Currently enjoying this - suggestions for more music in a similar vein, or not, appreciated.
https://www.youtube.com/v/PQe7SACPQy4
Streaming everywhere
(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3346753779_5.jpg)
A difficult tune to whistle, but I like the beat! :)
(https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51R9WNizP1L._AC_UL600_SR600,600_.jpg)
Finnissy's third quartet starts out like a not unattractive piece of conventional music, blocks of intense string writing sound out as confidently as any quartet from the first half of the 20th century. This music is as serious as Janacek or Schoenberg. The first inkling that something more experimental is going to happen is when some birds start to sing as they're playing. These birds increasingly gain the upper hand. The string players become hesitant, they even start (with limited success) to try to imitate the sparrows, their music develops into something fragmented and incoherent as they try, and fail, to find a way to play with the birds. The music ends with a long dawn chorus, all the musicians can do is listen.
Some of the writing for strings is stunningly beautiful here, especially in the central part of the quartet.
Fascinating composition! A clue to the arrival of the birds (other than the cd cover) is the pecking pizzicato notes just prior. The initial bird sounds are recognizable to me. I have several bird feeders in my yard, and the house sparrow and starling chirps, with the occasional crow caw, are familiar. The string quartet "interruptions" don't seem to phase the birds at all. The bird chorus at the end includes a new "basser" avian voice I don't recognize. Finnissy's work is completely new to me. Thanks for posting.
Steve Peters Morning Ragas is basically the dawn chorus over a low drone. And the birdsong gets some electronic processing. You can try it for free here
https://stevepeters.bandcamp.com/album/morning-ragas.
Just speaking personally, when I listen to it it completely effaces the memory of other music. Who needs Bach and Beethoven?!
Quote from: Mandryka on January 31, 2021, 04:01:02 AMJust speaking personally, when I listen to it it completely effaces the memory of other music. Who needs Bach and Beethoven?!
People who actually want to listen to music and not bird sounds I suppose.
Quote from: Mirror Image on January 31, 2021, 06:43:09 AM
People who actually want to listen to music and not bird sounds I suppose.
Haha! Perfect!
Mandryka I think I have your perfect music listening experience then:
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71nJO+e2QrL._SS500_.jpg)
Quote from: Mirror Image on January 31, 2021, 06:43:09 AM
People who actually want to listen to music and not bird sounds I suppose.
Organised, arranged and even electronically processed bird sounds. That's music.
Quote from: Mandryka on January 31, 2021, 07:29:23 AM
Organised, arranged and even electronically processed bird sounds. That's music.
Nope. Not even close. Nice try, though.
Quote from: DavidW on January 31, 2021, 07:15:15 AM
Haha! Perfect!
Mandryka I think I have your perfect music listening experience then:
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71nJO+e2QrL._SS500_.jpg)
:P
I prefer plants.
(https://img.discogs.com/egf2fzUqkAghzjs5QvnfzaHhptY=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-1165185-1222891035.jpeg.jpg) (https://img.discogs.com/A97ky55RwGRnz-SPrELed-ZIlBA=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-2812028-1302119674.jpeg.jpg)
I actually own copies of these recordings. :D They're not bad. But I passed on the piano version. The original pieces are microtonal, and I doubted that'd carry over to piano.
I may not be totally insane...iirc, on a Japanese composers thread someone else expressed a liking for Fujieda's music.
There's also this:
https://www.youtube.com/v/yPdcBxDmJIg
I find much to admire and enjoy in Jonathan Harvey's music, but I'm no really that keen on this piece....
Quote from: DavidW on January 31, 2021, 07:15:15 AM
Haha! Perfect!
Mandryka I think I have your perfect music listening experience then:
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71nJO+e2QrL._SS500_.jpg)
I really enjoy his Cantus Arcticus. The recording that I have is on Ondine. Actually, that would be a good one for today (as it's snowing). :)
EDIT: I'm listening to my own C.A.--currently a silent piece of music; I looked out of my kitchen window a few minutes ago to see a pair of red-tailed hawk hanging out in two trees in a neighbor's yard. :)
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on February 01, 2021, 10:39:19 AM
I really enjoy his Cantus Arcticus. The recording that I have is on Ondine. Actually, that would be a good one for today (as it's snowing). :)
EDIT: I'm listening to my own C.A.--currently a silent piece of music; I looked out of my kitchen window a few minutes ago to see a pair of red-tailed hawk hanging out in two trees in a neighbor's yard. :)
But... most of the birdsong is from species that migrate to the south for winter. ;)
Quote from: North Star on February 01, 2021, 11:29:07 AMThread-duty - Maiden-listen Monday
Tallis
The Complete Works, Volume 1 - The Early Works
Chapelle du Roy
Alistair Dixon
[asin]B000YPWBP8[/asin]
Wrong thread. ;)
Quote from: North Star on February 01, 2021, 11:29:07 AM
But... most of the birdsong is from species that migrate to the south for winter. ;)
Oh interesting to know! Of course, that makes sense. I was thinking that it had been recorded in warmer months...it was more the Arctic part that I was thinking of--particularly lately as it had been bitterly cold...slowly warming up here.
