aworks list :: he's back and he's listin'

Hey, is this thing still on? Smack, smack... Ok, we're back. Some pent-up random comments:

• I know next to nothing about Keith Fullerton Whitman but I am starting to think he is the long lost son of Terry Riley, in his pure keyboard pieces anyway, starting with Stereo Music for Farfisa Compact Duo Deluxe, Drum Kit. I think I discovered him at the Harvard radio orgy earlier this year.
• I found lots of interesting stuff at Tower Mountain View tonight including Jack DeJohnette's Music in the Key of Om. Not sure what it's about yet as I am still ripping (even if iTunes thinks the one, long track is Morton Feldman's String Quartet). And for all my analog legacy tendencies, I always rip before listening.
  
• Speaking of Tower, a big sign on the outside indicates Rasputin will open a branch in the soon-to-be-vacated store. For those who don't know Rasputin, it's like a scruffier, smaller version of Amoeba. The Berkeley Rasputin is reasonably good, I've found some good stuff at the San Francisco version even if the elevator requires an attendant, the one in San Jose is so-so, the one in Newark is not so good, and to be honest, I have no idea where in the Bay Area one might find Pleasant Hill. Still, for those of us who prefer to browse in analog, it's a nice surprise.
• I listen to music for the sound rather than the meaning as does Frank Oteri.
• I hadn't thought of Nancy van de Vate in awhile.
• My William Duckworth recommendation for modernclassical would be Imaginary Dances. This idea and the previous post ultimately via Kyle Gann.
• loreto martin points out Peter Greenaway's Four American Composers series is up on ubuweb.
• 1941 proto-minimalism via Howard Who?
• Radiohead's Everything in Its Right Place on that Rockabye Baby: Lullaby Renditions of Radiohead CD still sounds cool.
• Gable families mostly lived in Pennsylvania and Ohio in 1840, all hundred or so of us.

Comments

[richard friedman]

The 1941 proto-minimalism really isn't proto, or minimalist. It's one of those rare recordings of the music of Canadian Colin McPhee, who "discovered" Balinese music for the rest of us. It's part of his Suite in 6 Movements (from 1946). McPhee's time spent in Bali in the 30's (see his amazing A House In Bali, his memoir that may have been an influence for the musical South Pacific, or not) greatly changed his musical outlook and resulted in many Balinese-inspired pieces, including the one orchestral piece that he is most noted for, Tabu-Tabuhan. Unfortunately, he was before his time and no one seemed interested in what he was doing. His untimely end, depressed and impoverished, was a tragedy. Speed ahead to the 1970's and Balinese music is rediscovered, and now everyone is in a gamelan orchestra and can spell slendro. Very tragic figure, McPhee. There ARE a few recent recordings of his piano music. I've been looking for a work for flute and piano that I heard once maybe 25 years ago and never again.

[richard friedman]

Actually, come to think of it, the real "proto-minimalist" piece is Koechlin's Les Heures Persanes.

[richard friedman]

Sorry, forgot to add, Les Heures Persanes, a suite of 16 short pieces invoking Pierre Loti's diary of a 2 month trip thru Persia in 1904 was written in 1913. There's a recording by Kathryn Stott on Chandos.

[whetstone]

KF Whitman has been an indie-music fave for awhile, thanks largely to Pitchfork's (!!!) love of him (Dusted, too). They interviewed him (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/37001/Interview_Interview_Keith_Fullerton_Whitman) awhile back. I suspect he's the most popular new music artist among indie kids, but can't say for sure.

Love the site, btw.

[Juno888]

I'll keep on searching about this site.