Farewell to Mary Rodgers, daughter of Richard, mother of Adam Guettel. Se was 83. Has there ever been a more stage-musical family?

Maryhad a hit in 1959 with Once Upon a Mattress, based on Hans Christian Anderson tale, The Princess and the Pea. Carol Burnett starred.

She also wrote From a to z  and The Madwoman of Central Park West.

Her most famous song was co-written with Stephen Sondheim (under the pseudonym Esteban Rio Nido).

Isn’t it about huntsmen in a primal forest?

Laurie Niles has provided an up-to-the minute guide of getting in and out of American with your instrument and bow. It ain’t easy. And it’s getting worse. Sorry, folks. Read here.

The pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, who has captured the attention before with the abundance of her natural assets, has been sounding off in Vienna about what makes her such a natural artist. She has a Sony album coming out, titled Motherland. A provocative video has been removed from Youtube.

Here’s what she says:

photo (c) Julia Wesley, 2012

Earth and woman are, for me, symbols of fertility and creativity. It’s a primitive truth: We all come from our mother. Feminine fertility is what makes my CD so personal. That is why I don’t play the virtuoso here, as usual. It comes – trite, but true – from the heart. In these pieces, emotion transcends style, one doesn’t know which which period they come from; in this mixture, style is no more. The album is bound up with my mother, the beginning of my life in her belly.

“Motherland” bedeutet Heimat, hier aber auch wörtlich Mutter-Land. Erde und Frau, das sind für mich Symbole von Fruchtbarkeit und Kreativität. Es ist eine primitive Wahrheit: Wir alle kommen von unserer Mutter. Diese weibliche Fruchtbarkeit ist hier Thema, die CD sehr persönlich. Darum spiele ich hier auch nicht wie sonst Virtuoses. Es kommt – klingt banal, ist aber so – von Herzen. Weil es in diesen Stücken mehr um die Emotion geht als die stilistische Form, muss man nicht wissen, aus welcher Periode sie stammen; in dieser Mischung der Stile gibt es keinen mehr. Das Album ist verbunden mit meiner Mutter, aber auch mit dem Anfang meines Lebens in ihrem Bauch.

Oh, just shut up and play, will you?

On a hot night you can see forever.