I know the question on everyone's minds has been . . . will Pepper play anything under 10 minutes this week? You are in luck, because this twentieth century flute piece, which my high school self was quite taken with, comes in well under that mark.
Hélène Boulègue, flute
François Dumont, piano
(1 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
Loading... I was taken with another Þorvaldsdóttir composition recently that doesn't seem to exist as a live video anywhere, but my searching led me to this one.
January 31, 2019
Fun fact: I got to visit Harpa Concert Hall ever so briefly on my first day in Iceland.
And here's a trailer for the piece I'd wanted to play:
(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)Loading... I do also love me a good Philip Glass piece. This one is played by the man himself.
Montreal, March 7, 2015
(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)Loading... Since I last took a turn as guest DJ, I've been listening to a lot of classical music. So maybe that's what I'll do this week? We'll see...
June 26, 2020
This one is a longtime favorite; I think I actually had it on cassette back in the day!
(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)Loading... The jalapeno is in 7th grade and has had an iPhone for about six months now. We've recently started using a built-in feature called downtime to ensure he's staying off the phone during school and at bedtime. It's a nice concept, but you can't schedule multiple on and off times; so we schedule it until his lunchtime and then have to manually go in and restart it for the afternoon. Does anyone 'round these parts have a recommendation for other programs? I'm happy to pay for something that doesn't cause so many scheduling headaches.
I've been listening to a lot of classical music while I work. In November, I heard a piano piece by Connor Chee called "Unbroken" that stopped me in my tracks. There isn't a video of that one available, so here's another piece of his.
And just for funsies:
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 10)Loading... I've started listening to a lot more classical music in the last year*, mainly by streaming MPR's classical station. By luck, I heard this flute piece by Yuko Uebayashi and was thoroughly hooked.
*It's interesting how technology can shape our listening habits. I had been working from home on my personal laptop since the pandemic hit, but the IT department was upgrading laptops, so I finally got one. It's a big improvement for doing work (larger screen, easier access to stuff on the server), but I don't have any sort of music streaming service on it, so my listening habits shifted accordingly.
(3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)Loading... The rest of the family is on their way to a rented house up north for spring break. I will be joining them on Wednesday, but in the meantime, I get to be in a very quiet house.
Here are New Zealanders attending a live concert in October 2020. Someday we'll all be doing this again too...
Book Pairing: Mars! Earthlings Welcome by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by Stevie Lewis
And this concludes Pepper week--thanks for having me! 😘
(2 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10)Loading... I don't know the name of this specific song, but kws txhiaj is the general term for song poetry, a traditional Hmong art form. Bee Yang learned song poetry while growing up in Laos before the Secret War there, and after immigrating to the United States, he performed regularly at Hmong New Year gatherings and other celebrations. His daughter, Kao Kalia Yang, is a noted author and he has sung at a number of events with her in recent years.
Book Pairing: The Song Poet by Kao Kalia Yang
(2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)Loading... 
