....what one recording would you play to convince them of humanity's merit? I'm definitely thinking Bach, probably Glenn Gould's 1981 recording of the Goldbergs, or Koroliov's Art of the Fugue, or maybe even Starker's recording of the sixth cello suite. Please note I said one recording, so by the rules that govern this place that means limit it to about five.
O Delvig, Delvig. Guess we'd need Shostakovich symphony no 14.
The Busch Quartet in op 130-133, perhaps...
My very obvious choice:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5173EVG2HJL._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day"
It's a Hollywood cliché that aliens would somehow understand our concept of music, or the concept of music at all. Who's to say their ears (if indeed they even have any!) would be so constructed that music wouldn't sound like the screeching of bats? (I know, I know, the topic was started in fun, but it irks me.)
THIS! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr79PVes3kk)
(http://basementrug.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/charles-manson.jpg)
C'mon, I started a genuinely serious thread about aliens and now everyone's turning it into some kind of parody?
Ok, my Manson post was in poor taste... maybe. What I am saying is that the Mansons of this world have as much to say to aliens as Bach. They are two guys at opposite ends of a very wide spectrum, with everyone and everything in between. I'm not sure aliens would care about music anyway, except in the anthropological sense.
Quote from: corey on October 27, 2009, 04:30:54 PM
It's a Hollywood cliché that aliens would somehow understand our concept of music, or the concept of music at all. Who's to say their ears (if indeed they even have any!) would be so constructed that music wouldn't sound like the screeching of bats? (I know, I know, the topic was started in fun, but it irks me.)
Well, maybe they'd like some solo double bass music? Or the Goldberg Variations if you transposed it down three octaves and played it as some kind of ultra low-frequency electronic pulse? ???
What foolishness! The complexity of the human brain, a self-organizing, self programing computation machine that can do things that man in all his/her science can not come close to fathoming. The subtlety of genetics, self replicating polymer sequences which create entire organisms of billions of cells just to propagate themselves. You would present them with Starker scratching out some simple-minded patterns of acoustic vibration on a wooden box? Snap out of it!
I'd go with "Great Balls of Fire"!!!
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3396/3196806411_7cf4a1e13b.jpg)
Okay, assuming that the aliens can hear (or translate) sounds in our limited range of hearing, and that they are motivated by justice however twisted rather than simply evil, and that they AREN'T familiar with our music--yes, these are all rather large assumptions, but they're the assumptions we have to make for this thread to make any sense :)--I'd play them Mahler's Eighth Symphony. Neither the Bernstein nor the Solti nor the Horenstein recording is perfect (maybe some of you others can think of one that's a little closer to that elusive quality), but any one of them would make the case if it could be made at all. 8)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fyD2EroUdWQ/ShC1Ft3f00I/AAAAAAAABJ8/wM7b6Ju14l0/s400/MilesDavis_KindOfBlue.jpg)
I figure if they did not enjoy it and vaporize me, then this would be the way to go.
Quote from: MN Dave on October 27, 2009, 04:35:06 PM
THIS! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr79PVes3kk)
LOL :D
I would skip the music and hand them a Ubloobideegaian translation of In Search of Lost Time.
Quote from: corey on October 27, 2009, 06:28:33 PM
I would skip the music and hand them a Ubloobideegaian translation of In Search of Lost Time.
I'll tell Ubloobideega to start working on that one...
Quote from: jochanaan on October 27, 2009, 05:39:39 PM
Okay, assuming that the aliens can hear (or translate) sounds in our limited range of hearing, and that they are motivated by justice however twisted rather than simply evil, and that they AREN'T familiar with our music--yes, these are all rather large assumptions, but they're the assumptions we have to make for this thread to make any sense :)--I'd play them Mahler's Eighth Symphony. Neither the Bernstein nor the Solti nor the Horenstein recording is perfect (maybe some of you others can think of one that's a little closer to that elusive quality), but any one of them would make the case if it could be made at all. 8)
If you tried to force me to listen to Mahler's 8th symphony, I think I might just want to put an end to it all. >:(
Quote from: Scarpia on October 27, 2009, 07:27:01 PM
If you tried to force me to listen to Mahler's 8th symphony, I think I might just want to put an end to it all. >:(
Alright, into the
Great Balls of Fire you go!
Quote from: Greg on October 27, 2009, 07:22:00 PM
I'll tell Ubloobideega to start working on that one...
We just may well discover faster-than-light travel by that point, rendering his tireless efforts null and void.
Quote from: O Delvig on October 27, 2009, 03:10:02 PM
....what one recording would you play to convince them of humanity's merit? I'm definitely thinking Bach, probably Glenn Gould's 1981 recording of the Goldbergs, or Koroliov's Art of the Fugue, or maybe even Starker's recording of the sixth cello suite. Please note I said one recording, so by the rules that govern this place that means limit it to about five.
Wow if you played the Goldbergs for piano or those Cello Suites of Bach I might just go ahead a destroy Earth and figure I was doing a good deed!
I think I would play Paul Dukas'
The Sorcerer's Apprentice and keep my fingers crossed.
Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. No recordings. I'd have Abbado conduct it in the Hagia Sophia or St. Peter in Rome and if all went well I'd definitely buy the Blu-ray.
Quote from: O Delvig on October 27, 2009, 03:10:02 PM
...probably Glenn Gould's...
And doomsday it is. >:D
The first thing which came to mind was in fact mentioned above:
Mahler's Ninth Symphony. Then I debated about the Bruckner Seventh Symphony.
Failing that: The Music of the Krell! :o
(http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004RF9B.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg)
Quote from: O Delvig on October 27, 2009, 04:40:28 PM
C'mon, I started a genuinely serious thread about aliens and now everyone's turning it into some kind of parody?
