Bach, J.S. - Ich hatter viel Bekümmernis (I had many afflictions) - 1720 version
Bach, J.S. - Der Himmel lacht, die Erde jubilieret (The heavens laugh, the earth rejoices)
Bach? - Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele II (Praise the Lord, O my soul, No.2)
Beethoven - String Quintet
Beethoven - Piano Sonatas 16 to 18
Heller - 25 Melodic Etudes, Op.45
Holmboe - Violin Sonata No.1
Holmboe - Sinfonias 1 to 4
Liszt - Venezia e Napoli
This list includes the vanguard of what has since become an avalanche of new classical music. I still haven't finished that collection of Bach cantatas I bought back in March, and yet I decided to burden myself with a wealth of new Holmboe and Faure, along with a dash of Heller. Well, alright, not really 'burden'.
One of the first purchases was Holmboe's Kairos. No, you won't find it on the listening list above. But in fact you will.
Kairos is a fairly rare construction of 4-pieces-in-1. Or perhaps 4-into-1, as there's good reason to suppose that at least the first 3 were conceived as separate pieces first. Each of these Sinfonias for strings is a single-movement work, perfectly listenable to on its own. Which is how I listened to them during August.
A few years later, though, Holmboe wrote a fourth Sinfonia which is multi-movement, and a little bit different in character to the others. I also listened to this on its own... but split it up and wrap it around the other three, and hey presto, you've got a single work: Kairos.
As I understand it, the concept derives from the difference betwen 'psychological' time, or the right moment (kairos in Greek) and 'chronological' time (chronos in Greek). It seems to me that Holmboe is deliberately illustrating the effect that music sounds different depending on what you've heard before it. Which thrills me no end, because it's something I've been hammering on about for years (not least on Tori Amos forums - my apologies to anyone who's heard this broken record too many times).
The human brain really isn't terribly good at judging absolute values. It's difficult for us to correctly judge speed, temperature, decibels, or pitch. Whereas we're extremely good at measuring relative values. Faster/slower, hotter/colder, louder/softer, higher/lower.
So take a block of music and put it in a different context, and it will mean something slightly different. If the opening of a piece becomes the opening of the 4th movement, it won't come across in quite the same way. If there's 15 minutes of music in between two movements that used to be next each other, the lead-in to the second of those movements has become completely different and will affect how it's heard.
Of course, none of this makes a huge difference to the quality of the music, but on listening to the Sinfonias as separate pieces they've got all the characteristics of Holmboe that make me so enthusiastic, particularly the sense of a line carrying right through a piece - although that's less true of the 4th, which is broken up and considerably more quirky. Given that this is all string music, it's important that he keeps the interest up rather than having a generalised mass of sound. Each piece has changes of pace and of texture that kept me interested.
So, I like them on their own. It remains to be seen what I'll think of them together.
Sunday 30 September 2012
Saturday 29 September 2012
August 2012 - Popular Music
Tori Amos - Under the Pink
Fiona Apple - When the Pawn...
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Gotye - Making Mirrors
David Gray - A New Day at Midnight
Patty Griffin - Impossible Dream
Wendy Matthews - Emigre
Wendy Matthews - The Witness Tree
Joni Mitchell
Radiohead - OK Computer
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Simply Red - Picture Book
Something for Kate - Beautiful Sharks
Something for Kate - Desert Lights
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
I jotted down this list at the start of September, but no thoughts to go with it. My initial reaction when looking at the list again was... did I have any thoughts? Not a good prospect for this blog.
Then, however, the entry that jumped out at me was the last one, for The Colour of Spring. Which it seems I may not have talked about before. And that surprises me given how often I listen to it.
It really is one of those albums that has become so comfortable for me. I see the title, I start hearing parts of 'Happiness Is Easy' in my head and think "yes, I enjoy listening to that". And so I pop it on quite frequently, and always with pleasure. The tapestry of sound weaving in and out and around my head always gives me pleasure.
