm very glad to see the back of it.

so i want to look forward and beyond really, rather than back (though there has been plenty of that over the last 24 traumatic hours, and i'm sure there's more soul-searching in the post... as if there is anything else, with me around)... the blog will continue, albeit it might well take a while to get going again in the new year - next post will be my continued statement of intent explaining a bit more about what form i expect the blog to take, and where i am still going with the braxtothon, such as it is(n't). meanwhile i have had precious little time to listen to anything meaningful lately, but did fill my ears with the 1978 solo köln concert within the last few days - or the first part of it; the first four pieces contain so much music in themselves that it felt like an entire concert's worth of material just there. once again, i know there is work for me to do concerning this man's music and i'll be heeding the call in the year(s) to come.

6 comments:

MALALE said...

I don't know if I'm misinterpreting your tone as downward, but I want to say I love your site. I am glad of this slow exploration of the music.

I clicked back to the january 08 of your blog, and saw you were listening to the Charlie Parker Project. I think that was the first braxton I got. Also, it seemed to get some friends of mine (maybe rocker types) interested in jazz pretty immediately (but they didn't all start buying braxton musics) - idiots

centrifuge said...

heh... thankyou very much.

tone was not so much straightforwardly down as more reflective, but there has been a n awful lot of sadness and regret in my life over the last few days. at the same time the sunshine is never too far away, both outside (well... today is frozen white actually, but yesterday was sun-filled) and inside. still and all, thanks for the encouragement... it is always gratefully received. c x

Nuage fiché qui rêve said...

Happy new year my friend ; lately I've been listening to b on standards (Piano Quartet, Yoshi's 1994 (Music & Arts) and, what can I say, great moments !

Amitiés

Frédito lindo el philistin

centrifuge said...

salut mon pote... j'ai depuis longtemps l'intention de t'ecrire... mais j'y arrive pas encore, comme tu peux le constater ;-)

happy new year to you also!

i haven't got that album myself... as you know, b's standards albums are not generally my favourites, though of course there are many great moments to be found among them... my latest purchase (before xmas) was the *two compositions (trio) 1998* 2cd on leo, two excellent first species gtm performances by two different all-reed trios... any attempt to analyse gtm in much detail is still some way off in the future though!

serviceton said...

centrifuge, well I *regularly* drop by - at least once a year you know...
Thanks for the Carter/Encounter post - to hear intelligent appreciation of the great man's music makes me happy
- Sorry to hear of distress and trauma..
If you need a crash-course in raising a baby girl from a tiny pink thing into a burly babbling toddler, I'm happy to assist! ( Secret Handbook available for 2/6d )
drop me a line any time (it's gmail, & my name - very straightforward) Or not, however you feel it..
But love peace and serenity in your general direction my man. That's to you AND yours....
:o)

centrifuge said...

serviceton, hi there - and thanks... i am glad that SOMEone saw and enjoyed the carter post; by the time i got round to it, the water had gone cold really...

... but as you can see from the lack of new posts round here, i don't have as much time on my hands as i used to! for the same reason, don't be offended if i don't contact you just yet: i am having trouble keeping in touch with my correspondents as it is (see previous comments!). in any case it is nice to hear from you :)