Your mistake was believing that we would consider a thread about aliens to be "genuinely serious." :D
Nevertheless, to answer your question: I would play Cage's 4'33" to distract them (Alien 1:
"Do you hear anything?" Alien 2:
"No, let's try adjusting the volume.") while the special forces sneak up from behind and blow them to smithereens. 8)
Quote from: Cato on October 28, 2009, 07:48:38 AM
The first thing which came to mind was in fact mentioned above:
Mahler's Ninth Symphony. Then I debated about the Bruckner Seventh Symphony.
Failing that: The Music of the Krell! :o
(http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004RF9B.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg)
Got a repro of that poster right up behind me, Cato!
Quote from: Bogey on October 28, 2009, 09:16:33 AM
Got a repro of that poster right up behind me, Cato!
Well,
Mrs. Cato has her own ideas on American decorating :o
and such things are verboten! $:)
I could grace my Catholic school classroom with it, but then Grace would probably complain to the pastor! 0:)
Quote from: Cato on October 28, 2009, 09:33:24 AM
Well, Mrs. Cato has her own ideas on American decorating :o
and such things are verboten! $:)
I could grace my Catholic school classroom with it, but then Grace would probably complain to the pastor! 0:)
Oh, no, no, no.....my poster is down in the basement workroom, which is semi-unfinished and is the
only room where I have freedom to decorate.
Most definitely play Carter It's sounds completely alien to me, so I'm sure they would relate to it. >:D
Barber's Adagio (played by string quartet - I'll say Emerson, since it's the only one I have), and/or Mahler's Adagietto (Maazel's take with the VPO). However, I should note that in my perfect world I have both ensembles with me, so they play the music live.
Failing that, I'd turn to the Doobie Brothers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7M1zcyf12A) 8)
Quote from: Dana on October 28, 2009, 09:45:05 AM
Barber's Adagio (played by string quartet - I'll say Emerson, since it's the only one I have), and/or Mahler's Adagietto (Maazel's take with the VPO). However, I should note that in my perfect world I have both ensembles with me, so they play the music live.
Failing that, I'd turn to the Doobie Brothers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7M1zcyf12A) 8)
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G54lfxiid_w&feature=related
Quote from: corey on October 27, 2009, 08:02:09 PM
We just may well discover faster-than-light travel by that point, rendering his tireless efforts null and void.
Oh, I think you underestimate Ubloobideega. He just finished the translation this morning. 8)
I would say the Solti/VPO Decca Ring with Nilsson, Windgassen, Hotter etc.
Quote from: Bogey on October 28, 2009, 09:37:59 AM
Oh, no, no, no.....my poster is down in the basement workroom, which is semi-unfinished and is the only room where I have freedom to decorate.
Aha, that clarifies it, and proves that you are in the club too!
Dana wrote:
QuoteThe Doobie Brothers
Okay, but if you wanted to deliver a more combative message, you might want this from
Pat Benatar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH1P1UO7Oqs
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH1P1UO7Oqs)
"We Will Be Invincible!" Plus, with that chipmunkish overbite and early 80's hair, she looks
really scary! :o
Sorry Bogey, but I could do without the Michael McDonald Doobies :( Gimme that Tommy Johnston anyday 8)
Quote from: Dana on October 28, 2009, 01:55:20 PM
Sorry Bogey, but I could do without the Michael McDonald Doobies :( Gimme that Tommy Johnston anyday 8)
Yup. Two camps on that one. I just happen to enjoy both. :)
Quote from: Scarpia on October 27, 2009, 07:27:01 PM
If you tried to force me to listen to Mahler's 8th symphony, I think I might just want to put an end to it all. >:(
De gustibus non disputandum est. 0:)
Quote from: Dana on October 28, 2009, 09:45:05 AM
Barber's Adagio (played by string quartet - I'll say Emerson, since it's the only one I have)...
Definitely a strong argument, but I'd go with Kronos. :)
Quote from: Wanderer on October 27, 2009, 11:28:33 PM
Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. No recordings. I'd have Abbado conduct it in the Hagia Sophia or St. Peter in Rome and if all went well I'd definitely buy the Blu-ray.
Another very strong argument, made even stronger by Karl Böhm, the Vienna Staatsoper Chorus, and the Vienna Philharmonic, with Margaret Price, Christa Ludwig, Wiecsław Ochmann, and Martti Talvela. 8)
Quote from: Greg on October 28, 2009, 11:39:35 AM
Oh, I think you underestimate Ubloobideega. He just finished the translation this morning. 8)
But then he ate it.
Quote from: corey on October 28, 2009, 07:19:55 PM
But then he ate it.
Hmmm... typical. And he wrote it on a computer, too...
Quote from: Bogey on October 27, 2009, 06:13:12 PM
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fyD2EroUdWQ/ShC1Ft3f00I/AAAAAAAABJ8/wM7b6Ju14l0/s400/MilesDavis_KindOfBlue.jpg)
I figure if they did not enjoy it and vaporize me, then this would be the way to go.
If the aliens didn't appreciate that album, I'd vaporize them first >:D
Quote from: Grazioso on October 30, 2009, 03:28:30 AM
If the aliens didn't appreciate that album, I'd vaporize them first >:D
You might have to vaporize a lot of earthlings as well?
Quote from: Teresa on October 30, 2009, 11:44:08 AM
You might have to vaporize a lot of earthlings as well?
I think my vaporizer gun would run out of, um, vapor, before I could manage to zap all the philistines who can't appreciate great music ;)
Quote from: Grazioso on October 30, 2009, 03:28:30 AM
If the aliens didn't appreciate that album, I'd vaporize them first >:D
(http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/cool/cool0016.gif)