I have no memory of being aware of Talk Talk in the 1980s. They were a much later discovery for me. The main cataylst for that was this wonderful blog, which I was introduced to via his writings on Tori Amos albums. His description of Talk Talk intrigued me. Here was a band that had evolved rapidly across the space of a few albums. And I'm definitely interested in bands that evolve, rather than churning out more of the same style. Radiohead would suggest itself as a more recent example of a band that drew me in with their ability to do different things.
Another catalyst was No Doubt's cover of the song 'It's My Life', which was one of those things I became very obsessed with around the time of first hearing it. Those key changes between verse and chorus were so smooth, so skillful, and so utterly delicious.
It happened that The Colour of Spring was the first Talk Talk album I heard, because a work colleague lent it to me. It's possible that it's remained my favourite of the three I have (the others being It's My Life and Spirt of Eden) simply because it was my entry point, but I think it is more that it's an album of transition between two styles. I tend to like transitional albums. Here, it's a move from more mainstream pop to the radical ambient work that followed. Caught in the middle, The Colour of Spring is pop that's full of subtle little moments, interesting instruments, often a quiet sense of repose and an air of sophistication. It adds up to an album that is highly listenable and doesn't come across as dated 1980s material. It is most definitely one of those albums that I can't see myself tiring of.
Fiona Apple - When the Pawn...
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Gotye - Making Mirrors
David Gray - A New Day at Midnight
Patty Griffin - Impossible Dream
Wendy Matthews - Emigre
Wendy Matthews - The Witness Tree
Joni Mitchell
- Ladies of the Canyon
- Court and Spark
- Dog Eat Dog
- Turbulent Indigo
Radiohead - OK Computer
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Simply Red - Picture Book
Something for Kate - Beautiful Sharks
Something for Kate - Desert Lights
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
I jotted down this list at the start of September, but no thoughts to go with it. My initial reaction when looking at the list again was... did I have any thoughts? Not a good prospect for this blog.
Then, however, the entry that jumped out at me was the last one, for The Colour of Spring. Which it seems I may not have talked about before. And that surprises me given how often I listen to it.
It really is one of those albums that has become so comfortable for me. I see the title, I start hearing parts of 'Happiness Is Easy' in my head and think "yes, I enjoy listening to that". And so I pop it on quite frequently, and always with pleasure. The tapestry of sound weaving in and out and around my head always gives me pleasure.
I have no memory of being aware of Talk Talk in the 1980s. They were a much later discovery for me. The main cataylst for that was this wonderful blog, which I was introduced to via his writings on Tori Amos albums. His description of Talk Talk intrigued me. Here was a band that had evolved rapidly across the space of a few albums. And I'm definitely interested in bands that evolve, rather than churning out more of the same style. Radiohead would suggest itself as a more recent example of a band that drew me in with their ability to do different things.
Another catalyst was No Doubt's cover of the song 'It's My Life', which was one of those things I became very obsessed with around the time of first hearing it. Those key changes between verse and chorus were so smooth, so skillful, and so utterly delicious.
It happened that The Colour of Spring was the first Talk Talk album I heard, because a work colleague lent it to me. It's possible that it's remained my favourite of the three I have (the others being It's My Life and Spirt of Eden) simply because it was my entry point, but I think it is more that it's an album of transition between two styles. I tend to like transitional albums. Here, it's a move from more mainstream pop to the radical ambient work that followed. Caught in the middle, The Colour of Spring is pop that's full of subtle little moments, interesting instruments, often a quiet sense of repose and an air of sophistication. It adds up to an album that is highly listenable and doesn't come across as dated 1980s material. It is most definitely one of those albums that I can't see myself tiring of.
Sunday 2 September 2012
July 2012 - Classical Music
Bach, J.S.
Back to the Bach after a break! Sorry, I just wanted to say that... but yes, I re-embarked on exploring my box of cantatas. With reasonable results, but to be honest at the moment the different pieces tend to blur into each other and I find it hard to comment on anything in particular.
With Beethoven it's easier. Probably because these pieces are more familiar, but also because I respond really strongly to many of them. This month's listening included a group of piano sonatas where the experimentation with form is noticeable, although my favourite of the bunch is probably the most 'conventional' one in that sense, the sonata in D major Op.28 known (not unreasonably) as the 'Pastorale'. And that was immediately followed by another personal favourite, the string quintet Op.29.
