DEFERENTIAL VALUES in Relation to Other People (Week 6) GLOBAL EMOTION THOUGHT ACTION VALUE CONVICTION ATTITUDE Avoiding Harm Non-malevolence Acknowleding the Other’s Humanity Restraining Fairness Common Ground Tolerance
Value for Monday of Week 29 in the season of Ripening
Being Subtle
Wisdom is finely drawn. An aspect of this is subtlety.
- . . . we may reply decisively to those who despise any part of natural history as being vulgar, mean, or subtle and useless in its origin, in the words of a poor woman to a haughty prince who had rejected her petition, as unworthy and beneath the dignity of his majesty: “then cease to reign;” for it is quite certain that the empire of nature can neither be obtained nor administered by one who refuses to pay attention to such matters as being poor and too minute. [Francis Bacon]
- Pantomime is a big thing in the cultural calendar of my country, you know. So subtlety’s not my forte. [attributed to Alan Cumming]
- You don’t want to hit readers over the head like they’re completely incapable of picking up on subtlety. [attributed to Mark Waid]
Sometimes we can discern a person’s thoughts, emotions, mood or intentions, or all of these, from a subtle clue. The great classical actor Ian McKellen illustrated this in a one-man performance on Broadway in the 1980s. While explaining how an audience can pick up on the slightest onstage movement, he produced a slight twitch just below his left eye. The movement was obvious to everyone in the house, which immediately responded with laughter. The twitch of a single muscle had given everything away. We in the audience may not have been transcendent but McKellen was, and is, in his craft.
Subtlety is akin to precision and incisiveness. It is the delicate art of being certain, and correct, on the basis of a tiny clue.
Real
True Narratives
Technical and Analytical Readings
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Novels;
- Adam Ross, Playworld: A Novel (Knopf, 2025): “It’s not the play that’s the thing in ‘Playworld’ — a gorgeous cat’s cradle of a book that sometimes unravels into shaggy-dog stories — but the lines, in every sense of the word. The marketing taglines that bear the same force and resonance as elders’ aphorisms: 1010 WINS, American Express, Calgon. The lines between juveniles and adults blurring and being crossed. And Ross’s own refined lines, his powers of observation and ironclad resistance to cliché yielding perfect descriptions again and again.”
Poetry
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Walter Gieseking was a classical pianist known for a “subtle colour palette and poetic impulses”, and nuanced playing. Often noted are features such as “subtle technique in using the piano pedals”, “subtle tempo fluctuations”, “subtle nuanced rubato”, “artistry of touch, nuance and sensitivity”, and “subtle dynamic shadings”. “His debuts were highly acclaimed, with audiences and critics responding enthusiastically to Gieseking's subtle shadings and contrapuntal clarity.” He co-authored a book on piano technique. Here is a link to his playlists.
Thomas Beecham was a conductor who was known for the elegance and refinement of his interpretations. “He was admired generally for the verve and elegance of his interpretations, and he endeared himself to the public by his witty tirades against the insufficiencies of British musical standards.” “. . . he liked elegance, wit, brilliance and melody.” “His elegant, meticulously phrased performances of Haydn and Mozart became legendary, as did his caustic, witty bons mots.” Beecham has been the main subject of books by John Lucas and Lyndon Jenkins. Here is a brief sample of his conducting, and a documentary film. Here is a link to his playlists.
Compositions:
- Of George Frideric Händel’s oratorio Jephtha, HWV 70 (1750) (approx. 160-205’) (lyrics) (list of recorded performances), one reviewer writes: “The music’s drive comes . . . from Handel’s arrangement of arias, subtle instrumentation and evocative colors. Simple melodies are given penetrating power.” Here are links to performances conducted by Christie, Gardiner, Harnoncourt, and a recording on the Brilliant label.
- Franz Schubert, String Quartet No. 15 in G major, D. 887, Op. 161 (1826) (approx. 43-52’) (list of recorded performances): “Schubert asks the performer to speak softly, (pianist Paul) Lewis said, which renders the music more powerful. 'If someone shouts at you it’s a shock,' he said. 'But if someone gives you awful news in a softly spoken way it’s sinister.' With Beethoven, he said, 'there is a sense of rising above or resolution, but with Schubert you end up with more questions, a sense of something hanging in the air.'” Top recordings are by Kolisch Quartet in 1933, Busch String Quartet in 1938; Alban Berg Quartett in 1980; Belcea Quartet in 2009; and Takács Quartet in 2024.
- Easley Blackwood, Twelve Microtonal Etudes for Electronic Music Media, Op. 28 (1980) (approx. 56’): in this work, small (microtonal) changes drive the music forward. (1) 16 notes: Andantino; (2) 18 notes: Allegro volando; (3) 21 notes: Suite in four mvts.; (4) 23 notes: Allegro moderato; (5) 13 notes: Sostenuto; (6) 15 notes: Lento; (7) 17 notes: Con moto; (8) 22 notes: Andante ma non troppo; (9) 24 notes: Moderato; (10) 14 notes: Allegramente; (11) 20 notes: Comodo; (12) 19 notes: Allegro moderato.
- Isang Yun, Kontraste (Contrasts) (1987) (approx. 17-22’), consists of two pieces for solo violin, which emphasize a wide variety of atmosphere and color.
- Adrian Williams, Symphony No. 1 (2021) (approx. 47’): “Williams uses tonal harmony but undercuts it with subtle dissonance, producing an overall feeling of unease.”
- Frank Martin, String Quartet (1967) (approx. 20-21’) reflects the soft-spokenness and penchant for understatement of his later years. The work “is fully mature, highly complex music exhibiting the influences of Stravinsky and, to a certain extent, Bartók . . .”
