SOUNDTRACK: FROM THE TOP-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #230 (June 30, 2021).
Here’s three young classical performers playing some amazing piece of music.
From the Top is the radio program (distributed by NPR) that spotlights today’s terrific young players.
Teenagers from three locales around the country – Chicago, St. Louis and Palo Alto, Calif. – invite us into their homes for fresh takes on vintage classics, contemporary sounds and sophisticated pop arrangements.
Up first is a cello from Ifetayo Ali-Landing. The song is by Yebba called “Evergreen” (arr. Charles Yang). I don’t know this song, but I really like it. The cello sounds fantastic and the melody is delightfully complex and yet not unmelodic. I love the way she occasionally bounces the bow off the strings, for a really neat effect–very percussive.
Ifetayo Ali-Landing, an outstanding 18-year-old cellist from Chicago starts us off. She’s already performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and given her own TEDx talk. One of her calling cards is this propulsive performance of “Evergreen,” a pop song by Yebba, arranged for solo cello.
Up next is a guitar duo by Jack and Elle Davisson. They play Paulo Bellinati’s “Jongo.” This is their favorite duo performance because of the rhythm and the beat. Jack opens with some wonderful classical fingering and then Elle follows with a similar melody. Then Jack plays a lead while Elle taps out a rhythm on the strings. But from there it’s hard to pick out who is doing what–each player has something special and complicated going on. Elle plays some lovely harmonics and a kind of bass string solo while Jack picks the complicated lead. And just when you think you get the whole piece, the two of them play a lengthy percussive section tapping and slapping on all parts of their guitars–a drum solo in the middle of this classical piece.
Pairing up in Palo Alto, the Davisson Guitar Duo features Jack, 16, and his sister Elle, 13. Their signature piece is the rhythmically driven Jongo, which offers flavors from composer Paulo Bellinati’s native Brazil. The siblings finish each other’s musical phrases with startling lyrical precision.
The final piece is solo piano by Jerry Chang. He performs Franz Schubert: “Impromptu Op. 90, No. 3.” It sounds amazing and his description of the song that it reminds him of being in a garden, is really interesting.
Seventh-grader Jerry Chang, clad in his comfy exercise shorts, closes this cross-country Tiny Desk from home, playing Schubert’s G-flat major Impromptu like someone twice his age. The gentle, rippling effects he gets from his still-growing 13-year-old hands, and the way he makes Schubert’s wistful melody sing, is astonishing.
[READ: May 10, 2021] “Now We Are Five”
Only Davis Sedaris could find humor in his sister committing suicide. This piece is very poignant and quite moving but there’s still dark humor in there.
I begins by saying that his parents had six children and people were always startled to hear his. Six kids! But now that Tiffany had killed herself, they were only five.
Six months before she killed herself David rented a house on Emerald Isle in North Carolina. The family had gone there when they were kids and he thought it would be a fun way for the family to get together.
When they were kids David always grabbed the master bedroom until he was kicked out. Then he often wound up staying in the maid’s room–which was usually outside. The others banded together against him, since he was clearly the weakest at this point.
But now that they were older, there was no running around for a room here. Each sibling took what was allotted them.
The house was covered in nautical kitsch: Old Shellers Never Die They Simply Conch Out and a clock with all the numbers lumped on the bottom that says who cares?
The day before they arrived, Tiffany’s obituary was run in the paper. People commented on the paper’s website. Someone said that she had given him a copy of The Ass Menagerie. Many other comments came through and David and his siblings were fascinated because they didn’t know Tiffany very well. David hadn’t talked to her in over six months. The last time she went to a family party at Emerald Isle was in 1986.
They spent time at the house going through Tiffany’s things. Mostly it was photos of the family with the people’s heads cut out.
He tells of a funny moment at the Food Line when his brother Paul snuck up behind him and went “Achoo” while whipping a bouquet of wet parsley through the air. David felt the spray on his back. He deemed it a good joke, but the spray also hit the woman standing next to him. She was less amused.
David says that when they were kids they always used to talk about owning a place there. But his father always had reasons not to. So David and Hugh decided to buy one (just to show dad). Then they had the joy of trying to name it.
This is where the unforgettable joke “Sea Section” came from.
There’s a lot of humor in this essay, but the final line, about five being a big family is remarkably moving.
Leave a comment