Not trying to be arrogant here, but who listens to this?

[computer-audiophile]

Do you know the recording of Octet on ECM?

Octet - Music For A Large Ensemble - Violin Phase

Steve Reich - album - 1980 - 3 Songs

www.deezer.com

 

[computer-audiophile]

Then it went to New York where it provoked a Rite Of Spring-like audience response. So sensitive, those New York concert goers.

@Multicore

What was that reaction? Unfortunately I don't know anything about it.
(To me, the piece seems a bit monotonous for long periods of time)

 

[JaMaSt]

Do you know the recording of Octet on ECM?

I own three recordings of Octet. The one I posted, the ECM recording and, the first one I bought, the Ransom Wilson.

Grand Pianola by Adams is a gem also.

 

[Multicore]

@Multicore

What was that reaction? Unfortunately I don't know anything about it.

The audience protested loudly. I think the performance managed to complete it. Not exactly a riot but those that disapproved voiced their opinion.

(To me, the piece seems a bit monotonous for long periods of time)

Four Organs is one chord for about 25 minutes but it has a rhythmic progression that I find very absorbing and quite pretty. It's one of my favorite Reich compositions.

Monotonous, eh? Well, as for organ music, a favorite recording of mine is Schlingen-Blängen by Charlemagne Palestine. It is 71 minutes of one chord but without the clear rhythms of Four Organs.

But that's nothing! The town of Halberstadt has been playing John Cage's Organ2/ASLSP since 2013 and, if all goes well, the performance won't be finished for another 630 years.

My own 00 Mobility 1 sounds like it was inspired by Schlingen-Blängen, don't you think?

https://soundcloud.com/thefsb%2F00-mobility-1

 

[xaviescacs]

Whereas much of Xenakis music represents the more-or-less chaotic (dis)organization of energy in nature or mass stochastic systems, and the transitions and intermediate states between ordered and chaotic or turbulent systems.

May I ask the source of this? Or is it yours?

 

[computer-audiophile]

But that's nothing! The town of Halberstadt has been playing John Cage's Organ2/ASLSP since 2013 and, if all goes well, the performance won't be finished for another 630 years.

We have been there two times (This was 10 years ago)

My own 00 Mobility 1 sounds like it was inspired by Schlingen-Blängen, don't you think?

I like that piece! Are you musician?

 

[Multicore]

May I ask the source of this? Or is it yours?

That's my understanding and impression of Xenakis music.

 

[Multicore]

We have been there two times (This was 10 years ago)

So what's the problem with monotony?

I like that piece! Are you musician?

Glad you like it. Yes I am but by that measure I am a lot of things. The biography for my podcast is reasonably up to date (I don't play bassoon). I am, above all, dilettante.

 

[Axo1989]

Xenakis was quite the serious architect:

View attachment 258394

Cardew: I'm representing my score graphically
Xenakis: hold my beer

 

[Axo1989]

... I love the story of Four Organs. It was first performed here in Boston in Symphony Hall. Then it went to New York where it provoked a Rite Of Spring-like audience response. So sensitive, those New York concert goers.

Four Organs was the first Steve Reich piece I heard. It's great, blew my mind a bit as I recall.

 

[computer-audiophile]

So what's the problem with monotony?

That's not really a problem. I have a heart for conceptual art.

Glad you like it. Yes I am but by that measure I am a lot of things. The biography for my podcast is reasonably up to date (I don't play bassoon). I am, above all, dilettante.

Tom, I enjoyed reading your biography and I find it very likeable. I also discover things in common like cycling, photography or blogging to name a few that I've been doing for a long time. Professionally, I was mainly active in basic physics research and development. I became an internet media entrepreneur in the early 1990s when the subject was still new and exciting. Today I am retired and I continue to do exercises in various cultural techniques that I have always enjoyed. This is my artistic streak.

Your videos at 'Gas Giants' inspired me to pick up my old Fender guitars again and strum them a bit. I had to order an amp first though, I didn't have one anymore.

 

[computer-audiophile]

I find the topic very exciting, as you might notice, but at the same time I'm not sure if it's the right place for the topic contemporary music. Is there enough interest here, or is it even perceived as annoying in an audio science forum? I would be sorry!

So today I came up with the idea of asking the artificial intelligence of ChatGPT what a good platform would be. It answered me the following:

Is there an Internet forum where people exchange ideas about contemporary so-called 'new music'?

Yes, there are many internet forums where people discuss and exchange ideas about contemporary "new music." Some examples include:

Reddit's /r/experimentalmusic
Discogs' Experimental Music Forum
Head-Fi's Experimental Music and Soundscapes thread
Electronic Music Production's New Music Discussion thread

It is worth noting that these communities may have different focuses and cultures, so it may be helpful to explore a few to find one that aligns with your interests.