PD
EDIT: I was surprised to find out that there are snowy owls in my area during the wintertime. Hoping to see one as the photos of them are amazing!
Just remember folks: if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's an aardvark. :D
Quote from: Mirror Image on February 01, 2021, 12:36:52 PM
Just remember folks: if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's an aardvark. :D
Pardon? Sorry, lost you there John....
PD
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on February 01, 2021, 11:51:46 AM
Oh interesting to know! Of course, that makes sense. I was thinking that it had been recorded in warmer months...it was more the Arctic part that I was thinking of--particularly lately as it had been bitterly cold...slowly warming up here.
PD
EDIT: I was surprised to find out that there are snowy owls in my area during the wintertime. Hoping to see one as the photos of them are amazing!
Some of the bird calls were taken from archives, additionally, Rautavaara gathered the recordings from marshlands about 10 kilometers south from where I live, popular with migratory birds, and bird watchers.
But yes, it's about -20 deg C / -4 deg F here right now, quite enough cold for me.
Quote from: North Star on February 01, 2021, 12:44:47 PM
Some of the bird calls were taken from archives, additionally, Rautavaara gathered the recordings from marshlands about 10 kilometers south from where I live, popular with migratory birds, and bird watchers.
But yes, it's about -20 deg C / -4 deg F here right now, quite enough cold for me.
Oh, neat that some of the recordings were from so close to where you live! :) May I ask, are you much of a birdwatcher? I'm slowly learning about different birds (have horrible binocs though). -4 F....burr! I hadn't know about some of the bird calls being taken from archives. At least, I had thought/remembered that he had recorded them all by himself.
Snowing away here.
PD
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on February 01, 2021, 12:42:54 PM
Pardon? Sorry, lost you there John....
PD
It's a joke. A poorly executed one at that! :D
Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on February 01, 2021, 12:51:29 PM
Oh, neat that some of the recordings were from so close to where you live! :) May I ask, are you much of a birdwatcher? I'm slowly learning about different birds (have horrible binocs though). -4 F....burr! I hadn't know about some of the bird calls being taken from archives. At least, I had thought/remembered that he had recorded them all by himself.
Snowing away here.
PD
Not a big birdwatcher, but I do like to follow them from the window and in nature when the opportunity arises. Named 20/30 correctly in a test I just took, better than I would have thought. The grouse and particularly capercaillie are quite impressive, especially during the mating season, along with swans, cranes, and the white-tailed eagle.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Capercaillie_%288751340764%29.jpg/1024px-Capercaillie_%288751340764%29.jpg)
(https://res.electrocd.com/image.php/couv/v/victo_119.jpg?width=n4&forceresize=1&def=couverture_par_defaut)
Listening to Mount G on this extraordinary live record, you can find it streaming, it became clear to me which direction to take this thread.
Shamanism.
Quote from: ritter on February 01, 2021, 10:31:17 AM
There's also this:
https://www.youtube.com/v/yPdcBxDmJIg
I find much to admire and enjoy in Jonathan Harvey's music, but I'm no really that keen on this piece....
I have mixed feelings about Harvey. I'd forgotten about that one though.
How bizarre that I have stumbled across this thread on a day where Spotify recommended me this playlist (on account of listening to the Rautavaara concerto about three times in as many nights... It helps me relax and I have been quite anxious lately)
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX13IHBurI057?si=z0wNZm7lQ6qlN6mMR6ihdw
(If the link doesn't work, the playlist is called Birdsong in classical music)
Lots to enjoy on the playlist. Just listening to the sumptuous Delius piece 'On hearing the first cuckoo of spring', which is, incidentally, something I am looking forward to... If I can escape to the Kent countryside by then. Sorry for the tangent, I have an RSPB membership and my own binoculars, I am that way inclined 😁
https://www.youtube.com/v/5yoD4dgg_kg
Malcolm Goldstein listened closely and became attuned to what was the particular sound quality of each season in Vermont. He then took the sounds that he had recorded and made a tape collage which, for him, arrived at that particular, essential quality of each season.
