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It was four years ago on this day that this blog was born. I would like to thank all of the contributors (both official and unofficial) who have helped make this blog a success. I also would like to thank my fellow bloggers for their good shares and support of the Closet. Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank all of the loyal visitors for their patronage and also to those who stopped by to check out the place.
I admit that posting has been slow during the past few months. I should be able to go back to regular posting very soon. I would like to get year #5 off to a good start. Also, I am thinking about making a few small changes in the blog, but that is for the future.
Meanwhile, this post is about the past. I have been looking back upon the four years this blog has been in existence. I have enjoyed my time running this blog. Despite my increasing busy schedule, I would like to continue adding to the Closet and try to make this blog even better. If you could do a small favor for me, would you tell me what are your favorite posts. The amount can be whatever you want to list, your top 5 or top 10 or whatever number. Thank you in advance.
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Zodiac: 12 Melodies of the Star Signs
CD (recording) released in 2003
piece composed in 1975
Performers:
Wolfgang Fernow - double bass
Stefan Hussong - accordion
Michael Kiedaisch - drums and vibraphone
Michael Riessler - bass clarinet
Scott Roller - cello
Mike Svoboda - trombone, music boxes and musical direction
The astrological zodiac is a construct based on observations of the heavenly bodies that people of earlier ages and various cultures used to project the circumstances of a macrocosm beyond human influence onto the microcosm of earthly life. The observation of the stars and the derivation of events on earth and the fates of human beings from the old divinities that guide them could not only become a more or less direct plan of action as well as a form of legitimation of control over others but could also satisfy a search for the meaning of existence. The zodiac is - as an expression of the recurrence of time - not only an expression of the immutability of natural life processes and human existence but also a way of ensuring the stability of cosmic and human relationships.
At first it may seem surprising that Karlheinz Stockhausen - a composer who until that time had been one of the first champions of a particular informed, rationalist approach to the craft of composition and the musical material - would organize a composition around a culturally charged tradition such as this one. It is, however, understandable against the backdrop of a general turn from the rigor of serial composition in the early 1970s - a development that can be explained by reference to a crisis in European composition. It resulted in a new orientation for Stockhausen himself, who now turned to "intuitive" music and to a style of writing that - without seeking to deny that the roots of the approach were based on technical approaches to music - focused the act of composition on criteria such as intelligibility of musical texture and immediacy of aesthetic experience.
The twelve signs of the zodiac - which can be divided into fire, water, earth, and air signs or spring, summer, fall, and winter signs - represent a rationally organized whole that lends itself easily to serving as the foundation for a composition that (as a "composition on formulas") makes use of systematic organizational methods just as much as Stockhausen's earlier works did. The orientation of the twelve melodic shapes of Tierkreis: 12 Melodien der Sternzeichen [Zodiac: 12 Melodies of the Star Signs] (work no. 41 1/2) on the astrological zodiac also entails an orientation around the planets and mythological gods that are associated with them and the twelve basic human types that derive from them.
...
The twelve melodies - each of which is to be repeated at least three times in any realization - are marked by extreme conciseness, concentration, and beguiling simplicity. Each melody uses all the notes of the chromatic scale. The brief melodies, which differ in overall duration, tempos, and range, are completely free of motivic elaboration; they are almost totally indifferent to tonality. At the same time, they seem to have been stripped of any memory of the usual techniques of New Music, such as traditional methods or serial procedures. Stockhausen's compositional decisions were clearly occupied entirely with the desire to give each melody an unmistakable character. He himself described the melodies (of Sirius, which are identical with those of Tierkreis) as "neither diatonic nor tonal nor atonal. It [the melody for 'Libra'] is a new kind of centered twelve-tone melody." (Rolf W. Stoll)
recording contains two realizations" realization 1 for bass clarinet, trombone, accordion, percussion, cello, bass and music boxes: tracks 4 through 9 and tracks 16 through 21
realization 2 for six improvisors, music boxes and tape: tracks 1 through 3, tracks 10 through 15, and tracks 22 through 24
Tracklisting:
1. Capricorn {3:14}
2. Aquarius {3:17}