 

[Rednaxela]

As long as you keep that bl###y auto translator switched off, I don’t mind.

Joking aside - this is the Music Reviews and Discussions subforum so the perfect place I’d say.

 

[SMc]

because if sooooo many subscribe to something, it must be better than anything having few subscribers



Your analysis is rather lacking. He's playing music that's been part of the 'classical' repertoire for a bit over 50 years now and is available in (by my quick tally) at least 5 full performances on CD. Which, for a post-midcentury orchestral work that's 90 minutes long, ain't bad at all.

Sometimes some context helps. I wouldn't say you have to know the call of the African white-browed robin-chat to appreciate the work, but it couldn't hurt.

White-browed Robin-Chat (Cossypha heuglini) :: xeno-canto

xeno-canto.org

It also doesn't hurt to know other movements were inspired by American landscapes.

What to Listen for in Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles

Commissioned in 1971 by the American philanthropist and arts patron Alice Tully to celebrate the bicentenary of the Declaration of Independence, Des canyons aux étoiles is a suite of twelve orchestral movements arranged in three groupings of five, two and five. When all twelve are performed...

utahsymphony.org

 

[computer-audiophile]

We had written about percussion already - now one more.

Today I had put on an LP with music that seems rather constructed, similar to Xenakis sometimes. In my own words, I will try to give a short excerpt from the liner notes:

Stress for eight percussion groups (1972).
Premiered April 13, 1972 in Munich
(Percussion Ensemble Siegfried Fink)

Eight percussionists produce a staggered, precisely notated score with an extensive sound apparatus of almost one hundred instruments. In six passes, the original phase duration time unit is shortened to a final value of one second. In doing so, they systematically push the actions of the instrumentalists to the limits of technical playability and range, until finally an extreme, almost panicky state of hecticness arises.

 

[computer-audiophile]

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening.

Let me ask you a question: How did you come to love contemporary classical music, if that's the case?

For me, as a side effect, it also has to do with the fact that I've always liked to build all kinds of amplifiers and speakers, both possible and impossible, and that I was forced to listen very carefully to make sure that everything sounded "right". (Of course I went public with exemplary installations).

In the course of time I became an analytical listener of the smallest details. Unfortunately, I also pay a lot of attention to supposed mistakes.

Best regards,
Johannes

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening.

Let me ask you a question: How did you come to love contemporary classical music, if that's the case?

For me, as a side effect, it also has to do with the fact that I've always liked to build all kinds of amplifiers and speakers, both possible and impossible, and that I was forced to listen very carefully to make sure that everything sounded "right". (Of course I went public with exemplary installations).

In the course of time I became an analytical listener of the smallest details. Unfortunately, I also pay a lot of attention to supposed mistakes.

Best regards,
Johannes

By listening attentively. The seminal event was a college music class in which we were asked to write a short essay on a piece which the vast majority of us had never heard before. This was back in the 1950s and it was a movement of a Schoenberg string quartet. It made little sense to me on the first hearing but, with the second, I already latched on to some of the motifs. By the the morning, I found myself humming it!

What I learned from that is that it can be impossible to grasp what is really happening in the first hearing of something quite strange and unfamiliar.

 

[computer-audiophile]

What I learned from that is that it can be impossible to grasp what is really happening in the first hearing of something quite strange and unfamiliar.

Thank you for your insight, Kal.
One might conclude that it's not musical fast food, as an analogy.

Best regards,
Johannes

 

[Robin L]

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening.

Let me ask you a question: How did you come to love contemporary classical music, if that's the case?

For me, as a side effect, it also has to do with the fact that I've always liked to build all kinds of amplifiers and speakers, both possible and impossible, and that I was forced to listen very carefully to make sure that everything sounded "right". (Of course I went public with exemplary installations).

In the course of time I became an analytical listener of the smallest details. Unfortunately, I also pay a lot of attention to supposed mistakes.

Best regards,
Johannes

Nonesuch had a "New Music" series in the 1970's, I bought and listened to as many as I could. The series included Xenakis' "Bohor", posted previously. I suspect Revolution #9 was the true "gateway drug" however.

 

[computer-audiophile]

Nonesuch had a "New Music" series in the 1970's, I bought and listened to as many as I could. The series included Xenakis' "Bohor", posted previously. I suspect Revolution #9 was the true "gateway drug" however.

Thank you Robin, Nonesuch is a U.S.-based label I didn't know about before.

Johannes