Elan Mehler is a jazz pianist who is often compared to Bill Evans. Like Evans’, his playing is subtle and understated; it also conveys a greater sense of intimacy than Evans’. His style has also been described as witty and magnanimous. He is compiling a substantial body of playlists.
Tim Brady, “Actions Speak Louder”: “. . . Brady’s virtuosity palpably drives his music, generating a surging energy that even illuminates moments of repose. Yet this same energy also propels his imagination well beyond the confnes of the guitar. The act of making music, the pleasure of sound, the intensity of listening and the emotional impact of structured time are Brady’s central compositional materials.”
- “Act 1: Solos and a Quartet” (2021) (65’)
- “Act 3: Voices” (2021) (69’)
David Chesky and Jazz in the New Harmonic “fuse 21st century classical harmonies with the city's rhythms to create a new genre of jazz. Jazz In The New Harmonic liberates the pulse, soul, energy, and groove from past traditions; it's the first encounter with the transcendental music of our age.”
- “Primal Scream” album (2013) (60’)
- “Jazz in the New Harmonic” (2013) (69’): “The subliminal blending of instruments forms a satisfying color to the dissonant tones.”
- live at Lincoln Center (75’)
Other albums:
- Oregon, “1974” (1974) (104’), live in Bremen: “Other bands have tried variations on the fusion of avant-garde jazz with Indian, European classical and folk, none have done it with the same ingenuity or creative energy.” Each distinct voice has a purpose, and they unite so seamlessly that it all seems natural.
- “The Maryla Jonas Story: Her Complete Piano Recordings” (193’): Born in 1912, Jonas made these recordings in the late 1940s. She escaped from the Nazis but her husband, parents and two brothers were killed. Her Chopin Mazurkas may be the finest ever recorded, featuring a deft and subtle touch, and nuance in every phrase. “Her Chopin Mazurkas in particular have been praised to the skies and yet such accolades still pale in comparison to the actual playing. Jonas herself said that it was the suffering in her life that brought her playing to life . . .”
- Ralph Towner & Paolo Fresu, “Chiaroscuro” album (2010) (47’): “. . . an exhilarating, affecting recording rich with great sensitivity and vibrant colors.”
- Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, “Alone & Acoustic” (1980) (60’): “The classic pairing of Buddy Guy and Junior Wells has been captured many times on vinyl, cassette, and disc over the years, but rarely with such intimacy and subtle, restrained energy as on this wonderful collection. Buddy Guy plays mostly 12 string guitar, and Junior laces his signature lines through the songs, engaging Guy in the kind of musical dialogue that only old friends can have.”
- Kenny Barron Quartet, “Concentric Circles” (2018) (66’): “. . . a largely original set of swinging, harmonically nuanced compositions.”
- Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp, “Invisible Touch Art Taktlos Zürich” (2017) (49’): the “ability to synthesise sweetness and harshness as much as he combines rhythmic flow with chordal fragmentation makes Shipp a vital exponent of the piano, a man who plays a good long game by way of short sharp shocks.”
- Antonio Adolfo, “Finas Misturas” (2013): Adolfo writes: “I use a blues phrasing blended with a Brazilian Northeastern scale.” The title means “fine mixtures”.
- Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet, “The Year of the Elephant” (2002) (61’): “. . . for all the outstanding individual contributions, the strongest impression is made by passages of collective interaction that are as varied, unpredictable and satisfying as classic New Orleans jazz or Chicago blues.”
- Kris Allen, “June” (2022) (43’). Allen says: “The vibe is simple and elemental. The titles and concepts are really concise, often a single word, like ‘Trees’, ‘Sunlight’ or ‘Ember’. I wanted it to be meditative, and to reach for melodies that could be singable.”
- Ayanda Sikade, “Umakhulu” (2021) (68’): “Sikade isn’t a flashy drummer given to crescendi and ten-minute ooh-ya solos. He’s a quiet, precise musician with a light touch on the sticks and an even lighter one with the brushes. He rides his kit easy, not hard. When you hear a cymbal or drum-roll, it’s deliberate punctuation, not listen-to-me volume. But the filigree fretwork of his strokes is intricate and compelling.”
- Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra (featuring Julia Oschewsky), “Hold Your Fire” (2023) (38’): “Is there another vocalist who writes deep, probing, singable songs about life and love arranged for a thoroughly modern, 18-piece jazz ensemble with a beefed low end of tuba, bass trombone, baritone saxophone and contrabass clarinet?”
- Fred Hersch, “Silent, Listening” (2024) (51’): “What unites them all is Hersch’s exquisite sensitivity to sound. In a recent ‘Round Midnight’ broadcast the pianist Fergus McCreadie spoke of the importance of “touch” to the pianist, and how he felt it was still a neglected asset in jazz. With Fred Hersch and ’Silent, Listening’, touch is very nearly all.”
- Marilyn Crispell, Thommy Andersson & Michala Østergaard-Nielsen, “The Cave” (2025) (42’): “An outstanding feature is the restrained nature of the musical exchanges, as though each instrumentalist were involved in a philosophical conversation, weighing the other’s argument, interpolating only where appropriate.”
Music: songs and other short pieces
- Paul Simon, “Graceland” (“. . . she said ‘losing love is like a window in your heart / Everybody sees you’re blown apart / Everybody sees the wind blow.”)
- Don McLean, “American Pie” (“. . . while Lenin read a book on Marx / The quartet practiced in the park / And we sang dirges in the dark / The day the music died”)
Visual Arts
- Jean Dubuffet, Texturologie XXXV (Prune et Lilas) (1958)