I am Music

[pelegrino]

Architecture meets music here (in the Einsteinian time concept), but the work is also profoundly "anti-war".

 

[pelegrino]

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata (Full Version)

 

[pelegrino]

CLAUDE DEBUSSY: CLAIR DE LUNE

 

[pelegrino]

The Beatles "Mr. Moonlight"

Cat Stevens - Moon Shadow (1970)

 

[pelegrino]

Arnold Schönberg, Pierrot lunaire (Full)

for documentation on music here
for documentation on poetry here

 

[Trixareforkids]

CLAUDE DEBUSSY: CLAIR DE LUNE

Sweet and sentimental at the start, then stirring before returning to sweet and sentimental. It feels like a memory translated I to music. And perfectly fits my favorite descriptor, lovely.

Thank you Peligrino, I've saved it on YouTube so I can revisit it whenever the mood arises.

 

[pelegrino]

Sweet and sentimental at the start, then stirring before returning to sweet and sentimental. It feels like a memory translated I to music. And perfectly fits my favorite descriptor, lovely.

Thank you Peligrino, I've saved it on YouTube so I can revisit it whenever the mood arises.

That is a good aural analysis at first hand, Trix! I agree with it. To me is a A-B-A (ternary) form used in terms of thematic content, dynamics, and decorative writing, although there is a very brief reference to B before closing. Your description as "a memory translated to music" is probably spot on. Debussy was always striving to present the "correspondences" between nature and inner-self of the observer and the impressions left upon the observer by the outer world. That is how he has been associated with the impressionist movement, I believe.

this is another very "impressionistic" piece, but just listen to it, don't watch the video cause I think is taking you away from the music's purpose. The painting is by Monet (Impression, soleil levant) but I don't see what this "rising sun" of Monet has to do with the nocturnal nature of Debussy's music. They are both impressions, but they are not the same impressions, in my opinion anyhow.

 

[Trixareforkids]

this is another very "impressionistic" piece, but just listen to it, don't watch the video cause I think is taking you away from the music's purpose. The painting is by Monet (Impression, soleil levant) but I don't see what this "rising sun" of Monet has to do with the nocturnal nature of Debussy's music. They are both impressions, but they are not the same impressions, in my opinion anyhow.

Nosturne left me unaffected. While there were small moments I liked, I found it too jarring, jangling and discordant as a whole to be enjoyable. There are certain sounds or sound combinations that I dislike and this hit upon them.

It's similar to this odd relationship I have with horn instruments, I can, for the most part, only listen to them live. Live I enjoy them immensely, recorded I find them to be like nails on a chalkboard. Which pushes a good bit of jazz out my enjoyable zone.

 

[pelegrino]

Nosturne left me unaffected. While there were small moments I liked, I found it too jarring, jangling and discordant as a whole to be enjoyable. There are certain sounds or sound combinations that I dislike and this hit upon them.

It's similar to this odd relationship I have with horn instruments, I can, for the most part, only listen to them live. Live I enjoy them immensely, recorded I find them to be like nails on a chalkboard. Which pushes a good bit of jazz out my enjoyable zone.

Well put!
It is not thoughtlessly that 20th century music (beginning with Debussy really) has been called the "emancipation of dissonance". Some people like it strait away, while some others have to listen a lot to it before their ears can begin to tolerate these insolvable dissonances.
I leave them where they are for the time been and just go to English Renaissance to hear a very consonant song and one of the greatest love songs I have heard from that period. (video with piano part, lute tablature and lyrics, but also I can hear a viola da gaba playing the base line)

If My Complaints Could Passions move by John Dowland (1563-1626)

 

[pelegrino]

this is a more authentic performance of the above song, I think.

 

[Trixareforkids]

Well put!
It is not thoughtlessly that 20th century music (beginning with Debussy really) has been called the "emancipation of dissonance". Some people like it strait away, while some others have to listen a lot to it before their ears can begin to tolerate these insolvable dissonances.
I leave them where they are for the time been and just go to English Renaissance to hear a very consonant song and one of the greatest love songs I have heard from that period. (video with piano part, lute tablature and lyrics, but also I can hear a viola da gaba playing the base line)

If My Complaints Could Passions move by John Dowland (1563-1626)

LOL, I'm not one for acquiring a taste for anything. That's especially true of music. While I can appreciate the complexity and skill involved in a piece of music, if I don't like it all the skill in playing/singing it is wasted on me. Like the finest of wines or seafood dinners, I won't appreciate them because I do not like either of them.

I listened to the piece you linked above and almost immediately stopped it and looked for an instrumental only version. The long drawn out operatic style of song is not something I will ever enjoy. I found it played on classical guitar without vocals and found it pleasant, but not particularly stirring. I also looked up the lyrics separately and was unmoved by them. Great last line though.

 

[Trixareforkids]

this is a more authentic performance of the above song, I think.

Ok, this is a much better, to my ear, performance of the song. If I listen to her voice as just an instrument and don't try to hear the words it's quite lovely.

 

[pelegrino]

1.
"Flow my tears" by John Dowland | Valeria Mignaco, soprano | Alfonso Marin, lute

2.
SEQUENZA III, by Luciano Berio (1925-2003)

 

[Tsotha]

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata (Full Version)

http://youtu.be/MZuSaudKc68

 

[Tsotha]

Cat Stevens - Moon Shadow (1970)

I remember singing Moonshadow before I understood what the words meant.

