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Issei Suda Yokohama Sankeien Garden, Kanagawa, 1977 From the series: Sushi Kaden Gelatin silver print, 168 x 172 mm. © Issei Suda, Only Photography, Berlin

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Brad Mehldau - Between the Bars (Official Video)

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Kozo Miyoshi

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Franck - Prelude, Fugue, et Variation, op.18

This piece was originally for organ, part of a series of six pieces that were meant to explore the different colors and sounds possible with new French technical innovation and organ engineering. While the music has a delicious neo-Baroque atmosphere, the prelude is especially gorgeous on piano. I can’t help but think of an English country house at the turn of the century, there’s fog outside, deer on the lawn. The prelude is built out of a melody in the shape of a wave, a melancholic mode that rises and falls through different keys, until a chordal transition brings us into the fugue built out of a long and complicated subject, though the texture is comparatively thin, slowly building to a heavy climax. The mood is still darker, somber, and then comes the variation, which is a restatement of the prelude but with more elaboration and ornamentation. Like many of Franck’s minor key works, it ends on a high note, redemption and peace.

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1937 Aspect télescopique de Mars vintage celestial print

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昭和51年

SMセレクト

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Chopin - Nocturne in bb minor, op. 9 no. 1 (1832)

Back when I first got into classical music, the Chopin nocturnes were my favorite pieces. I especially adored the very first published one, which is overshadowed by the more iconic second nocturne. The structure is so simple, ternary form where the B section repeats a few times before returning to A. But it achieves Chopin’s goal of using the nocturne to be like little opera arias for the piano. As a teen, I was quite the “Romantic”, so this piece always made me think of nighttime, the woods under moonlight, fields, stars, etc. The opening section has a melody flowing freely over the left hand pattern, ignoring the rhythm for its own coloratura pacing. This is what makes me think of shadowy trees, walking along in the dark, as if it’s the wind’s music. We then go into the middle section, in a major key but it isn’t really “happy” as it is a quiet contentment. The simple melody in octaves over the repeating left hand. Calmness at night. This music makes me think more of space, like the stars, the moon, without sticking to images on Earth. The melody builds up, gets louder, and we get a second voice in homophonic harmony. Then, it dies off again, the last repeat of the melody is soft, delicate, the two voices playing the simple harmony over the simple pattern in the left hand. And this simplicity has such a quiet beauty to it. We’re only here for a moment before going back to the opening section, the romantic Parisian salon section. We end with a few unexpected modulations, a soft descending pattern, and a rolled chord. I could listen to this over and over again, and never get tired. Even after all these years, the music gives me the same emotions and impressions I felt when I first heard it. I just listened to it again driving through country roads at dusk. There’s something about this time of day, the last glimpse of the world before everything gets dark. Those things are still there, the trees, the buildings, even though you can’t see them. Strange to think about how still it must feel in the most remote parts of the world. This nocturne gives me that strange sense of loneliness and stillness.

Pianist: Vladimir Ashkenazy

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"An Elusive Echo," 2023 © Widline Cadet. Courtesy of the artist and Nazarian/Curcio

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The Strange Case of Dr. Fausto, 1969, Gonzalo Suárez

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set of two early 19th century ormolu candleholders with floral motives on the bases and stem @gallery_johnvolleman IG

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Osamu Shiihara  題名不詳 / Title Unknown 337×433mm, Gelatin Silver Print, 1930s ©The Estate of Osamu Shiihara, care of Tamotsu Shiihara, courtesy MEM, Tokyo

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Decasia: Excerpt Three (Bill Morrison, 2002)

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Gregor Hildebrandt. AUF FALSCHER SEITE IN DIE FALSCHE RICHTUNG. 6 Jun 2025 – 26 Jul 2025