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

[computer-audiophile]

In June, we have again a lot of contemporary music.

On June 16, we will visit the new Hybrid Music Lab at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music. We have already met the head of the house, and I was able to talk to him at length. BTW: He also privately uses Neumann KH120 monitors for listening.

The Hybrid Music Lab introduces itself, with new works and collaborations at the intersection of live electronics, video, improvisation and installation.

 

[Multicore]

Now I only tolerate - and love - listen to Western noted instrumental art music.

That sounds like a loss to me.

I don't understand those who 36 years later still like exact same music they liked when they were young. How dreadful.

Since it is common I think it worth trying to understand. Most people have a casual relationship to music and other artistic and cultural products. That's not my way but I don't think it is dreadful. I wouldn't count people who don't dig Messiaen among the problems in life.

For me it is normal that the taste refines itself in the course of the life and one develops higher requirements, not only which concerns the music, but the entire life-style. For this basic demand I also have on compositions of music I use the German expression 'Gestaltungshöhe'.

This suggests a telos or natural law that leads to this destination. I don't buy it.

If someone is constantly satusfied by the same - in this case - music, it tells a lot about this person. For starters: what happend to the spirit of adventure? Discovery? Pushing the boundries?

Maybe there wasn't much in the first place. Or maybe they direct it into things other than music. Or maybe it was crushed somehow or just wasn't the top priority as life happened.

Notated music is a powerful technique and can achieve things other approaches cannot. I've enjoyed it for most of my life. But it also has its peculiar limitations and drawbacks and I remain interested in the other approaches. Personally I remain as excited by improvisation as ever. I sit hear now listening to the Sun Ra Haverford College solo performance reminiscing about the band of high-school kinds I was in 40 years ago. None of this seems like a mistake or inferior to or displaced by anything else. I love it all.

 

[computer-audiophile]

This suggests a telos or natural law that leads to this destination. I don't buy it.

Well, here everyone can only speak for himself.

At the moment in our area are the so-called 'Jazztage' with many events at different locations and I briefly had the impulse to go somewhere. To prepare, I checked for some bands on the Internet for videos. All of them somehow quite nice, but I can't imagine that I would have the patience to listen to any of these in a setting like a classical concert performance for a longer time.

I hope you can play the sample video of a group that even won an award recently without geoblocking. I find this kind of music quite boring today.

BR-KLASSIK CONCERT: Nils Kugelmann Trio | ARD Mediathek

Nils Kugelmann Trio | Video | Das Nils Kugelmann Trio aus München hat den 13. Burghauser Nachwuchs-Jazzpreis gewonnen und eröffnet den Konzertabend in der Wackerhalle und damit auch die 52. Jazzwoche Burghausen.

www.ardmediathek.de

 

[Multicore]

At the moment in our area are the so-called 'Jazztage' with many events at different locations and I briefly had the impulse to go somewhere. To prepare, I checked for some bands on the Internet for videos. All of them somehow quite nice, but I can't imagine that I would have the patience to listen to any of these in a setting like a classical concert for a longer time.

I hope you can play the sample video of a group that even won an award recently without geoblocking.

BR-KLASSIK CONCERT: Nils Kugelmann Trio | ARD Mediathek

Nils Kugelmann Trio | Video | Das Nils Kugelmann Trio aus München hat den 13. Burghauser Nachwuchs-Jazzpreis gewonnen und eröffnet den Konzertabend in der Wackerhalle und damit auch die 52. Jazzwoche Burghausen.

www.ardmediathek.de

That's good, which is a bit surprising as I have a very complicated and often difficult relationship with jazz. But I agree with you, I would get impatient just sitting for this. The concert setting with passive/static audience comes with its own peculiar set of pros and cons. This might be nice to put on, for example, while preparing a meal.

I have a lot to say about context, reciprocity in communication, and purpose (spiritual, artistic, social, political, commercial) in an epsiode of our podcast (about an TV doco called On The Edge: Improvisation in Music) that we recorded last week. I single out recordings, the concert format, and scale as creating a whole bunch of problems for music. It will probably come out in three weeks.

 

[computer-audiophile]

I also often think about what I hear and talk about it a lot with my wife, for example. Almost every day. We have a lot in common there. For us, it's primarily about the musical experience or our own listening practice. We are not musicologists or critics, but art lovers. My wife is admittedly a bit more tolerant of pop and jazz. She might go to the Jazz Days with a friend, where I don't want to go.

