By popular demand — well, one person, at least — here is the slightly demented playlist from my Chacona talk at the New Yorker Festival. It's not as long as it looks: I play only brief fragments from most of these pieces. I will give a revised version of the talk at Town Hall Seattle, on Oct. 12; Berkeley's Cal Performances, on Oct. 14; Sacramento's California Lectures, on Oct. 18; the Los Angeles Public Library, on Oct. 19; UCSB Arts & Lectures, on Oct. 20; the Philadelphia Free Library on Oct. 26; and the Cleveland Museum of Art, on Oct. 29. Lewd chacona dancing is encouraged in all venues.
— Bach, Ciaccona in D Minor, from Partita No. 2 for solo violin; Gidon Kremer, violin
— Bizet, “L’Amour est un oiseau rebelle,” from Carmen; Victoria de los Ángeles, soprano, with Thomas Beecham conducting the French National Radio Orchestra
— Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven”
— Bach, “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen,” from Cantata No. 150, “Nach dir, Herr”; Masaaki Suzuki conducting the Bach Collegium Japan
— Maulina, “Meow”
— Bocet: “Lament for Dead Mother”; Folk Music of Romania
— “Jaj, mit vétöttem a nagy Uristennek”; Folk Music of the Hungarians
— Mangkïstaw Kazakh lament; Kazakh Folksongs
— “Siempre por los rincones”; Manuel Torres, singer, El Hijo de Salvador, guitar
— Ockeghem, Fors seulement; Edward Wickham conducting the Clerks' Group
— Lassus, “Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me,” from Penitential Psalms; Philippe Herreweghe conducting the Collegium Vocale Gent
— Dowland, “Forlorn Hope Fancy”; Jakob Lindberg, lute
— Dowland, “Flow my tears”: Andreas Scholl, countertenor, Andreas Martin, lute
— Frescobaldi, Partite sopra ciaccona; Colin Tilney, harpsichord
— Monteverdi, Zefiro torna; Jean-Paul Fouchécourt and Mark Padmore, tenors, with William Christie leading Les Arts Florissants
— Monteverdi, Lamento della ninfa; Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano, with René Jacobs leading the Concerto Vocale
— Cavalli, “Misero Apollo” from Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne; Mario Zeffiri, tenor, with Alberto Zedda conducting the Galician Youth Symphony
— Cavalli, “Tremulo spirito” from Didone; Marie-Clarie Lemieux, contralto, with Emmanuelle Haïm leading Le Concert d'Astrée
— Louis Couperin, Chaconne in G Minor; Jovanka Marville, harpsichord
— Lully, “Chaconne des Maures” from Ballet d'Alcidiane et Polexandre; Kevin Mallon conducting the Arcadia Baroque Ensemble
— Purcell, “Plung'd in the confines of despair”; Paul McCreesh conducting the Gabrieli Consort & Players
— Purcell, “O I'm sick of life”; McCreesh conducting the Gabrieli Consort & Players
— Purcell, “When I am laid in earth,” from Dido and Aeneas; Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano, with Nicholas McGegan conducting the Phliharmonia Baroque
— Bach, Toccata in E Minor; Andreas Staier, harpsichord
— Bach, Passacaglia in C Minor; Paul Jacob, organ
— Bach, “Meine Tage in den Leiden”; Masaaki Suzuki conducting the Bach Collegium Japan
— Bach, Ciaccona in D Minor; Gidon Kremer, violin
— Bach, Ciaccona in D Minor; Andrés Segovia, guitar
— Bach, “Crucifixus” from the Mass in B Minor; Philippe Herreweghe conducting the Collegium Vocale Gent
— Mozart, Klavierstück in G Minor; Lera Auerbach, piano
— Mozart, Sinfonia from Don Giovanni; Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra
— Mozart, “Don Giovanni, a cenar teco,” from Don Giovanni; Gottlob Frick, bass, with Giulini conducting the Philharmonia
— Beethoven, Symphony No. 9; Claudio Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic
— Schubert, String Quartet No. 15 in G; Takács Quartet
— Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6; Valery Gergiev conducting Kirov Orchestra
— Brahms, Symphony No. 4; Carlos Kleiber conducting the Vienna Philharmonic
— Ligeti, Horn Trio; Saschko Gawriloff, violin; Marie-Luise Neunecker, horn; Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano
— Mamie Smith singing Perry Bradford's “Crazy Blues”
— Bessie Smith singing WC Handy's “St. Louis Blues,” with Louis Armstrong on trumpet
— Willie Brown, “Future Blues”
— Skip James, “Devil Got My Woman”
— Robert Johnson, “Walkin’ Blues”
— Duke Ellington, “It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)”
— Ray Charles, “Hit the Road Jack”
— Frank Sinatra singing Richard Rodgers's “My Funny Valentine”
— Antônio Carlos Jobim, “Corcovado,” from Getz / Gilberto
— Dick Van Dyke singing Robert and Richard Sherman's “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” from Mary Poppins
— the Beatles, “Michelle”
— the Eagles, “Hotel California”
— Bob Dylan, “Ballad of a Thin Man,” live at the Manchester Free Trade Hall, 1966
— Nina Simone singing Lewis Allan's “Strange Fruit”
— Led Zeppelin, “Dazed and Confused,” live at the LA Forum, 1972
— Dylan, “Simple Twist of Fate”
— Purcell, “When I am laid in earth”; Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