3. Pisces {3:22}
4. Capricorn {2:56}
5. Aquarius {2:54}
6. Pisces {4:22}
7. Aries {2:11}
8. Taurus {3:58}
9. Gemini {3:15}
10. Aries {3:00}
11. Taurus {2:58}
12. Gemini {3:24}
13. Cancer {1:50}
14. Leo {3:49}
15. Virgo {2:26}
16. Cancer {2:30}
17. Leo {3:01}
18. Virgo {2:02}
19. Libra {4:36}
20. Scorpio {4:41}
21. Sagittarius {2:18}
22. Libra {2:52}
23. Scorpio {2:33}
24. Sagittarius {3:48}
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Syntonic Research, Inc. - Environments Disc 3
LP released in 1971
Be-In (A Psychoacoustic Experience)
Sheep Meadow, Central Park, New York City (April 6, 1969)The 1969 Easter Be-In in New York's Central Park has come to be regarded as a sort of high-water mark for the now almost vanished Love Generation. The tremendously diverse crowd kept growing and gathering momentum until almost everyone marveled at this spontaneous "thing' that had taken place in the park. This Be-In was certainly not the biggest gathering of young people to take place in 1969. However, there are many things that happened during this recording that make it a rare, almost magical moment. The recording captures with honesty and total realism this particular instant in time which in retrospect seems more than a bit unreal. Be-In is the real experience of running barefoot in the grass on a beautiful spring day, surrounded by thousands of half-innocents exhibiting little, if any, trace of paranoia or guilt. If you were ever at a massive, totally spontaneous gathering in 1969, we think you know the feeling we mean. This particular disc is unlike anything you've ever heard before; we call it a "psychoacoustic experience". It recreates an event with such realism that it actually seems to be happening again. We think that once you experience the total immersion of this encounter, you'll agree with us that Be-In is something special.
Additional notes: The Be-In recorded during 1969 (on this record) was the third annual Be-In. Notable anti-establishment rock musician David Peel appears on this recording and performs one of his songs "Legalize Marijuana" which another version would be placed on his 1970 album The American Revolution. Later in the day after the recording was finished, there was a confrontation with police that involved rock throwing. Apparently, the Be-In ended on a not-so-happy moment.
Dusk at New Hope, Pennsylvania
(Night Environment) (August 1970)Imagine a warm summer night deep in the verdant backwoods of Eastern Pennsylvania. An infinity of sound stretching out before you. The steady, yet constantly changing drone of countless tiny insects, reminding you of the serenity and timelessness of nature. Far in the distance, a hound occasionally barks. You feel as if you are a thousand miles from the annoyances of city life. If you can imagine such a night, you pretty much know what our recording of Dusk at New Hope is like. This highly realistic stereo sound took almost a year of location work and patient testing to perfect. In its present form, it is a perfect compliment to the other natural sound recordings in the series. In an urban setting, we think you'll be amazed by the profound changes that take place when you play the disc as a background sound. Many people find that the sounds of night in the country are second to none in creating a setting for increased interpersonal relationships. Dusk at New Hope can be left on for very long periods of time without inducing fatigue or boredom. Once you become familiar with the sound, we are certain that you will find many new uses for the effect.
Note: This repost has been re-ripped to 320 kbps and includes scans of the liner notes. The original post was ripped to 192 kbps. This LP was originally posted almost four years ago. If you already got this, you may want to grab the upgraded rip. This was among the first recordings posted at the beginning of this blog on the old blogspot site.
Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Be-In (A Psychoacoustic Experience) {33:28}
Side 2
1. Dusk at New Hope, Pennsylvania {36:31}
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Dan Gibson - Solitudes Volume Eight
cassette released in 1983
Sailing to a Hidden Cove
The tug of the waves at the helm, the boat heeling until the lee rail slashes the surface, the workaday world far behind. And then, the sound of the winch, as the genoa is trimmed to a new course heading between land and a few small reefs, where gulls scream at our passing. Up ahead is a small island. When we sail close, we can hear the waves crashing on the rocks. An explosion of wings and cries tells us we are intruding on pristine territory. When we change course again, a following wind drives us through the narrow mouth of a long fjord-like bay. The boat slows as we move into protected waters, and we see the cove, hidden now by sheer cliffs and a rocky point. Driftwood rises in tortured shapes from the small sand beach. On a low hill above the cove, a beaver dam and the sounds of wildlife everywhere. We drop anchor and row ashore, towards the sounds - sounds from the trees, from the pond, from the sky. Superb digital recording, as true to life, will help you recognize each creature of the hidden cove.
