11 pm - Midnight

11 P.M. The day is almost done. Now there is a choice between words and another form of eloquence. Joni Mitchell's Blue (Reprise) sounds better than ever at this hour. All of today's confessional writers need to spend a year of pre-midnight hours with this record before sharing their pain with us.
Something still darker and stronger can be found in the tormented imagination of Gesualdo: Madrigals, directed by William Christie (Harmonia Mundi). It is hard to imagine the world from which these compositions came. Carlo Gesualdo was the heir to a prince and was said to have been a murderous cuckold who displayed the slain bodies of his first wife, her lover, and a child of doubtful paternity. It can make you uneasy about even listening to this music.
You probably have enough of your own troubles. Pablo Casals's recordings of the Bach Cello Suites (EMI Classics) will bring the day to a supernatural conclusion.

1. Joni Mitchell - All I Want (3:34)
2. Joni Mitchell - My Old Man (3:34)
3. Joni Mitchell - Little Green (3:27)
4. Joni Mitchell - Carey (3:03)
5. Joni Mitchell - Blue (3:05)
6. Joni Mitchell - California (3:50)
7. Joni Mitchell - This Flight Tonight (2:52)
8. Joni Mitchell - River (4:05)
9. Joni Mitchell - A Case Of You (4:23)
10. Joni Mitchell - The Last Time I Saw Richard (4:16)
11. *Gesualdo da Venosa - Madrigaux - Les Arts Florissants - 01 - Ahi, disperata vita (1:25)
12. *Gesualdo da Venosa - Madrigaux - Les Arts Florissants - 02 - Sospirava il mio core (1:36)
13. *Gesualdo da Venosa - Madrigaux - Les Arts Florissants - 03 - O malnati messaggi (2:06)
14. *Gesualdo da Venosa - Madrigaux - Les Arts Florissants - 04 - Luci serene e chiare (4:44)
15. Johann Sebastian Bach  - Suite No 1 in G (prelude) (2:31)
16. Johann Sebastian Bach  - Suite No 2 in D minor (preludium) (3:48)
17. *Johann Sebastian Bach  - Suite No 3 in C (preludium) (3:34)
18. *Johann Sebastian Bach  - Suite No 3 in C (Bourées I + II) (3:29)