I enjoy that Delius piece - however I've never understood the general sentiment surrounding the Cuckoo - nasty, rapacious birds (from a human perspective).
Regarding the Rautavaara Cantus Arcticus - another piece I enjoy - it is what it is, being composed in 1972 and using the technologies then available (tape recordings). The composer therefore specifies that at certain points in the music, recordings of birds (that he made himself) are played on cue. He actually supplied a choice of two recordings, of the versions I've heard Lintu, Segerstam and Vanska all use the same one (which according to Vanska's sleevenotes is the 'revised' recording) and Pekkanen uses a different recording (also credited to the composer) with a more 'interesting' variety of birdcalls. Both versions are good of course.
Had he composed it 15 or more years later he might have used sampling tachnology, with the birdsong played in during the performance by one or more musicians - for example using keyboards, with a birdcall allocated to each key. I'd like to hear Cantus Arcticus done this way, it would allow a more natural randomness to the performance, and more flexibily of tempo for the conductor.
Quote from: North Star on February 01, 2021, 01:24:13 PM
Not a big birdwatcher, but I do like to follow them from the window and in nature when the opportunity arises. Named 20/30 correctly in a test I just took, better than I would have thought. The grouse and particularly capercaillie are quite impressive, especially during the mating season, along with swans, cranes, and the white-tailed eagle.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Capercaillie_%288751340764%29.jpg/1024px-Capercaillie_%288751340764%29.jpg)
Cool looking bird! 8)
Recently enjoyed looking at a pair of red-tailed hawks through a window in my house; they were hunkering down during a snowstorm in trees about 20' from each other.
Quote from: Mandryka on February 01, 2021, 08:32:05 PM
https://www.youtube.com/v/5yoD4dgg_kg
Malcolm Goldstein listened closely and became attuned to what was the particular sound quality of each season in Vermont. He then took the sounds that he had recorded and made a tape collage which, for him, arrived at that particular, essential quality of each season.
Neat! :)
Quote from: aukhawk on February 04, 2021, 01:12:38 AM
I enjoy that Delius piece - however I've never understood the general sentiment surrounding the Cockoo - nasty, rapacious birds (from a human perspective).
Regarding the Rautavaara Cantus Arcticus - another piece I enjoy - it is what it is, being composed in 1972 and using the technologies then available (tape recordings). The composer therefore specifies that at certain points in the music, recordings of birds (that he made himself) are played on cue. He actually supplied a choice of two recordings, of the versions I've heard Lintu, Segerstam and Vanska all use the same one (which according to Vanska's sleevenotes is the 'revised' recording) and Pekkanen uses a different recording (also credited to the composer) with a more 'interesting' variety of birdcalls. Both versions are good of course.
Had he composed it 15 or more years later he might have used sampling tachnology, with the birdsong played in during the performance by one or more musicians - for example using keyboards, with a birdcall allocated to each key. I'd like to hear Cantus Arcticus done this way, it would allow a more natural randomness to the performance, and more flexibily of tempo for the conductor.
Yes, I also love that Delius piece.
Interesting to note that there are a couple of different versions of Cantus Arcticus. And I like your idea of trying it in a different way (a birdcall allocated to each key) too. :)
PD
(https://img.discogs.com/azCOz8zp4IHgL9pkfPgaYJg-9lU=/fit-in/600x590/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-153826-1191808049.jpeg.jpg)
Astonishing music even at home on a stereo. Has anyone here heard it live?
https://www.youtube.com/v/6dTxG9eQJHo
On Animality, Daniel Menche manipulated his pet dog's noises and mixed with the drum beats.
https://www.youtube.com/v/NDONvM77jEU
Francisco Lopez's La Selva and his inspiring essay on the recording here
http://www.franciscolopez.net/env.html
(https://img.discogs.com/Edk5s_S5d0CNgZfuVrkbUmJWmak=/fit-in/498x500/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-753388-1402935166-2326.jpeg.jpg)
This is what the great man said about it
QuoteI got this electronic bird in the mail, a Christmas tree ornament, and you simply plugged it in, and it made this birdcall... I had this idea to put binaural mikes in my ears and to head that bird and to move my head and pan the sound of the bird around in space. I had a mike in one ear and one in the other and I could make the stereo image by moving my head, so I started the birdcall and I put the amplifier on, and I started to get feedback and I discovered that these beautiful interference patterns were occurring between the sound to the birdcall and the strands of feedback.
https://www.youtube.com/v/_Ncfn1_UkIQ
Christopher Fox's More Things in the Air than are Visible part iii is for piano and various ambient nocturnal sounds including woofing dog, and tweety and hooty birds.
