Alex Ross at Cal Performances

I was happy to catch New Yorker music critic Alex Ross last night on the Berkeley campus. In what he warned us would be a "slightly massive" talk, Mr. Ross discussed chaconnes, laments & descending bass lines through 4 centuries of music. The material comes from the 2nd chapter of his new book, Listen to This, though in the live talk Mr. Ross plays musical clips to illustrate his points. He often juxtaposes musical examples in surprising & revealing ways. To demonstrate the resurgence of Baroque-style chromatic descending bass lines in popular music, he has an amusing 1960s medley that makes the point without further explanation. The well-culled selection of clips includes performances by Carlos Kleiber, Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson, Bob Dylan, Segovia & Nina Simone. It sometimes felt like Mr. Ross was an old friend spinning up some of his favorite disks for us. He even snuck in a recording of his cat's mew.

Wheeler Hall was nearly full & the audience contained many baby boomers for whom the 1960s selections no doubt had special significance. After his talk, which lasted over an hour, Mr. Ross stuck around to chat with people. I'm afraid I was a demanding fan, asking him to sign my copy of his book, complaining that I finished reading it far too quickly, & then blaming him for being the catalyst for my acquaintance with certain bloggers.

To round out the evening, I had the pleasure of meeting The Standing Room at long last. In the past we have managed to avoid one another even when in the same place. He was charmingly disappointed that The Opera Tattler was not in costume, though she reported that she was nearly denied entry into Disneyland recently due to an outfit which was deemed a "costume" by the park staff.

Cal Performances

Alex Ross

Chacona, Lamento, Walking Blues; Bass Lines of Music History

Thursday, October 14, 2010, 8pm

Wheeler Auditorium