Books I'm Reading: Lee Krasner: Living Colour

I've just finished reading Lee Krasner: Living Colour, edited by Elaine Niarne (US paperback edition, Thames & Hudson, 2024), a monograph accompanying a 2019 exhibition of Krasner's work that showed first at the Barbican Art Gallery in London (later traveling to Germany, Switzerland, and Spain) – a continuation of my recent deep dive into the history of the women painters among the Abstract Expressionists. This is a richly illustrated show catalog but it also includes a number of essays about Krasner's work, a 1970 interview with her, and a chronology. An excellent overview. 

Music I'm Listening To: Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting Mahler's 3rd Symphony

I attended the Friday, June 28 performance at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. The San Francisco Symphony played Mahler's Symphony No. 3. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted. The soloist was mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor. The San Francisco Symphony Chorus was led by Jenny Wong. The Pacific Boychoir Academy was led by Kevin Fox or Andrew Brown – I'm not quite sure which from the program. The symphony was the only thing on the program and it was played straight through with no intermission. 

This is my favorite of all the Mahler symphonies. If I were to play the game of ranking them in order of preference my top three would probably be No. 3, No. 1, and No. 6, followed by No. 4 and No.5, and then by No. 9, and then No. 7 and No. 8 (which I don't know well). No. 2 has never appealed to me. I do, however, like what we have of No. 10. It was a treat to hear Symphony No. 3 live. I think this is the first time, unless I'm forgetting a performance.

Salonen was his usual reliable self and I really liked O'Connor's voice, although she had a habit of slightly over-emphasizing the final syllables of the German she was singing. A weak soloist can ruin the whole thing, but, overall, this was a very enjoyable performance. The audience was very appreciative giving the ensemble an extended standing ovation. Salonen looked exhausted at the end but touched by the outpouring of support, including calls for him to re-think his decision to leave at the end of next season. After the last notes had died away, the conductor walked back to the brass section and gave the principal trombone a big hug before returning to the podium to acknowledge other brass players, the woodwinds, the percussion, the harps, and others. Afterwards, dinner at Monsieur Benjamin, which, sadly is closing down. The following night was the last service. I guess it's back to Absinthe for after-concert dining. 

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 288 (Santa Rosa)

Here's a collage from last autumn: Untitled Collage No. 288 (Santa Rosa). September 30, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 32.1cm x 41.3cm (12.6in x 16.3in). Matted to 20 x 24 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. This was in my recent show at Hammerfriar Gallery. 

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/ or you can purchase my recently published book commemorating ten years of working in the collage medium Colin Talcroft: Abstract Monotype Collage: 2103–2023 (ISBN 979-8-218-37717-5). Available on the website. In person, my work can be seen at Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, Hammerfriar Gallery in Healdsburg, and at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay.