aworks :: "new" american classical music

beyond aworks :: works of the week /i'm not a number, well, except for social security/

• Symphony No. 1. Anton Bruckner. Sporadically listening to random tracks may not be the best way to build my connoisseurship of Bruckner's music. But I continue with this the next work catching my attention. And the original stimulus for visiting came from Paul Griffiths' A Concise History of Western Music:

Bruckner's opening allegro starts with characteristic ostinatos (repetitions of short figures), as if winding up some great machine, but is almost immediately on to solid statement...

Just as Griffiths' Modern Music and After had a wealth of interesting ideas to pursue, I have 75 pages of his A Concise History of Western Music marked for followup; Bruckner and Gerard Grisey being the two so far I have explored. In a perfect world, I could click on the text in the book and have it stream from the Internet but I can live without such instant gratification.

• Not a Number. Apparat. Tyler Cowen's post reminded me that yes, I am a taster of music. This means I can usually quickly decide if I like something or not, or even if it doesn't appeal, whether the music merits followup listening. And yet, this group, picked by eMusic and prominently displayed at Amoeba, confounds me. It's a mismash of varied electronica and some Coldplay-ish vocals. Whether that combination is due to superior or inferior creativity is unclear but I do like the many of the song titles: Not a Number, Useless Information, You Don't Know Me, Face Down, etc.

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wikipedia: definition of nan - not a number. the prisoner "i'm not a number - i am a free man"

works of the week :: within a synthesized world

• Backdrifts (Honeymoon Is Over). Radiohead. The electronica intro to this song is the best sound they've ever made and Thom Yorke's singing isn't irritating in the slightest. (Selected from a playcount of 57 Radiohead tracks this week).
• Persian Surgery Dervishes April 18 1971. Terry Riley. Uh, this two-part organ improvisation has the most visceral impact of any music I'm listening to. And one can imagine its link to Backdrifts. A "join the flow of tones" review here. (40)
  
• Nak Won. Carl Stone. This is either recorded from inside the machine room of the core electrical/networking grid or else directly inside the composer's head as his synapses start firing. Either way, the effect is quite refreshing electronic music although keep in mind I'm an engineer by training. (20)
• Symphony In F Minor, WAB 99, "Study Symphony". Anton Bruckner. Ok, I can only guess what a "WAB" number is and I only vaguely understand why it's called a "Study Symphony." And in another hundred or so play counts, maybe I'll start to care about Bruckner comparative performances. (15)
  
• Now That You Mention It. Paul Lansky. The track illuminates the gentle side of Princeton academia (as opposed to say the music of Milton Babbitt). (11)
  
• Made in America. Joan Tower. No strong impression yet of this highly-played (and Ford-sponsored) composition. (3)
• Cinnamon Girl. Neil Young. The Radiohead bootleg cover of Cinnamon Girl is more conventional than you might expect, but cross-generational fun nonetheless. Patti Smith singing Helpless isn't bad either. (2)
• Within You Without You. George Harrison. As she does with her cover of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, Patti Smith takes ownership of this Beatles song, albeit with a surprisingly mellow vocal. Note the only other Beatles MP3s I own are John Cage's The Beatles 1962 - 1970. (1)

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Nak Won - Carl Stone