Sergei Rachmaninoff, December 10, 1918 Portrait photograph by Arnold Genthe (American, born Germany; 1869–1942) Glass negative Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Comic Book Review: Forbidden Worlds Vol. 15 edited by Richard E. Hughes
Forbidden Worlds started as a horror anthology comic book series from American Comics Group in 1951. In 1955, it ran foul of new restrictions on horror in comics, but soon retooled as “stories of strange adventure” which conformed with the Comics Code and kept being published until 1967. This volume reprints #89 (August…
Grigory Sokolov plays Chopin Prelude No. 11 in B major op. 28
I fall in love with Chopin a bit more everyday, and when I think I can’t love him much more than I already do, I discover pearls such as this. I’ve known this prelude for a long time, but when I heard it played by Sokolov, it was a revelation, I listenned to it with fresh ears, like if it had been the first time.
These little 50 seconds are so pure, so full of love and spring, that just makes me want to give Chopin a really tight hug for the smile he is able to put in my face everytime I listen to this.
Grigory Sokolov plays Chopin Prelude No. 1 in C major op. 28
This is the most amazing, seducing and mesmerizing interpretation I’ve ever heard of this prelude. It’s so much slower than usual, which really brings out the sensual quality of this piece.
I still think that these 46 seconds are the most bewitching and sensual thing I ever heard
Errol Garner in Portland, Oregon, ca. 1954 (photograph by Carl J. Henniger), one of 30 photographs of jazz musicians from a recent gift to our special collections, currently on exhibit in our library’s Collins Gallery until March 31
