Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

Stories:

• Rachel Harrison, Bad Dolls: Stories (Berkley, 2022): “Filled with women on the cusp of change — a bad breakup, sexual discovery, an extreme diet — (these stories) explore the dark side of being female in the 21st century.”
• Thomas Mann, Thomas Mann: New Selected Stories (Liveright, 2023): “The power of the story comes from Mann confronting his own reticence, writing fiction whose frankness belonged to the world of his elder children as they did what they pleased in the chaotic Germany of the early 1920s.”

Poetry

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Edward Elgar, Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 (1919) (approx. 25-30’), can be heard as an “Elegy for a Vanishing World”. “In spite of . . . contradictions (between his private and public self), Elgar wore the mask of the proper Edwardian gentleman with complete commitment and not a hint of irony, and he was deeply affected by the unravelling of the Imperial order he had come of age in. He seemed to need to keep both sides of his personality in balance, to be both insider and outsider, Establishment icon and bohemian rebel” “In spite of fleeting moments of idyllic release, it's dominated by disillusionment, by a sense of suffering that at times cries out against life, yet more often speaks in quiet anguish.” “Alice Elgar was at her husband’s side at the first performance, in October 1919. But her health was not good, and when she died the following April, part of Elgar’s creative spark died with her. . . . Edward also was ill at this time. He had been suffering from serious throat problems, and in March 1918, he had a septic tonsil removed; the day he left the nursing home he asked for pencil and paper and wrote down the opening theme of this cello concerto.” The first movement, Adagio moderato, presents an inescapable concern; the second movement, Lento – Allegro molto, evokes wrestling with the concern; the third movement, Adagio, is a dark night of the soul, beginning a transformation toward resolution; in the fourth movement, Allegro – Moderato – Allegro ma non troppo - Poco piú lento – Adagio, the concern is addressed and a bit of freedom emerges amid the continued struggle. Benjamin Zander explains the work here and here. Top recorded performances are by Harrison (Elgar) in 1928; du Pré (Barbirolli) in 1965 ***; Ma (Previn) in 1985; Kliegel (Halász) in 1991; Mørk (Rattle) in 1998; Wispelwey (van Steen) in 1998; Clein (Handley) in 2007, Gabetta (Venzago) in 2010, Isserlis (Hickox) in 2011; Sheku Kanneh-Mason (Rattle) in 2020; and Gautier Capuçon (Pappano) 2024. Here it is performed on viola by Carpenter (Eschenbach) in 2009. Here is a list of performances. 

Ludwig van Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130 (1826) (approx. 38-44’), with Grosse Fuge in B flat major, Op. 133 (approx. 52-55’): as originally composed, the Gross Fugue served as the conclusion for the 13th String Quartet. The work is peculiar for its use of the key of G-flat major, a difficult key musically and compositionally. Beethoven wrestles with this self-imposed problem much as we may wrestle with a life problem, chosen or unchosen. Beethoven’s several solutions to this musical problem serve as a musical metaphor for facing challenges we would rather not address, and either resolving them or, better still, turning them into productive parts of our lives. “. . . Beethoven was an undaunted pioneer and artistic visionary who created, particularly in the late quartets, truly complicated works of high art that speak on many levels lending themselves to multiple if not infinite interpretations and reactions. They are indescribably compelling works that have mesmerized players, composers, scholars, poets and avid listeners for nearly two hundred years. Perhaps one of their most essential traits is that they can become as ‘difficult’ as one wishes or, miraculously, as direct, simple and obvious as one's willingness to hear and feel. It is entirely your own prerogative to ‘understand’ them as you can and as you will.” After all, this is art. Top recorded performances are by Busch String Quartet in 1941, Hungarian Quartet in 1953, Hollywood String Quartet in 1957, Végh Quartet in 1974 ***, Talich Quartet in 1977, Emerson String Quartet in 1994 (here is the Grosse Fuge), Takács Quartet in 2003-2004, Endellion String Quartet in 2009, Quatuor Mosaïques in 2014, Quatuor Ébène in 2019, Ehnes Quartet in 2021, Dover Quartet in 2022, and Arianna String Quartet in 2023. 

Other works:

• Edwin York Bowen, String Quartet No. 2 in D minor, Op. 41 (1918) (approx. 29’): “. . . although the music is most accessible, its execution can still present difficulties in view of Bowen's predilection for virtuosity and his profound compositional style.”
• Camargo Guarnieri, Piano Concerto No. 3 (1964) (approx. 27’): this concerto is rich in “instrumental colours coupled with a constantly inflected dynamic palette” (James Melo, from notes for this album).
• Guarneri, Piano Concerto No. 5 (1970) (approx. 22-23’)
• Sofia Gubaidulina, Garten von Freuden und Traurigkeiten (Gardens of Joy and Sadness), for flute, viola, harp and narrator (1980) (approx. 15-20’). The composer says: “At the basis of the musical rendering of the form of this piece is the opposition of the bright, major coloration of the sphere of natural harmonics against the expression of the intervals of minor second and minor third.”
• Mark Hagerty, “After Duchamp” (2009) (approx. 24’) was fashioned after Marcel Duchamp, whose mantra was “I have forced myself to contradict myself so as not to follow my own taste”.
• Jules Massenet, Piano Concerto in E-flat Major (1903) (approx. 28-30’): the protagonist faces every difficulty, without hesitation. 

Albums:

• Jihye Lee Orchestra, “Daring Mind” (2021) (65’): “Lee translates into music the emotional essence of the urban environment. She’ll unleash the rhythm section on the wispy woodwinds to signal unexpected aggression, or deploy the horn section to conjure the thrill of new adventures.”
• Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp & Nate Wooley, “Philosopher’s Stone” (2017) (50’): “What makes his music harder to approach than most jazz is . . . that it is all spontaneously improvised.”
• Monsieur Doumani, “Pissourin” (2021) (41’): in Greek-Cypriot dialect, the title means “total darkness”. “. . . one might think that Monsieur Doumani have written the soundtrack for the Dark Night of the Soul that we have all been blindly lumbering through.”

Music: songs and other short pieces

• Sia, “The Greatest” (lyrics)
• Sara Bareilles, “Brave” (lyrics)
• Franz Schubert (composer), “Der Kampf” (The Battle), D. 594 (1817) (lyrics)

Visual Arts

Film and Stage

• Vertigo, about “a dizzy fellow (chasing) after a dizzy dame”; “the most confessional (of Hitchcock’s films), dealing directly with the themes that controlled his art. It is about how Hitchcock used, feared and tried to control women”. It is also about confronting one’s greatest fear, and a study in reality versus illusion.