 

[Multicore]

Apropos of nothing in particular, I happened across this today. Interesting and also very funny in parts https://www.ubu.com/film/feldman_xenakis.html

For a while these two composers had a solidarity, despite how different their music is, in that they were both uniquely despised by the mainstream modernist composers in Europe.

 

[computer-audiophile]

Apropos of nothing in particular, I happened across this today. Interesting and also very funny in parts https://www.ubu.com/film/feldman_xenakis.html

For a while these two composers had a solidarity, despite how different their music is, in that they were both uniquely despised by the mainstream modernist composers in Europe.

Interesting. I can watch them smoke - that used to be normal - and get a superficial impression of their habitus, (do they seem likeable?) but what they talk I understand only partially because of the foreign language and noisy recording.

You always discover a lot on the Internet, I don't even remember how it used to be before that. In my youth I had phases where I was bored. There was time in abundance. Today I try to draw things from the Internet, which then lead back to a lively activity.

 

[Multicore]

Interesting. I can watch them smoke - that used to be normal - and get a superficial impression of their habitus, (do they seem likeable?) but what they talk I understand only partially because of the foreign language and noisy recording.

You always discover a lot on the Internet, I don't even remember how it used to be before that. In my youth I had phases where I was bored. There was time in abundance. Today I try to draw things from the Internet, which then lead back to a lively activity.

There's a transcript of the conversation on the same page.

 

[computer-audiophile]

There's a transcript of the conversation on the same page.

Thank you, I had not seen. I'll look later, I'm in a hurry, have to go right away, to an opera concert.

 

[computer-audiophile]

Thank you, I had not seen. I'll look later, I'm in a hurry, have to go right away, to an opera concert.

Impressions from the Opera of today - as interlude:

Great recordings of classical music

Here are three for consideration under great recordings. Would love to get other's reads of the recording quality and the performances.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[computer-audiophile]

There's a transcript of the conversation on the same page.

https://www.ubu.com/papers/Feldman-Morton_Xenakis-Iannis.pdf

I quickly skimmed the transcript. There are a few wise thoughts that come up. One statement I agree with:

"Well, whenever I listen to music I don't want to consider any ideology whatsoever beforehand."

BTW, pop music is hold in high esteem by Xenakis. Well, he can see it that way, but I hardly care anymore. I also find his statement worth considering that it is very difficult as a composer to make something that is different from what already exists, because sometimes one doesn't know what already exists.

 

[Multicore]

https://www.ubu.com/papers/Feldman-Morton_Xenakis-Iannis.pdf

I quickly skimmed the transcript. There are a few wise thoughts that come up. One statement I agree with:

"Well, whenever I listen to music I don't want to consider any ideology whatsoever beforehand."

I also agree, with the sentiment of not wanting to do that. But I don't know how to accomplish it.

And it may be one of these things that cannot be done except by not try to do it. Deliberately trying to exclude ideology is the application of an ideology. The harder you try the more you fail.

BTW, pop music is hold in high esteem by Xenakis. Well, he can see it that way, but I hardly care anymore.

I put some pop music on yesterday evening before dinner time and we enjoyed it very much. A nostalgic dance-along to the first few tracks from Moon Safari by Air.

 

[computer-audiophile]

From today's news - I did not know her. Now I need to listen to what she did.

Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho deceased

Kaija Saariaho was among the most performed female composers of our time.

On Friday (2/6), the Finnish-born composer died in Paris at the age of 70, according to her family.

Saariaho leaves behind an impressive oeuvre of well over a hundred compositions. With her neo-impressionist stage work "L'amour de loin," which had its world premiere at the Salzburg Festival in 2000, she became known to a wider audience far beyond contemporary music. Her later stage works "Adriana Mater", "Emilie" and most recently "Innocence" (2021 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival) have also been successfully performed by leading institutions and reprised in many places.

After studying violin, piano and art, Saariaho began her training as a composer at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Paavo Heininen. Together with Magnus Lindberg and others, she founded the group "Open Ears." She later continued her composition studies in Freiburg im Breisgau with Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber and participated in the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. At the Paris Research Institute for Acoustics and Music IRCAM, she began mixing electronic and acoustic sounds and experimenting with computer music.