One of the more disconcerting effects of keeping track of my music listening using spreadsheets is that I can see just how long it is since I last listened to something. And in the case of classical music, where I've been keeping records for several years, it can come as a shock. I have memories of getting to know Op.28 that are quite specific and vivid, and it feels like it was only a short time ago, but then Excel told me I hadn't listened to it for nearly two years. By the time I get to some later Beethoven works, I'll hit things that Excel tells me I haven't listened to in over three years.
Yet I can still hear many of them in my head.
I have more music than it seems I can sensibly listen to, but I'm continuing to add to it (more purchases on the way as I write...). Does it really matter? I'm not sure. The more music I have, the more any given work in my collection is likely to sound interesting and fresh when I get around to revisiting it. The fact is that I find most things in the collection rewarding, and I rarely buy anything that hasn't already been considered for a while before purchase.
I sometimes don't know what depresses/scares me more, the vast amount of great music to listen to, or the far vaster amount of mediocre music that is hiding it.
The best solution seems to be to keep listening, and keep responding, and just accept that this is how things are. I'm just one person among billions past and present, and even if only a tiny fraction of those other people manage to produce something that amazes, moves or thrills me, there's going to be a lot of those amazing, moving, thrilling moments to find and enjoy.
And really, one of the main functions of this blog is to try and let other people know about some of those moments, to share them. Not that this particular post is doing a particularly good job, I grant you. But I hope that people occasionally read something that makes them go and explore a new musical avenue, even if it takes several years.
- Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt (Just as the rain and snow fall from heaven)
- Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn (Walk in the way of faith)
- Mein Gott, wie lang', ach lange? (My God, how long, ah long?)
- Komm, du süße Todesstunde (Come, thou sweet death's hour)
- Nur jedem das Seine (To each only his due)
- String Quartet No. 6
- Septet
- Symphony No. 1
- Piano Sonatas 11 to 15
- String Quintet
Back to the Bach after a break! Sorry, I just wanted to say that... but yes, I re-embarked on exploring my box of cantatas. With reasonable results, but to be honest at the moment the different pieces tend to blur into each other and I find it hard to comment on anything in particular.
With Beethoven it's easier. Probably because these pieces are more familiar, but also because I respond really strongly to many of them. This month's listening included a group of piano sonatas where the experimentation with form is noticeable, although my favourite of the bunch is probably the most 'conventional' one in that sense, the sonata in D major Op.28 known (not unreasonably) as the 'Pastorale'. And that was immediately followed by another personal favourite, the string quintet Op.29.
One of the more disconcerting effects of keeping track of my music listening using spreadsheets is that I can see just how long it is since I last listened to something. And in the case of classical music, where I've been keeping records for several years, it can come as a shock. I have memories of getting to know Op.28 that are quite specific and vivid, and it feels like it was only a short time ago, but then Excel told me I hadn't listened to it for nearly two years. By the time I get to some later Beethoven works, I'll hit things that Excel tells me I haven't listened to in over three years.
Yet I can still hear many of them in my head.
I have more music than it seems I can sensibly listen to, but I'm continuing to add to it (more purchases on the way as I write...). Does it really matter? I'm not sure. The more music I have, the more any given work in my collection is likely to sound interesting and fresh when I get around to revisiting it. The fact is that I find most things in the collection rewarding, and I rarely buy anything that hasn't already been considered for a while before purchase.
I sometimes don't know what depresses/scares me more, the vast amount of great music to listen to, or the far vaster amount of mediocre music that is hiding it.
The best solution seems to be to keep listening, and keep responding, and just accept that this is how things are. I'm just one person among billions past and present, and even if only a tiny fraction of those other people manage to produce something that amazes, moves or thrills me, there's going to be a lot of those amazing, moving, thrilling moments to find and enjoy.
And really, one of the main functions of this blog is to try and let other people know about some of those moments, to share them. Not that this particular post is doing a particularly good job, I grant you. But I hope that people occasionally read something that makes them go and explore a new musical avenue, even if it takes several years.
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