Rather nice.
https://www.youtube.com/v/AhbfA20pKN4&ab_channel=PaoloBrandi-Topic
QuoteIn Regnum animale the setup includes a string trio
surrounded in circle by a mass of computer-driven, electro-mechanical devices built from discarded and scavenged every-day objects and
appliances (electric knives, radio clocks, turntables, and so on). Regnum animale is a sequence of
24 very short pieces, each one lasting approximately 40" and dedicated to an imaginary animal.
But it's just so annoying because they don't tell us anything about these imaginary animals -- like Pokemon I suppose, but I don't know. Very disappointing.
The music is fun sounds.
https://www.youtube.com/v/kku1I8VE1YU&list=UUselY9qLG_aQoIiyxjb5z2g&index=3&ab_channel=AndrewToovey
Andrew Toovey: Adventures with Swans, Coots, Ducks and their young. For voice, violin, harmonium, sea and wind.
https://www.youtube.com/v/0b4Y8i1PuYM&ab_channel=RyanMacEvoyMcCullough
Jonathan Harvey, Concerto for birds, with Pianosong.
Quote from: Mandryka on February 17, 2021, 01:26:30 AM
https://www.youtube.com/v/NDONvM77jEU
Francisco Lopez's La Selva and his inspiring essay on the recording here
http://www.franciscolopez.net/env.html
Stunning work... It had a powerful immersive effect on me :o
Kairos had published a good 5CDs anthology of Francisco Lopez's works :
https://www.kairos-music.com/cds/0012872kai (https://www.kairos-music.com/cds/0012872kai)
(https://www.kairos-music.com/sites/default/files/cds/0012872KAI_Lopez_webcover_0.jpg)
Quote from: mabuse on April 01, 2021, 11:36:05 PM
Stunning work... It had a powerful immersive effect on me :o
Kairos had published a good 5CDs anthology of Francisco Lopez's works :
https://www.kairos-music.com/cds/0012872kai (https://www.kairos-music.com/cds/0012872kai)
(https://www.kairos-music.com/sites/default/files/cds/0012872KAI_Lopez_webcover_0.jpg)
Agreed, there's a world of field recordings which I'd like to know more about.
(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1297666229_10.jpg)
https://chriswatsonreleases.bandcamp.com/album/outside-the-circle-of-fire
Chris Watson, Outside the Circle of Fire, field recordings of animals, really concentrated music, this is a fabulous thing. Chris Watson looks to me like a musician I will have to get to know better.
(https://img.discogs.com/TEzlFgewYcibXGugVULEJ26euts=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(webp):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1370820-1331930247.jpeg.jpg)
Francisco Lopez, Conops. Field recordings of insects juxtaposed, played simultaneously to create a form of polyphony, augmented with industrial sounding drones, squawking birds etc etc to produce what is some amazing music, too dramatic to be rightly called ambient IMO, I think this stuff demands to be listened to with the same focus as you would something by, for example, J S Bach or G. Machaut. The climax, at the end of course, is very effective!
(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3286303579_10.jpg)
"Talks with Grey Heron" by Robertina Šebjanič
Another great Field Recording artist is Robertina Šebjanič from Slovenia.
The way she works on aquatic sounds is particularly remarkable ... I would say that is her specialty.
I particularly recommend her works entitled "Aquatocene / Subaquatic quest for serenity" :)
https://robertina.bandcamp.com/ (https://robertina.bandcamp.com/)
Quote from: mabuse on April 01, 2021, 11:36:05 PM
Stunning work... It had a powerful immersive effect on me :o
Kairos had published a good 5CDs anthology of Francisco Lopez's works :
https://www.kairos-music.com/cds/0012872kai (https://www.kairos-music.com/cds/0012872kai)
(https://www.kairos-music.com/sites/default/files/cds/0012872KAI_Lopez_webcover_0.jpg)
I just leaned that Lopez insists that performances take place in darkness, and provides blindfolds where necessary for the audience (and possibly musicians too.)
http://www.franciscolopez.net/pdf/Lopez-TheBigBlur.pdf
https://www.modelo62.com/video/untitled-335-francisco-lopez/
(https://lastfm.freetls.fastly.net/i/u/300x300/a9c70e5d617b4a93818ced3ee36aabbc.jpg)
Patrick Farmer's Apis mellifera is based on the buzzing of honey-bees. It aims to make a music which is imprecise, vague -- inspired by Italo Calvino's conception of Giacomo Leopardi art.
