Kyle Gann blogs about his external hard drive and the challenges and joys of filling it up with music, including La Monte Young's 5 CD set of The Well-Tuned Piano. Note to self: find said CD set so I can rip it to MP3, although if it shows up as hour-long tracks, that may not work so well in shuffle mode. Note to family: I've been eyeing an external hard drive for Christmas.
I searched five years to find the La Monte Young recording after reading an intriguing article about the composer in downbeat magazine. Eventually, Rhino Records in Westwood had it, although by the time I got it, CDs had supplanted LPs. Amazon has a used CD copy at $199, although the comments may indicate it is Just Stompin' instead, a blues improvisation 2-CD set by La Monte Young and the Forever Bad Blues Band. Unlike that guy who is blogging his entire record collection, album by album, I don't remember where I bought Just Stompin''.
I also agree with Gann about not abandoning CDs after ripping. In times of need during college, I sold parts of my LP collection and I vowed never again.
Kyle Gann on the tuning of The Well-Tuned Piano:
The premise of this tuning is actually very simple, and analogous to the tuning from which European classical tuning evolved. Young's tuning can be arranged in a grid in which the perfect fifths (3/2 ratios) run in one direction... and the pure minor sevenths (7/4 ratios) in another...
Hi, please E-Mail me to discuss La Monte Young in more detail, I have some very pertanant questions regarding his performance of "The Well Tuned Piano"
Thanks
Posted by: Eigan Alderman | April 05, 2005 at 09:27 AM