Only the New (music)

[Philoctetes]

I know I'm jealous. Those works are collected under an awesome title, as well. 

For those of us who do not yet have this disc:

http://www.youtube.com/v/aVurkp25jU4

And it is fantastic.

[Brian]

The Book of Sounds is a very peaceful series of meditations, which was both good and bad, because while listening I was filling out a very stressful series of forms, applications, and online complaint boxes about websites which were impeding my progress. Undoubtedly Otte kept me a little more sane than I would have been otherwise. Some of the "middle" parts are a little less intriguing, but I think that's because Otte put all the best stuff right at the start - Parts I and II are magical, although Part X gets a nod too, as does Part VI, which is three minutes long but feels like it's twenty seconds long.

That said, after listening to this all the way through, I will be VERY happy to put on some Beethoven!

[Philoctetes]

That said, after listening to this all the way through, I will be VERY happy to put on some Beethoven!

Interesting, I had the exact opposite reaction.

[Brian]

Yeah, well I had all 67 minutes in one sitting. 

[Philoctetes]

Yeah, well I had all 67 minutes in one sitting. 

Yeah, I know. You don't have to rub it in. 

[Brian]

Yeah, I know. You don't have to rub it in. 

Dude, you need to get a subscription to Naxos Music Library. Or join a library with one. It's the bomb.

[Philoctetes]

They Live By The Night: Nico Muhly

http://www.youtube.com/v/axVLPk-U6ps

[Philoctetes]

Start your morning out right: Alan Theisen

http://www.youtube.com/v/HzE8OVSoXNg

[Philoctetes]

For the night: Andys Skordis

http://www.youtube.com/v/eOQb0OQbaJ8

[Philoctetes]

For the end of the night: Richard Zarou

http://www.youtube.com/v/opr6OEXbdTE

[Philoctetes]

For the morn: Michael Aa

http://www.youtube.com/v/Xz1WdktcO9U

[Guido]

like Boulez or Birtwistle or Ferneyhough or Lachenmann or Czernowin or Furrer or?Ah. Like electroacoustics and turntablism and music theatre like Heiner Goebbels and Miguel Azguime and The Spy Collective and Kagel and Diamanda Galas. Like Simon Steen-Andersen and laptop music and noise music and....

The world of music is much richer and more various than "terrifyingly abstract (?) modernism of the 60s" and "the (?) return back to tonality." In the sixties, for instance, there was tape music and experimental* music and Fluxus (and other happenings) and minimalism (of all varieties) and live electronics (like from the Sonic Arts Union and from John Cage). Concept music, danger music, mixed media and multi-media.

In short, the sixties alone were more rich and more various than "terrifyingly abstract modernism." (I can't help asking, terrifying to whom? Always in these discussions, the reaction of some person or persons unknown is privileged over all other persons, creating a fake monolith of hideous music over here and another equally fake monolith of horrified listeners over there, locked in a life or death struggle! And that grotesquely over-simplified and inaccurate picture of reality is then substituted for what actually happened. And while all history is over-simplified and inaccurate, there are degrees! And recollecting the very recent past should really be easier to do more accurately and completely, hein? Why, some of us can recollect the sixties our own selves, man.)

*which word meant something quite different in the sixties and seventies than it has come to mean today.

Yes I know - these are all very fair points - I was trying to give the most potted history of music in the last half century that I could. The minimalism of the sixties points towards the post modernism of the following decades. The rejection of Modernism, and the adoption of post modern ideals (even if there is no one post modern aesthetic as such) is surely the major story to tell of the last 40 years or so in music (though modernists of course persist). In some ways every age is a rejection of the previous age's sensibilities. Although now there are no "schools" or real fashions anymore - it's a multiplicity.

More interesting perhaps is the marginalisation of modern music in musical society, with a few significant exceptions, though it's very hard to say when and how this happened as its been so gradual. Why is it that most of us on this board, many real conoisseurs, will know far more pieces from the first half of this century than the second half? Or more obviously, the 1860-1900 compared to 1960-2000. I know you listen to a lot of contemporary music (as in the majority of your listening), but I think you might be in the minority.

[Philoctetes]

For the noon: Jesper Nordin

http://www.youtube.com/v/FTpc8Bspb9A

[Philoctetes]

For the night: Jimmy Lopez

http://www.youtube.com/v/z_Uhcw3EI4g

[some guy]

Why is it that most of us on this board, many real conoisseurs, will know far more pieces from the first half of this century than the second half? Or more obviously, the 1860-1900 compared to 1960-2000.

Well, I have a few ideas about that, none of them terribly complimentary!

I know you listen to a lot of contemporary music (as in the majority of your listening), but I think you might be in the minority.

It's true. And it shouldn't be. That I'm in a minority, that is. Of course I should listen to a lot of contemporary music! It's too bad that listening to the music of ones' own time should be so rare. But prejudices are hard to break.

Oh well, we each do our little part. Philoctetes has started something really fine, here, I think. Too bad my internet connection here in Vancouver, BC is so sporatic and unreliable. When I get back to Portland, I have a lot of youtube clips to enjoy.

[Philoctetes]

Well, I have a few ideas about that, none of them terribly complimentary!
It's true. And it shouldn't be. That I'm in a minority, that is. Of course I should listen to a lot of contemporary music! It's too bad that listening to the music of ones' own time should be so rare. But prejudices are hard to break.

Oh well, we each do our little part. Philoctetes has started something really fine, here, I think. Too bad my internet connection here in Vancouver, BC is so sporatic and unreliable. When I get back to Portland, I have a lot of youtube clips to enjoy.

Thanks, and I'm in full agreement with you. I don't mind being in the margin. I'm simply trying to proliferate choice.

For the morning: Jennifer Walshe

http://www.youtube.com/v/Slp_ZwXWO40

[Philoctetes]

For the night: Sara Carvalho

http://www.youtube.com/v/wRRCpB_BgYI

[Philoctetes]

For the morning: James Lavino

http://www.youtube.com/v/YvOWiMwRcZ8

[Philoctetes]

For the night: Kevin Harris

http://www.youtube.com/v/O_YuC41uHEA

[Philoctetes]

For the morning: Javier Torres Maldonado

http://www.youtube.com/v/pGZT02W9qQc