Hey Pel, what do you think of prog-metal music, such as this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dsvRBxPYC6E

 

[pensivepoet]

Makes me wonder just how many albums, tapes, cd's of tea for the tillerman i wore out.
Still one of my all time faves

 

[Trixareforkids]

Elle King

Found a new (to me) artist on eTown, Elle King, she has a wonderful raspy voice reminiscent of Janice Joplin. I like her lyrics and if the second video is any indication, a wicked sense of humor.

I Told You I Was Mean (skip to 1:10 for the song)

Good To Be A Man

 

[Tzara]

Debussy: La cathédrale engloutie

 

[Tzara]

Christopher Rouse: Bonham for percussion ensemble, performed on Norwegian television.

Yiu-Kwong Chung: Concerto for Percussion and Traditional Chinese Orchestra, featuring the fabulous Evelyn Glennie. Dame Evelyn is profoundly deaf and performs barefoot, so as to better sense the music. I was lucky enough to see her perform Rouse's Der gerettete Alberich with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

Edgard Varèse: Ionisation for percussion ensemble.

George Antheil: Ballet mécanique performed by robotic ensemble. The 1926 premiere of this piece was a famous scandal in Paris. The score originally called for player pianos, but the technology of the time wasn't sufficient to perform the piece as written. This version is considerably shorter than some I've heard, and seemed to be missing the airplane propeller.

 

[pelegrino]

http://youtu.be/MZuSaudKc68

Thanks Tsotha, I loved it!
Faultless technique and very emphatic musicality.
Many strait musicians would curse it as a "sacrilege" or "Beethoven would turn in his grave" and other such shit. I say, he probably would but not because of been indignant but because of been jealous.

Hey Pel, what do you think of prog-metal music, such as this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dsvRBxPYC6E

This one I like too. Good dynamic playing and a few interesting rhythm modulations, so it's great as far as popular art goes. Many times I wish they knew how to modulate with artistry to a different key; it would be still more interesting.

Christopher Rouse: Bonham for percussion ensemble, performed on Norwegian television.

Yiu-Kwong Chung: Concerto for Percussion and Traditional Chinese Orchestra, featuring the fabulous Evelyn Glennie. Dame Evelyn is profoundly deaf and performs barefoot, so as to better sense the music. I was lucky enough to see her perform Rouse's Der gerettete Alberich with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

Edgard Varèse: Ionisation for percussion ensemble.

George Antheil: Ballet mécanique performed by robotic ensemble. The 1926 premiere of this piece was a famous scandal in Paris. The score originally called for player pianos, but the technology of the time wasn't sufficient to perform the piece as written. This version is considerably shorter than some I've heard, and seemed to be missing the airplane propeller.

Thanks for your selections, Tzara, I have enjoyed them all greatly!

I've found this also for Debussy's piece which does not have the concert hall back ground noise and also you can follow the score and fathom a bit more its magnificence. Looks and feels (in 6/4 = 3/2 time) like a big sarabande with great dynamic variety and exciting chordal thematic material.

"Bonham" is a very enjoyable piece that I was not familiar with. Marvelous interplay of percussive textures and rhythmic figuration!

I am also unfamiliar with the Chung Concerto.
In the Chung Concerto the soloist is indeed very impressive but the orchestra never really moves away from the tonality of G minor and a scale with a flattened second for the entire length of the 1st movement ,a duration of 9'30" (and that is despite the use of an advanced harmonic language). Purely instrumental tonal music that does not modulate to a different key after 3-4 minutes tends to make me tired. (see also my comment to Tsotha above about this lack of modulation).
In the 2nd movement the situation improved quite a bit. About the 12th minute we have a modulation in D minor and a clear establishment of this tonality for about one minute and a half. later on a return to G minor and the soloist part became also more exciting containing a percussive cadenza, after which the music moves deceptively (I think) to D minor again but continues in the tonality of the tonic major (G major) so as to bring the whole concerto in a triumphant close.

So, on the whole I think that the 2nd movement is a far better and well balanced piece of music than the 1st, but because this is a two movement work with a lousy 1st movement I consider this concerto as a interesting but ultimately failed work of art.

I don't have any comments for "Ionization" and the "Ballet Mecanique".
They are both by now classic masterpieces of the early 20th century to me and both performances are very professional and… breath taking.
But why did they shortened such a marvelous piece of music as the ballet? It is supposed to be nearly half hour in duration. I can't hear any airplane propeller either, but the video of the set up of the concert hall for this performance is very original and entertaining!

 

[pelegrino]

Well, since I had my 20th century dose for tonight I go back to the 12th to listen to an "ars antiqua" Notre Dame composer. All that are interested in polyphony should familiarize themselves with its beginnings.


Pérotin - Sederunt Principes, Sheet Music + Audio

 

[pelegrino]

Nocturnal after John Dowland op.70 by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) played by Alberto Mesirca

 

[pelegrino]

And this is the Dowland song that ispired the previous piece by Britten.

 

[pelegrino]

The Earl of Essex's Galliard by John Dowland

And this is how Sting decides to give us his version of another Dowland song. It is brilliant, I think, 4 part harmony, hemiolas and all!


for a richer version of this song, (based on Dowland's elaborations) played by Renaissance ensemble (lead by Julian Bream) go here


hemiola = the ratio 3:2

 

[Angeline]

The Earl of Essex's Galliard by John Dowland

And this is how Sting decides to give us his version of another Dowland song. It is brilliant, I think, 4 part harmony, hemiolas and all!


for a richer version of this song, (based on Dowland's elaborations) played by Renaissance ensemble (lead by Julian Bream) go here


hemiola = the ratio 3:2

I adore Julian Bream. His tone is like a bell.