Piano Music of Erik Satie Volume 1

Erik Satie - Piano Music of Erik Satie Volume 1

performed by Aldo Ciccolini

From sometime in the mid 1960s to the 1970s, Aldo Ciccolini attempted to record all of Erik Satie's piano pieces. The performances were released on six volumes on six separate LPs. Satie gave humorous and quirky titles to most of his pieces and there are translations provided below.

Translations of some titles:

Heures séculaires et instantanées - Age-Old and Instantaneous Hours

Trois Valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté - Three Distinguished Waltzes of the Disabused Affected Man

Trois Avant-dernières pensées - Three Next-to-Last Thoughts

Trois Morceaux en forme de poire - Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear

Croquis et agaceries d'un gros bonhomme en bois - Sketches and Exasperations of a Big Boob Made of Wood

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Trois Gymnopédies {7:39}

2. Heures séculaires et instantanées {3:18}

3. Trois Valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté {2:34}

4. Trois Avant-dernières pensées {3:13}

5. Trois Gnossiennes {6:51}

Side 2

1. Trois Morceaux en forme de poire {12:19}

2. Croquis et agaceries d'un gros bonhomme en bois {3:44}

3. Trois Nocturnes {7:44}

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Voices of the Loon

William Barklow - Voices of the Loon

It's back to the birds for this Sunday's post. This album was written and produced by William Barklow, a researcher and expert in loon vocal communication and put out by North American Loon Fund and the National Audubon Society. There is an important note from the back cover.

Important Note

Please do not play recorded loon calls near waters occupied by breeding pairs. Such apparent challenges to their territory may interfere with the delicate nesting cycle and prevent successful breeding.The loon pair first establishes a territory from which it repels other loons. During this period the presence of rival loons, or their reproduced calls, may delay actual nest construction and egg laying. During the incubation and chick-rearing periods, the adults will rush to repel real or simulated intruders, thus leaving the eggs or young unprotected against predation and exposure.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Introduction and Loon Call Identification, narrated by Robert J. Lurtsema {19:03}

Side 2

1. Chorus from a Distant Lake {4:05}

2. Tremolo Duet {2:21}

3. Wail Duet {1:43}

4. Border Confrontation {2:05}

5. Wails with Morning Songbird Chorus {3:27}

6. Tremolos While Running {1:59}

7. Wails During a Thunderstorm {2:54}

8. Coyotes Calling with Loons {3:19}

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Private Gardens

Kaija Saariaho - Private Gardens

Performers:

Lonh, for soprano & electronics 
Dawn Upshaw - vocals

Pres, for cello & electronics
Anssi Karttunen - cello

Noanoa, for flute & electronics 
Camilla Hoitenga - flute

Six Japanese Gardens, for percussion & electronics
Florent Jodelet - percussion

Kaija Saariaho - electronics for all of the pieces

Kaija Saariaho is a prolific composer and it seems that almost everything she composes proceeds to disc! Her 'style' is difficult to define, because as soon as she has successfully entered one medium, she abruptly shifts to another - and with nearly equal success on every venture. She has surrounded herself with colleagues who understand her sonic language and so whether she composes opera, chamber music, large orchestral pieces, song cycles or, in the case of this recording, electronic music, her friends are at hand. This strangely wonderful recording moves from various instruments and pits them against or with electronically produced sounds. The first instrument is the human voice, and in this case the soloist is the enormously talented Dawn Upshaw. Saariaho places the voice in the hanging space of finger symbol sounds and atmospheres making 'Lonh for soprano & electronics' a mesmerizing, beautiful work. She then moves to the cello (again played by her regular friend Anssi Karttunen) in a three movement piece 'Près, for cello & electronics' in which at times it is difficult to discern which lines of sound flow from the strings of the cello and which from the electronic devices. The 'Noanoa for flute & electronics' displays the timbre of the flute played in every conceivable manner in tandem with electronic sounds (again, constant companion artist Camilla Hoitenga is the talented flautist). The final work involves percussion (Florent Jodelet) in 'Six Japanese Gardens for percussion & electronics' assigning music to Stone Bridges, Moss Garden, Rock Garden, Dry Mountain Stream, etc - six dissimilar and highly inventive combinations of percussive instruments with electronic modes. While the music on this recording may not demand the attention of the concert hall audience, it most assuredly touches the emotional center of the brain and heart and is some of the more successful meditative music to come from contemporary composers. (Barnes & Noble)

Tracklisting:

1. Lonh {15:58}

2. Pres I {7:29}

3. Pres II {3:13}

4. Pres III {8:47}

5. Noanoa {8:52}

6. Six Japanese Gardens I: Tenju-an Garden of Nanzen-ji Temple {3:50}

7. Six Japanese Gardens II: Many Pleasures (Garden of the Kinkaku-ji)
{1:28}

8. Six Japanese Gardens III: Dry Mountain Stream {3:20}

9. Six Japanese Gardens IV: Rock Garden of Ryoan-ji {3:52}

10. Six Japanese Gardens V: Moss Garden of the Saiho-ji {2:52}

11. Six Japanese Gardens VI: Stone Bridges {3:28}

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The Moogs Present Clara Rockmore: Virtuoso Theremin

Clara Rockmore - The Moogs Present Clara Rockmore: Virtuoso Theremin

Performers:

Clara Rockmore - theremin

Nadia Reisenberg - piano

Robert Moog says in the liner notes:


