The Miereanu Trench

[snyprrr]

I'm sorry this computer isn't making it easy to cutandpaste- but I haaad to score a Thread before sanantonio got'em all!

Costin Miereanu belongs to the same generation of Composers being brought up here today. This guy has elements of both the spectralist and minimalist movements- but, like with a lot of these types, he's quite the Individualist too.

He's got some more Complex stuff, but, there's a really groovy Minimalist piece on YT... 'Terre feure'(?) or 'Terre sol',... yea,... I know...

[Pessoa]

Groovy like feeling grooovyyy? Very nice music, Terre de feu.

[snyprrr]

Groovy like feeling grooovyyy? Very nice music, Terre de feu.

You liked it? It totally sounds like the '70s! 3a.m. music no doubt. Have you heard any other Miereanu?

[Pessoa]

That was my first exposure to Miereanu. Then i lstened to Finis-Terre and Come nebbia al vento, and yes, I like it.

[San Antone]

I'm sorry this computer isn't making it easy to cutandpaste- but I haaad to score a Thread before sanantonio got'em all!

Costin Miereanu belongs to the same generation of Composers being brought up here today. This guy has elements of both the spectralist and minimalist movements- but, like with a lot of these types, he's quite the Individualist too.

He's got some more Complex stuff, but, there's a really groovy Minimalist piece on YT... 'Terre feure'(?) or 'Terre sol',... yea,... I know...

Thanks for the thread.

Found these too ~

Sursum Corda Triplum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcRjcTJ_Gsg

Piano - Miroir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfK_p_W17yA

L'ombre double, du cinquième voyage d'hiver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziuvxq0GW50

I want to learn more about this composer; like what I heard.

[amw]

Here's a works list with discography: http://www.durand-salabert-eschig.com/formcat/catalogues/miereanu_costin.pdf
(and some obvious typos)

I first heard his work on an MFA disc of string sextets (his piece added a harpsichord). Haven't been able to locate a single copy for sale anywhere, but perhaps one could order it (and another Miereanu disc listed) by writing to the email address at this link? http://www.musiquefrancaise.net/fichelabel.php?id=99&n=salabert

[snyprrr]

bump

[snyprrr]

So i got this Salabert disc of major works by Costin Miereanu. I already have the other Salabert disc with the Chamber music, but I hadn't listened in a while, and had forgotten exactly what kind of animal Miereanu was.

Well, I started with the Symphony (I) of 1992, the latest piece of all I have. There is an explosive "off-to-the-races" opening, which then settles down to what then becomes the staple Miereanu sound: Stochastic Minimalism. In this regard, Miereanu takes the small musical cells of the Minimalist, and then, amongst other things, subjects them to random rhythmic patterns, so that the effect is quite like Xenakis in his Stochastic mode. The end result sounds to me like a high class Planetarium Music (which, actually, Miereanu has a piece called), for there are long stretches of this Stochastic cosmic soup. There is a little bit of Lutoslawski, Scelsi (was Miereanu one of the Scelsi-philes?), Xenakism Minimalism, Boulez, Rameau,... the melodic cells he uses probably come from his love of Rameau.

As a matter of fact, Miereanu's melodies are strictly limited, and somewhat elementary, and his musical concerns are obvious to the listener: creating a cosmic melange of time memories, a tub in which to pour a spontaneous and random mush of glittering and twinkling sounds.


The orchestral disc is made up of various 'live' performances, and the sound, though fine, doesn't have the state-of-the-art needed for this most twinkling of musics. I can imagine a Timpani disc conducted by Tamayo to be the way to go here.

The one thing, though, is, after all the pieces, I'm left with a certain sameness of sound: each piece has a abrupt opening, followed by a gradual working out of the elements, until everything seizes into the stochastic mush- seven Feldmans piled on top of each other. The sounds are cool, but I don't know if I'm convinced by the Creator- there's something too "Composed" in this most random of sounding musics. Maybe it's the realization that, ultimately, Miereanu IS a Minimalist, and that is what is going on here. Here's just a French, Boulez-inspired Minimalist, so, there is more Complexity, even though the results are mostly quite Consonant.

I tire of writing.

The End.

[snyprrr]

The short answer is that Murail is more fun to listen to.