Kaija Saariaho was "composer in residence" at the Lucerne Festival in the summer of 2009. She has received numerous awards, including the Swedish Polar Prize, the Grawemeyer Award, and a Grammy. Most recently, she was honored by the 2021 Venice Biennale with the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

 

[Multicore]

Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho deceased

A lot of what I heard has an uneasy combination of modernism and romanticism, which I find a turn off. Similar problem with Henze, although the musics sound a lot different.

Notes on the Deliverance Machine for Cello and Electronics is good fun. I found it on streaming. It gets a bit syrupy at 5 minutes in but had a good rock-n-roll groove elsewhere.

 

[computer-audiophile]

A lot of what I heard has an uneasy combination of modernism and romanticism, which I find a turn off. Similar problem with Henze, although the musics sound a lot different.

Notes on the Deliverance Machine for Cello and Electronics is good fun. I found it on streaming. It gets a bit syrupy at 5 minutes in but had a good rock-n-roll groove elsewhere.

Nice modern cello piece. In fact, I find the last third less successful as well.

Sumna

Kivie Cahn-Lipman - album - 2022 - 11 Songs

www.deezer.com

A video is also embedded on this site: https://droplid.com/deliverance-machine-solo

I still have Kaija Saariaho bookmarked from yesterday, I want to check her works out too.

 

[computer-audiophile]

Next weekend will be tough. Saturday and Sunday are two concerts in Dresden that I can't skip for various reasons. So I have to drive there twice, which makes about 500 km all together. Hotel also makes no sense, since madame only wants to go to the second concert.
Saturday there is a concert of electronic music with several analog synthesizers where I will meet old HiFi friends. And on Sunday there is a house concert with contemporary music where the wonderful cellist Christina Meissner plays e.g. compositions by Albert Breier, whom we also know and appreciate very much. This is material that is very very rarely performed - all the more exciting.

By chance I was present when the following CD was recorded by Christina Meissner. Pieces for cello and organ. The organist Reinhard Seeliger is my wife's choirmaster. If you listen very carefully and have a good sound system, you can hear the sound of the Neisse River flowing below the church where the concert was recorded.

Seraph

Christina Meissner - album - 2014 - 5 Songs

www.deezer.com

 

[computer-audiophile]

Right now I'm listening through all kinds of albums from Kaija Saariaho. The composer I only became aware of late when I read about her death.

So far I like especially this album very much. The wide floating sounds remind me distantly of my favourite Japanese composers like Takemitsu e.g.. It makes me daydream.

Saariaho: Chamber Works for Strings, Vol. 1

Kaija Saariaho - album - 2013 - 9 Songs

www.deezer.com

 

[computer-audiophile]

I think it's gorgeous! In fact, my love for a Japanese mood is beautifully served with the following pieces from Kaija Saariaho. This is going on my playlist.

9. Six Japanese Gardens (1993/95) for percussion and Electronics: Tenju-An Garden of Nanzen-Ji Temple
10. Six Japanese Gardens (1993/95) for percussion and Electronics: Many pleasures (Garden of the Kinkaku-Ji)
11. Six Japanese Gardens (1993/95) for percussion and Electronics: Dry Mountain Stream
12. Six Japanese Gardens (1993/95) for percussion and Electronics: Rock Garden of Ryoan-Ji
13. Six Japanese Gardens (1993/95) for percussion and Electronics: Moss Garden of the Saiho-Ji
14. Six Japanese Gardens (1993/95) for percussion and Electronics: Stone Bridges

It's on the following album

Kaija Saariaho: Chamber Music

Wolpe Trio - album - 2004 - 14 Songs

www.deezer.com

 

[computer-audiophile]

Yesterday I attended a great concert in an old church where several analog synthesizers were played. The three musicians are all from the same family. Grandfather, father and junior. They are academically trained musicians who play professionally classical instruments in orchestras. E.g. with the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. They make electronic music together only as a hobby. No pop music was played, but really solemn own compositions, in a force, which is not inferior to e.g. a huge church organ. It was a wonderful concert, where I also had nice conversations with the musicians. So the long drive was really worthwhile. Today I'm going to Dresden again with my wife, to another concert.

 

[computer-audiophile]

Tonight: Ensemble klangwerk am bauhaus