What Are You Listening To?

I am going to be presumptuous, because you didn't ask, but I want to suggest that you will also enjoy Einojuhani Rautavaara. A good place to start with him is the very accessible Cantus Arcticus.


And no, that isn't Benny Hill conducting.
 
I am going to be presumptuous, because you didn't ask, but I want to suggest that you will also enjoy Einojuhani Rautavaara. A good place to start with him is the very accessible Cantus Arcticus.


And no, that isn't Benny Hill conducting.

As it happens, I do know and enjoy the piece. Also his 7th symphony and some other works, but I'm still discovering his catalog. Some of it takes some getting used to. :)

Another modern composer I recently got more into, after years of listening to little other by him than his guitar concerto, is Villa-Lobos. His output seems to be of rather varying quality, but some gems in there, and not only the Bachianas Brasileiras. In fact, I'm listening to the Choro no. 11 as I type - a kind of huge piano concerto, and thus far very listenable.
 
As it happens, I do know and enjoy the piece. Also his 7th symphony and some other works, but I'm still discovering his catalog. Some of it takes some getting used to. :)

Another modern composer I recently got more into, after years of listening to little other by him than his guitar concerto, is Villa-Lobos. His output seems to be of rather varying quality, but some gems in there, and not only the Bachianas Brasileiras. In fact, I'm listening to the Choro no. 11 as I type - a kind of huge piano concerto, and thus far very listenable.
He wrote an interesting harmonica concerto.
 
He wrote an interesting harmonica concerto.

Indeed; discovered that one some time ago. As I recall I posted it somewhere here. And a lot of his music is just that - interesting. Lots of forward momentum, complex, full of details- this makes it withstand repeated listening well. It takes a well to get a handle on anything he wrote.
 
Two performances of Sensemayá by Silvestre Revueltas. Just watch the first video for Bernstein's articulate and informative introduction to the piece. Then, watch the second video of Dudamel's performance for its much better sound quality. Turn up the volume so the neighbours can clutch their pearls.


 
Listened to this again yesterday...

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As I listened to it on Spotify I added the 2 songs from the single (Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out) that weren't included on the LP. At the time the British felt that including singles on LPs was forcing the audience to repurchase songs that they already (probably) owned as 45s.
 
I've never been big on dance before but these vids show up on YouTube and I find some of them beautiful and moving.

 
I've never been big on dance before but these vids show up on YouTube and I find some of them beautiful and moving.

Because the human body in motion is my largest source of inspiration for my art, I have long loved dance… although I have two… if not three left feet. 😅 I love a good many dance videos. I’d probably be using the figure in motion more in my work if I weren’t currently limited in scale and so focused on the head and upper torso. I’d like to pick up some good paper and do some smaller figure drawings where I could focus more on motion… but right now I only have enough wall space to work on a single painting.
 

Pretty relentless, but the hypnotic effect is great for getting in the flow during a drawing... :)
 
I’ve liked this piece and several others by Reich for some years now… but then again… I also like the equally hypnotic medieval chants.
 
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