What are you listening 2 now?

[steve ridgway]

Takemitsu - Green

[Symphonic Addict]

I forgot to ask you, @Symphonic Addict, how are you enjoying your traversal of Henze's music? He's a composer I need to circle back around to at some juncture.

The exploration of his orchestral works has paid fruitful dividends so far. There's a strong sense of eloquence and some bizarre and haunting elements in the music that have caught me.

Lately I've felt that I've been more open to music I initially considered tough or impenetrable. Something that has helped me is to understand or assimilate the music on its own terms and not being too dependant on certain factors like melody. Textures, sonorities, timbres have much relevance too.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

The exploration of his orchestral works has paid fruitful dividends so far. There's a strong sense of eloquence and some bizarre and haunting elements in the music that have caught me.

Lately I've felt that I've been more open to music I initially considered tough or impenetrable. Something that has helped me is to understand or assimilate the music on its own terms and not being too dependant on certain factors like melody. Textures, sonorities, timbres have much relevance too.

Absolutely. Melody isn't the only criteria for enjoyment of music or, at least, for me this is the case. There's a lot of music I love that actually has no melody at all. I'm thinking, in particular, of textural works like Ligeti's Atmosphères or Scelsi's Uaxuctum for example.

[steve ridgway]

Wagner - Tristan Und Isolde Prelude And Love-Death

[steve ridgway]

Ives - Set No. 9 Of Three Pieces For Chamber Orchestra

[steve ridgway]

Stockhausen - Studie I

[steve ridgway]

Scriabin - Prelude For Orchestra (Rêverie)

[steve ridgway]

Maderna - Le Rire

Inconsequential noises from electronic test gear and snatches of tape recordings for the most part but the last few minutes based on tuned drums were more original and enjoyable.

[AnotherSpin]

Most of the performances of the Goldberg Variations I have heard certainly kept me awake. With a few exceptions: Egarr and Kempff. I heard Kempff's GV at a recital, where I couldn't lie down and sleep - certainly uncomfortable circumstances.

I must admit, I have no real memory of Egarr's Goldberg Variations. But with a recommendation as solid as yours, I'll make a point of listening soon. I've always been drawn to the extremes, particularly fond of the more languid interpretations. And if, as I gather from your remarks, Egarr's rendition possesses something of a sedative quality, that's just what I need these days, with air raids almost every night. I shall report back

[AnotherSpin]

Maderna - Le Rire

Inconsequential noises from electronic test gear and snatches of tape recordings for the most part but the last few minutes based on tuned drums were more original and enjoyable.

Are you familiar with the later works of La Monte Young?

[steve ridgway]

Are you familiar with the later works of La Monte Young?

No, just something on TV about the Dream House installation he lived in, and other American minimalist and drone music I wasn't much impressed by. It all seemed rather arty and pretentious like the Warhol scene.

The music player just served me up with Ligeti - Lontano which is much more my kind of ambient droning with much richer timbres.

[AnotherSpin]

No, just something on TV about the Dream House installation he lived in, and other American minimalist and drone music I wasn't much impressed by. It all seemed rather arty and pretentious like the Warhol scene.

[..]

I'll have to simplify quite a bit, but at some point he quite evidently set out to discover the primordial sound from which all else emerges, and began exploring combinations of frequencies that seem to resonate endlessly, or outside of time altogether. That's precisely what happens in his Dream House, coupled with light that is invariably—and without exception—magenta. I was fortunate enough to visit. It was a memorable experience; we went with an old friend of mine who is staunchly opposed to musical experimentation and much prefers things clear and straightforward. I had a hard time getting him to leave

[steve ridgway]

I'll have to simplify quite a bit, but at some point he quite evidently set out to discover the primordial sound from which all else emerges, and began exploring combinations of frequencies that seem to resonate endlessly, or outside of time altogether. That's precisely what happens in his Dream House, coupled with light that is invariably—and without exception—magenta. I was fortunate enough to visit. It was a memorable experience; we went with an old friend of mine who is staunchly opposed to musical experimentation and much prefers things clear and straightforward. I had a hard time getting him to leave

Oh, that sounds quite reasonable, thanks for the explanation .

[AnotherSpin]

Oh, that sounds quite reasonable, thanks for the explanation .

You're welcome. I didn't mention that he (together with Terry Riley) spent time searching in India, where their musical guru, so to speak, was Pandit Pran Nath. There's quite an interesting documentary about him.

[Mandryka]

I must admit, I have no real memory of Egarr's Goldberg Variations. But with a recommendation as solid as yours, I'll make a point of listening soon. I've always been drawn to the extremes, particularly fond of the more languid interpretations. And if, as I gather from your remarks, Egarr's rendition possesses something of a sedative quality, that's just what I need these days, with air raids almost every night. I shall report back

Egarr's Goldberg Variations.  Beautiful instrument. A sense of someone digging deep into the music. A sense of creativity, jazzy improvisation almost (e.g. Vars 6,7, 10)

By the way, there's no need to hear the whole thing at once of course. Even structurally there's a caesura in the middle which is an opportunity for an interval.

[prémont]

Egarr's Goldberg Variations.  Beautiful instrument. A sense of someone digging deep into the music. A sense of creativity, jazzy improvisation almost (e.g. Vars 6,7, 10)

Yes, but generally rather turgid.

I just recall Watchorn's even more sleeeeeeepy version.

[Que]

[Harry]

A fine choice, always a pleasure to come back to the days of yore.

[AnotherSpin]

Dream House 78'17". La Monte Young invites the listener to sit... or move slowly through the space... and notice how the sound wraps around them, how it merges with the body. The sine waves shift so gradually, it's like the room itself is breathing, changing shape.

It's all precision and detail, less like a piece of music, more like stepping inside a living, acoustic phenomenon.

The first part folds in voices and acoustic instruments with the sine waves... and then the second part lets the listener drift in pure, endless sine.

It's recommended to listen at high volume on a system fully capable of realistically reproducing deep bass.

[Iota]

Rameau: Pigmalion

As usual when listening to Rameau, I feel like I'm bathing in the glow of music lit from within. So warm and innately joyful. That warmth permeates the centuries too I think, emerging in the music of Faure, Debussy, Ravel and a number of 20th century French composers e.g.
I can never quite get over the divide between Rameau the man and his music. Is there any wider division in the classical canon I wonder?

This from Wiki:

"His heart and soul were in his harpsichord; once he had shut its lid, there was no one home." Physically, Rameau was tall and exceptionally thin,[29] as can be seen by the sketches we have of him, including a famous portrait by Carmontelle. He had a "loud voice". His speech was difficult to understand, just like his handwriting, which was never fluent. As a man, he was secretive, solitary, irritable, proud of his own achievements (more as a theorist than as a composer), brusque with those who contradicted him, and quick to anger. It is difficult to imagine him among the leading wits, including Voltaire (to whom he bears more than a passing physical resemblance[29]), who frequented La Poupelinière's salon; his music was his passport, and it made up for his lack of social graces.