aworks :: "new" american classical music

At About This Time Mozart Was Dead And Joseph Conrad Was Sailing The Seven Seas Learning English (1967). John Cale

twang twang twang revs up for the 2006 Mozart celebration. I'll contribute by mentioning this John Cale piece. Paul Friswold describes:

Strings stretch taut until they scream, scrape across one another in howling figures, then snap and realign into alien, almost familiar wails and hums and growls.

This is not my favorite sixties Cale; it reminds me at times of lawn mowers in the background. I like the title, though.

Wikipedia also offers this guidance:

John Cale should not be confused with singer and songwriter J.J. Cale or composer John Cage.

The Church of Anthrax (1971). John Cale and Terry Riley

Paul Hinrichs waxes nostalgic for the long-playing album:

This is the sound of a needle dropping on a vinyl LP. It lasts about 3/10 of a second and it’s still one of my favorite sounds. Big Jackets, good artwork, liner notes big enough to read.

While I miss album covers, I can live without the sound of the needle as it gets accidentally bumped and scratches across the record. There's an old Monty Python bit where, at the end of the side, someone screams "Not this record!" and then you hear the noise of the needle being dragged over the vinyl. I still shudder at that gag...

HInrichs goes on to rip The Church of Anthrax for computer playback.

Sun Blindness Music (1967). John Cale

From the minimalism New York community of the sixties.  John Cale was a member of the Velvet Underground rock group.

Think of it as an extreme version of Reich's Four Organs.  Sounds as if bricks are stuck on the organ keyboard.  But interesting nonetheless.  Not for minimalism haters.

Ken Clark says:

This piece really starts to grow on you after repeated listenings if you can survive that far.

Luke Buckman says:

...at 42 minutes, it's an endurance test no matter who's listening. However, for those willing to provide full attention and look past the somewhat lo-fi sound, it can be a meditative piece of work filled with vibrating textures and radiating intensity.

Update: Although this piece was written in the United States, of course, John Cale is Welsh.