What Are You Listening To?

[brianvds]

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.

And I now and then put on recordings of African drumming, which is not dissimilar: hypnotic minimalism has a long and venerable history.

 

[john]

I think this fits in well here.

Thanks that was fascinating. Not sure I got all of it but I always wondered about that Shepard tone. Now I have a better idea about it. I think that was used in Led Zeppelin's Kashmir ? I remember hearing it in concert and it sort of blew my mind.

I'll have to try and listen to Ligeti. I'm surprised that he slipped under my radar. I guess he wasn't on the radio.

 

[stlukesguild]

And I now and then put on recordings of African drumming, which is not dissimilar: hypnotic minimalism has a long and venerable history.

Then you might be interested in this:

 

[Geoffr]

Apparently, there are at least 160 others.

 

[brianvds]

And I now and then put on recordings of African drumming, which is not dissimilar: hypnotic minimalism has a long and venerable history.

Then you might be interested in this:

View attachment 41852

On my list - Reich is one more composer who somehow managed to fly under my radar, and whom I'm discovering at the moment.

 

[brianvds]

After all the Xenakis I've been listening to, YouTube now assumes I'm a diehard fan, and recommended this:

An early, student work by Xenakis, somewhat Bartokian in sound, in which he demonstrates that he was, in fact, capable of writing "real" music too.

 

[Hermes2020]

Thanks that was fascinating. Not sure I got all of it but I always wondered about that Shepard tone. Now I have a better idea about it. I think that was used in Led Zeppelin's Kashmir ? I remember hearing it in concert and it sort of blew my mind.

I'll have to try and listen to Ligeti. I'm surprised that he slipped under my radar. I guess he wasn't on the radio.

I am happy to hear that. Discovering new composers is one of the joys of this never-ending journey of discovery. I have seen a definite progression in my taste over the years. As a much younger man I decided to investigate Ligeti after hearing and seeing how Kubrick used his music in 2001 A Space Odyssey, but somehow didn't get him. More recently, I revisited Ligeti and I've now become a fan, to the extent that I have his Etudes pour piano played by Pierre-Laurent Aimard on my car system. At home I also have the excellent recordings of the Etudes played by Han Chen on Naxos. My attitude towards Hindemith has also improved hugely, as I think I have mentioned before in this forum.

 

[Hermes2020]

A nice bit of Ligeti gossip.

Here is Thomas Dausgaard discussing his recording (which I am lucky to own) of Rued Langgaard's Music of the Spheres, composed astonishingly enough, around 1917.

 

[Hermes2020]

Rued Langgaard's Music of the Spheres

 

[Hermes2020]

Ligeti in a light mood. His Six Bagatelles are played by the Carion Wind Quintet with amusing choreography.

 

[john]

I'll have to bite the bullet and seriously listen to some of that Ligeti, I promise Hermes, but in the meantime I listened to this. A 1967 recording. Sounds great and amusingly one can even hear the heating system come on during it. It amazes me how a fifty seven year old album can sound this good.

I love the Russian composers and Prokofiev has been a fav ever since my Mom got me the narrated Peter and the Wolf for young people where they talk about which instruments were which character. One can hear some of the same themes in this.

 

[brianvds]

Ligeti in a light mood. His Six Bagatelles are played by the Carion Wind Quintet with amusing choreography.

My God, it's full of wind players!

 

[brianvds]

One of those seemingly random things YouTube recommended, but I found this very beautiful - will have to go check out more work by this composer...

 

[stlukesguild]

Remembering the Godfather of British Blues, John Mayall

 

[stlukesguild]

I followed up the above LP with this:

 

[stlukesguild]

I'm now playing a recording I haven't heard in quite some time. I think the last time I played it was in my old studio... prior to COVID. I remember one of my studio partners complaining, "Not this one again!" I replied, "What do you mean? I haven't played this in quite some time." He went on declaring that I was "full of shit" and played it far too often. I then challenged him and asked "OK... then who is it?" He bellowed, "Rachmanoff, Mother Fucker!" I then laughed and informed him that the composer wasn't even Russian. I was thinking of this little exchange today before deciding to play this recording again. Richter was an incredible pianist and Kondrashin and equally brilliant conductor. In spite of the fact that this recording is older than me it sounds fabulous.

 

[stlukesguild]

Now I'm moving away from the explosive Romanticism of Liszt to the Classicism of Mozart's string quartets:

 

[stlukesguild]

Musically, I've been all over the place today,.. which is quite common for me when I'm working on my paintings.

One of my favorite LPs by Duke Ellington...

... and one of the finest Bluegrass groups... the duet of the Louvin Brothers.

 

[stlukesguild]

Classic Rock n Roll... Elvis' first RCA LP:

 

[stlukesguild]

Continuing with Elvis' early RCA LPs... arguable his finest work outside of the Sun Sessions and the "greatest hits".