new music
had four hours to kill in berkeley yesterday, so naturally wended my way to amoeba. cult videos selection at berkeley amoeba still very dissapointing, no new something weirds whatsoever. so blew my wad in the classical section on the following:
1) chopin nocturnes played by arthur rubinstein. i have the sheet music and need to hear a recording before i can play any of it. i realized that i already know many of these pieces and am excited to learn them. since i'm trying to read poland's celebrated poet adam mickiewicz, it's only natural that i should play poland's celebrated piano composer.
2) bach's magnificat, sacred choral music. my vocal instructor said bach is her favorite choral composer. i had owned exclusively keyboard and other instrumental works and figured it was time to branch out. i wanted something more exclusively choral (it reminds me a bit of brandenburg) but it will likely grow on me.
3) bach's tonet, ihr pauken! -- secular cantatas. i figured i needed something profane to round out the secular.
4) xenakis music for strings on mode records -- i used to have a recurring dream in which i would be browsing a record store and find music by my favorite artists that i didn't know existed. xenakis' chamber music on montaigne has always been one of my favorites so discovering new string music was like a realization of this recurring dream. very harsh and angular sounds, including one with tape effects! excellent!
5) tony conrad with faust -- outside the dream syndicate alive. recorded live in 1995 in queen elizabeth hall, london. a modern update of the 1972 release outside the dream syndicate. the sleeve said conrad had complained that uwe nettelbeck's post-production on the 1972 recording made him sound "like a hippy" -- this sealed the deal for me. i'm happy to report that the new live release blows the old one out of the water. loud loud amplified violins! tribal drumming! and apparently the bassist broke his e-string ten minutes into the performance and kept playing for the 50-minute duration of the piece, blood dripping from his finger's open wound onto the stage floor. awesome!
1) chopin nocturnes played by arthur rubinstein. i have the sheet music and need to hear a recording before i can play any of it. i realized that i already know many of these pieces and am excited to learn them. since i'm trying to read poland's celebrated poet adam mickiewicz, it's only natural that i should play poland's celebrated piano composer.
2) bach's magnificat, sacred choral music. my vocal instructor said bach is her favorite choral composer. i had owned exclusively keyboard and other instrumental works and figured it was time to branch out. i wanted something more exclusively choral (it reminds me a bit of brandenburg) but it will likely grow on me.
3) bach's tonet, ihr pauken! -- secular cantatas. i figured i needed something profane to round out the secular.
4) xenakis music for strings on mode records -- i used to have a recurring dream in which i would be browsing a record store and find music by my favorite artists that i didn't know existed. xenakis' chamber music on montaigne has always been one of my favorites so discovering new string music was like a realization of this recurring dream. very harsh and angular sounds, including one with tape effects! excellent!
5) tony conrad with faust -- outside the dream syndicate alive. recorded live in 1995 in queen elizabeth hall, london. a modern update of the 1972 release outside the dream syndicate. the sleeve said conrad had complained that uwe nettelbeck's post-production on the 1972 recording made him sound "like a hippy" -- this sealed the deal for me. i'm happy to report that the new live release blows the old one out of the water. loud loud amplified violins! tribal drumming! and apparently the bassist broke his e-string ten minutes into the performance and kept playing for the 50-minute duration of the piece, blood dripping from his finger's open wound onto the stage floor. awesome!