(Wandelwiser/Lucier style stuff, but I must say, I'm rather enjoying it.)
https://www.youtube.com/v/eZ6yDfx2new&ab_channel=MonkeyMonkProductions
David Dunn's Emergent Life of the Pond is made of field recordings of aquatic instruments. I can assure you that pond life has never sounded so deep before. It comes on a fabulous CD with a sequence of pieces based on renaissance alchemical mysticism called Tabula Angelorum Bonorum -- but don't worry, there's nothing Ferneyhough about it.
(https://www.nseq.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/wn09-19921-450x450.jpg)
There's a Wire article about David Dunn here -- with a free download of his Listening to what I cannot hear. (Reading that article makes me desperate to see Santa Fe again, I worked for a short time at UC Santa Fe -- loved it!)
https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/listen_david-dunn-composition
A dog playing the piano and singing. 8)
https://www.youtube.com/v/fbptjykpNEM
Quote from: steve ridgway on July 14, 2021, 06:00:58 AM
A dog playing the piano and singing. 8)
A masterpiece... (https://www.smiley-lol.com/smiley/animaux-insectes/chienchat/chien-2010-17.gif)
"Not many listen though. That's the problem" - that was a problem with Eve...
Sounds of whales in HOVHANNESS' And God Created Great Whales
Idaho man wins US 'World Elk Calling Championships' | AFP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8xjImirNkE
(https://scontent.fcdg2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/184285529_10159410111506834_5645886151079165091_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=973b4a&_nc_ohc=iMiD1CdTCW8AX8Vkl_I&_nc_ht=scontent.fcdg2-1.fna&oh=78c431710f83d9c64b597947cac1029b&oe=6123ABDC)
« Fifty competitors from 11 US states take part in the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation World Elk Calling Championships, trying to bark, bugle and mew their way to the top with imitations of elk sounds. During the rut, hunters use a variety of bull and cow elk noises to find and lure away their targets. »
The Symphony of 10 000 Chickens
https://www.youtube.com/v/yAlwtWtStxk&ab_channel=strugatsky
Reynols - 10.000 Chickens' Symphony
Singing Sleigh Dogs music -- this is very good!
https://www.youtube.com/v/8_AQT_qDEPM&ab_channel=strugatsky
Team of Jeremy Roht - Animal Music, Untitled 14
Playing Music with Animals: Interspecies Communication of Jim Nollman with 300 Turkeys, 12 Wolves and 20 Orcas
https://www.youtube.com/v/88V8_CGQXqk&ab_channel=strugatsky
Jim Nollman - Cello and Wolf Pack no 1
https://54vibes.com/track/889573-marilyn-brian-mike-and-the-cats
In Finnissy's self-described "group portrait", Mike, Brian, Marilyn, & the Cats, the musical parameters are defined by a capricious whimsy. Finnissy gives the two instrumentalists six pages of music, instructing the clarinetist to order his or her pages in an unspecified manner. Finnissy further surprises us with a playful accompaniment of prerecorded "meowing and yowling" of cats.
(https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d00001e0293955b3a1e280e7db18474a8)
François Bernard Mâche has studied scientific research on the structure of birdsong. His Vigiles is based on the those naturally occurring forms
https://www.youtube.com/v/uttBBKsENCU
Renaud Gagneux's first Buson Haiku uses birdsong beautifully
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7jemFapff7k
Quote from: Mandryka on April 13, 2022, 04:33:45 AM
(https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d00001e0293955b3a1e280e7db18474a8)
François Bernard Mâche has studied scientific research on the structure of birdsong. His Vigiles is based on the those naturally occurring forms
https://www.youtube.com/v/uttBBKsENCU
A beautiful & interesting piece, noted.
https://soundenvironments.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/lopez_listening.pdf
"Profound Listening and Environmental Sound Matter", by Francisco López -- the book it's scanned from, Christopher Cox and Daniel Warren (eds.) Audio Culture, is worth having. The work under discussion, La Selva, is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDONvM77jEU&ab_channel=Mr.Schwarz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrSk8EX07uM&ab_channel=kaesebarenick
Alice Shields's Coyote is the prelude to Shaman, which is about American Indian shamanism. Coyote represents a shaman turning himself into a Coyote and back to human form again. It is made from transformations of the composer's voice, coyote calls, male chorus and electronic sounds, and was made at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York
(https://f4.bcbits.com/img/0031654764_10.jpg)
This features a trio for soprano, piano and birds, the track called Chorus.