WILDLIFE SPECIES FEATURED:
Herring and Ring-billed Gulls, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Common Loon, White-throated Sparrow, Yellowthroat, Swamp Sparrow, Common Glicker, Osprey, Pileated Woodpecker, Tree Swallows, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Bullfrogs, Gray Tree Frogs, Whip-poor-will
Hiking Over the Highlands
Sailing forever is the dream, but we are awakened from that dream by a sound so mysterious that we hardly realize that we are awake; the sound seems to be an extension of the dream - the eerie cry of the loon. But there is another sound too. Something more prosaic - the slap of the waves against the side of the boat. Breakfast aboard attracts voracious gulls from the rocky point - they circle and scream demanding their share. The gulls won't follow us after breakfast; because we're leaving the boat at anchor, rowing ashore and hiking over the hills to listen to many sounds we seldom hear at home and to try our luck fishing a small mountain stream. If you have fished such a stream you will relive the experience. And if you've cooked your catch over a wood fire, you will just about taste again the tender fish when you hear its magic sizzle hitting the hot buttered pan. After lunch we follow the stream down to the lake. The gulls hover over the reef expectantly and in the distance we can see our boat waiting.
WILDLIFE SPECIES FEATURED:
Common Loons, White-throated Sparrow, Yellowthroat, Herring and Ring-billed Gulls, Swamp Sparrow, Spring Peeper Frogs, Catbird, Swainson's Thrush, Winter Wren, Wood Thrush
Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Sailing to a Hidden Cove {29:54}
Side 2
1. Hiking Over the Highlands {29:59}
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Denis Smalley - Impacts intérieurs
An important distinguishing feature of the five works on this compact disc is the relationship between gesture and texture. Musical gesture, derived from our experience of physical gesture, is concerned with the tendency for soundshapes to move towards or away from goals in the musical structure; it is concerned with growth, temporal evolution, sense of forward direction, the impact of events, dramatic surface. Texture, however, is more about interior activity, the patterns inside sounds, about encouraging the ear to contemplate inner details; it is often more about standing still and observing the behaviors of sounds rather than pressing onwards through time. Gesture can be textured, and textures can be formed from gestures - the interplay and balance between them lie at the heart of our experiences in musical time. (Denis Smalley, September 1992)
About Denis Smalley (from the liner notes)
Denis Smalley's musical output is made up entirely of electroacoustic works, many of which have received international prizes - the Fylkingen Prize (1975), awards at the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (1977, 83, 92), the Special Prize of the International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music (1983), and the Prix Ars Electronica (1988). In his writings and lectures he has made original contributions to the field of electroacoustic music, in particular his investigations into the listener's perception and interpretation of electroacoustic music, and his development of the notion of 'spectromorphology' (the shaping of sound spectra through time).
He was born in Nelson (New Zealand) in 1946. Having showed early talent as a chorister, pianist and organist he first studied music at the University of Canterbury, moving to the Victoria University of Wellington to take a first class honors degree in composition. He was also active as a recital organist giving the first New Zealand performances of music by Messiaen and Ligeti. After leaving university he was Head of Music at Wellington College for almost three years before receiving a French Government bursary for study in Paris where he spent a year in Messiaen's composition class at the Conservatoire de Paris. At the same time he took the electroacoustic composition 'workshop' of the Groupe de recherches musicales (GRM), completing the Diplome de musique electroacoustique et de recherche musicale. He next settled in York (United Kingdom), completing his doctorate in composition at the University of York. In 1976 he was appointed Lecturer in Music at the University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK). In 1988, he became Senior Lecturer and also the Director of its Electroacoustic Music Studio.
Tracklisting:
1. Valley Flow {16:57}
(1991-1992)
2. Piano Nets: 1st Movement {6:57}
(1990-1991) Philip Mead - piano (all Piano Nets movements)
3. Piano Nets: 2nd Movement {4:19}
4. Piano Nets: 3rd Movement {6:38}
5. Wind Chimes {15:15}
(1987)
6. Clarinet Threads {13:28}
(1985) Roger Heaton - clarinet
7. Darkness After Time's Colours {13:58}
(1976)
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Herbert Brün - Wayfaring Sounds
Non SequitIur VI (1966)Performers: Carolyn Ho - flute; Sarah Wiseman - cello; Ann Warde - piano; Shirley Blankenship - harp; J. C. Kilbourne - marimba I; Jeff Magby - marimba II; David Madden - percussion I; Ian Ding - percussion II; Arun Chandra - conductor
For the "instrumental" parts, a program written by the composer in SCATRE, calling on MUSICOMP, was executed by the computer IBM 7094, resulting in a printout, which was recoded into a score and parts for musicians to read. The "tape" sections, however, were programmed by the composer for the then new D/A sound synthesis system. The resulting sound was used without modification just as the composer and converter system had synthesized it. (from the liner notes)
Wayfaring Sounds (1958)
I regard the term "work of art" with misgivings and therefore gave my composition the name Wayfaring Sounds. Sounds are wayfaring, not only for me, not only in electronic studios. Everywhere, in theater, in poetry, in language and in music a powerful movement has started, scorning all categorization and mocking the conventional associative patterns. Everywhere sounds are on their way to take possession of articulation and of communication, augmenting them and trying to liberate them from outdated routines of misunderstanding. (Herbert Brün)
on stilts among ducks (1997)
Performer: Eckart Schloifer - viola
I, Viola, loves Duck
for not being I.
Duck never sounds Viola
who never plays Duck.
Eckart the Schloifer had
asked for it has
waited for it for I said
yes:
on stilts among ducks -, (Herbert Brün)
Sonoriferous Loops (1964)
Performers: Patrick Purswell - flute; Ernest Bastin - trumpet; Thomas Fredrickson - double bass; William Parsons, Michael Rosen, and Jon Dutton - percussion; Herbert Brün - conductor
The structure of the composition, defined by elements and rules together with an algorithm which operates in and on the structure as a looping generating function, was translated by the composer into two programs: one for the instrumental section and one for the tape section. Both programs call on MUSICOMP, were written in SCATRE, and were executed by the computer IBM 7094. The "instrumental" output, a printout, thus had to be recoded by the composer into a score and parts legible to live musicians. The "tape" output, a deck of cards, was converted into actual sound by the computer CSX-1 and stored on audio tape. The final performance tape is the result of extensive modification on the CSX-1 sound, achieved with the analog equipment of the Experimental Music Studio, University of Illinois. (from the liner notes)
Infraudibles with percussion (1968-1984)
Performers: Percussion Group Cincinnati: Allen Otte, James Culley, Russell Burge
In the Sixties I taught a computer at the University of Illinois to assist me in composing a piece of music and then to actually perform it.
The piece I called Infraudibles, and you'll hear the computer play it from tape through the loudspeakers.
Later, I added, by hand and without computer, parts for live instrumentalists.
In Infraudibles with percussion, the instrumentalists play a musical analogy to the music on the tape. Whereas in Infraudibles with quintet, the five instrumentalists play a musical response to the music on the tape.
In the analogy, the tape plays one music and the percussion another music. The two musics speak two languages about one content.
In the response, however, tape and quintet play one music, speaking one language about two contents. (Herbert Brün)
Sentences Now Open Wide (SNOW) (1984)
For Marianne Brün
Performers: The Performers' Workshop Ensemble: Lesley Olson and Megan Lyden - flutes; Ja'acov Ziso - French horn; Charles Lipp and Mark Enslin - bassoons; Sarah Wiseman - cello; Arun Chandra - guitar; Herbert Brün - piano; Pamela Richman, Susan Parenti, and David Friedman - voices
Composed for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Experimental Music Studios of the University of Illinois
The text - my words and where I want them - has accumulated since 1970. It responds with discontent to the commonplace of power: "Let us do our best for you, or else!"
The tape I made - using methods similar to those of 25 years ago - with the generators, oscillators, filters of the University of Illinois Experimental Music Studios. It plays music constructed in analogy to social movements which will, if we fail them, fail us.
The instruments - strangers between text and tape - wonder how they got here, while calling with remembered and with invented gestures for answers to the questions: "What was? What is? What next?" (Herbert Brün)
Herbert Brün first turned to electronic sound production for the composition of music during the late 1950s in the Paris, Cologne, and Munich studios, particularly guided by Gottfried Michael Koenig. Before that, and at the same time, he composed works for acoustic instruments: small and large chamber ensembles and orchestra.
He also worked as a composer and conductor of music for the theater, gave lectures and seminars on the function of music in society, and did broadcasts on contemporary music. After completing a lecture tour through the United States in 1962, he went to the University of Illinois to do research and to teach; he is presently Professor Emeritus there.
Herbert Brün was born 1918 in Berlin, Germany, and studied with Eli Friedmann, Frank Pelleg, Wolf Rosenberg, and Stefan Wolpe. (about Herbert Brün from the liner notes)
Tracklisting:
1. Non Sequitur VI {12:50}
2. Wayfaring Sounds {4:29}
3. on stilts among ducks {18:10}
4. Sonoriferous Loops {14:19}
5. Infraudibles with percussion {10:30}
6. Sentences Now Open Wide (SNOW) {11:00}
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Harrison/Perry/Gyring - Harrison/Perry/Gyring
released on LP
Suite for Percussion
composed by Lou Harrison, performed by The Manhattan Percussion Ensemble conducted by Paul Price
Lou Harrison was born in Portland, Oregon on May 14, 1917. He is today one of the most important of America's Pacific Coast composers. Two of Harrison's most prominent teachers have been Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg. Like John Cage, another of Cowell's students, he became fascinated by strange and unorthodox sonorities, and incorporated such curious sounds as those vibrating from automobile brake drums, lengths of plumber's pipes, galvanized wash-tubs, glass bowls and the like. As early as 1944, he devised a method for composing on the "photo-phonograph", a precursor of tape-recorder music.
...
SUITE FOR PERCUSSION (1940) is a late work of his "San Francisco" period. (from the liner notes)
Homunculus, C.F. for 10 Percussionists
composed by Julia Perry, performed by The Manhattan Percussion Ensemble conducted by Paul Price
HOMUNCULUS, C.F., FOR TEN PERCUSSIONISTS was composed in Akron, Ohio, during the summer of 1960 in my apartment situated on the top floor of my father's (physician and surgeon) office, equipped with all the necessary facilities except a piano. These clinical surroundings evoked memories of the medieval laboratory where Wagner, youthful apprentice to Faust, made a successful alchemy experiment, fashioning and bringing to life a creature he called homunculus. Having selected percussion instruments for my formulae, then maneuvering and distilling them by means of the Chord of the Fifteenth (C.F.), this musical test tube baby was brought to life. The chord of the fifteenth was created from a succession of superimposed thirds:
E, G#, B, D#, F#, A#, C#, E#
1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15
The first twenty measures of this pan-tonal composition proceed at moderate speed, punctuated with subtle rhythmic nuances. Snare drum anticipates wood block in imitation. In the succeeding twenty measures, juxtaposed dynamics between the wood block's medium-loud intensity against the cymbals' dynamics marked a trifle softer with the bass drum's intensity still softer, create a complexity of timbre and dynamics. The triple kettledrum entry on G#, D# and F# is marked very, very soft, increasing its intensity to medium loud; and it is the kettledrum that establishes E as the fundamental tone of the chordal structure in the subsequent duet with harp. The xylophone pivots in the transmutation of material. Superimposed thirds increase in dynamic intensity reinforced with vibraphone, celesta, harp and piano. (Julia Perry)
Piano Sonata No. 2
composed by Elizabeth Gyring, performed by Mitchell Andrews
Elizabeth Gyring's PIANO SONATA No. 2 was composed in 1957. It is in the traditional four movements, the first being a modified sonata form, the second a scherzo, the third a songlike slow movement and the finale a rondo. The composer says that, as in all of her music, the inspiration was the melodic idea and that all the counterpoint and harmonization should be considered merely accompaniment.
The work was premiered by Mitchell Andrews in New York in 1958, where the correspondent for Neues Oesterreich described it as "strongly rhythmic," and "expressive in its dancing flow ... This is highly spiritual music ... that again and again concentrates in dramatic climaxes." (from the liner notes)
Tracklisting:
Side 1
1. Lou Harrison - Suite for Percussion {9:31}
2. Julia Perry - Homunculus, C.F. for 10 Percussionists {5:02}
Side 2
1. Elizabeth Gyring - Piano Sonata No. 2 {20:22}
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Echoes of Nature Sampler: The Natural Sounds of the Wilderness
CD released in 1993
As the title says, this is a sampler of the environmental/nature recordings in the Echoes of Nature series which consist of familiar yet well recorded sounds from the natural world. This post is different from the others in that instead of field recordings focusing on one type of area, just about all of the areas are covered. Listening to this all the way through is like going on a trip through several types of environments in just over an hour. Each track which is approximately seven to eight minutes long is an excerpt from different Echoes of Nature releases. If there are any particular ones that you would wish would last longer, you could use the "repeat" feature on your player of choice or find the release the track came from.
*special thanks to my friend KL from NYC for sharing this
Tracklisting:
1. Ocean Waves {7:29}
2. Morning Songbirds {7:04}
3. Bayou {7:54}
4. Tropical Rainforest {7:27}
5. Jungle Talk {7:25}
6. Wilderness Rivers {7:00}
7. Thunderstorm {6:55}
8. Frog Chorus {8:37}
9. American Wilds {7:43}
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