Clara Rockmore's contribution to the electronic music medium is absolutely unique. Hundreds of different musical instruments have been designed and built in the sixty years or so since the fledgling technology of electronics was first harnessed to serve the art of music. Only a few electronic instruments have gained public recognition. For every successful electronic musical instrument, there has been at least one gifted musician who had the foresight to see the instrument's musical potential, the discipline to develop the necessary playing technique, and the musicality to use the instrument to produce beautiful music. The theremin is probably the most original, novel, - and difficult to play - of all electronic musical instruments. Ms. Rockmore has dedicated a major part of her professional career to developing theremin technique and performing widely acclaimed concerts of instrumental music to sophisticated, discriminating audiences. She has shown the theremin to be a valuable musical resource, capable of producing beautiful music and worthy of the dedication of talented performers. No other artist has ever come close to Ms. Rockmore's level of achievement; no other thereminist has ever produced music of such beauty and aural appeal.

Tracklisting:

SIDE ONE

1. Rachmaninoff: Vocalise {3:42}

2. Rachmaninoff: Song of Grusia {4:12}

3. Saint-Saens: The Swan {2:55}

4. Da Falla: Pantomime {3:42}

5. Achron; Hebrew Melody {5:19}

6. Wieniawski: Romance {4:42}

SIDE TWO

1. Stravinsky: Berceuse {3:05}

2. Ravel: Habanera {2:40}

3. Tschaikowsky: Berceuse {4:10}

4. Tschaikowsky: Valse Sentimentale {2:05}

5. Tschaikowsky: Sérénade Mélancolique {7:36}

6. Glazunov: Chant du Ménestrel {3:57}

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Deep Voices

Dr. Roger S. Payne - Deep Voices: The Second Whale Record

This Sunday's nature/environmental recordings post is about whales. This particular recording is the second whale record following the first one Songs of the Humpback Whale. The whale sounds were recorded by the use of a hydrophone (underwater microphone). One of the fascinating things mentioned by the liner notes is that humpback whales sing a different song every year and that they are the only animals to do so.

Note: A high-end audio system will be necessary to hear "Blues: Deep Voices" as the sounds recorded are too low to be heard normally which will explain why it seems that there is no sound on that track.

Tracklisting:

Side One

1. Humpbacks: Whales Charging a Boat {1:34}

2. Humpbacks: Left Over Sea Running {9:20}

3. Humpbacks: Herd Noises {0:41}

4. Humpbacks: Drifting Off {12:19}

Side Two

1. Blues: Deep Voices {4:08}

2. Blues: Blue Whales in Range {0:50}

3. Rights: Right Whales {2:33}

4. Rights: Surrounded by Snoring {2:51}

5. Rights: Deep Breathing {7:51}

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Justine [soundtrack]

Jerry Goldsmith - Justine [soundtrack]

Following Goldsmith's Freud soundtrack posted earlier this week, here's another one of Goldsmith's soundtracks which goes in a different direction musically.

From the liner notes:

Relax - ready for exotic dreams? "Justine" is ready to take you on a personal tour of Arabian - Egyptian, if you will - nights. Tour director is Jerry Goldsmith, the super-talented young tunesmith who composed, arranged and conducted the score for this fabulous movie, and who brings this album to you. He has provided one of the most spellbinding musical scores and albums to come out of Hollywood or any international film studio in a long time. Jerry has not provided simply mood music for a movie, but he has created music making a mood - many moods. These new, rich combinations of sounds are guaranteed to dispel any worldly worries as the listener is wafted to ports of sensual call. Here, for a change is music you can enjoy effortlessly without having to work at it; without having to wonder what it is or what it should say.

The youth of Jerry Goldsmith is not to be confused with his ability. He already has four Oscar nominations for his film scores on "Sand Pebbles," "Patch of Blue," "Freud" and "Planet of the Apes." And he has Emmy nominations for "Thriller" and "Man From UNCLE." There is no phase of music with which he is not familiar. And he proves it in this tale of Egypt, 1938 by an amazing mixture of instruments ranging from the richness of 16 violins, six violas, as many celli, recorder, auto harp to the most interesting combination of old and new - an electric sitar.

"Justine" combines the romantic, Biblical background of Egypt, cast in a semi-modern continental story. The film combines the top talents of movie-making, from a book which required a decade from the purchase of the Lawrence Durrell classic novel to the eventual filming. It remained for writers Lawrence Marcus and Ivan Moffatt working separately to come up with the screenplay true to the mood of author Durrell. For "Justine" is described by the author as "An investigation of modern love." Such love forms as incest, homosexuality, adultery, marital, patriotic and platonic are part of the story. They are also represented in the treatment given the music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Side One

1. Justine {2:29}

2. The School {3:31}

3. The Farm {3:08}

4. Melissa {1:50}

5. Alexandria {1:32}

6. Carnival Happening {2:30}

Side Two

1. Melissa & Darley {1:59}

2. Samba Chica {1:40}

3. The Beach {2:50}

4. The Telescope {1:46}

5. Ambush {1:11}

6. End Titles {2:32}

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John Melby/James Tenney split release

John Melby/James Tenney - split release

John Melby - Concerto for Violin, English Horn and Computer-Synthesized Tape

Credits:

Gregory Fulkerson - violin

Thomas Stacy - English horn

David Liptak - conductor

recorded at the Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, September 20, 1985

An IBM 4341 computer at the Univeristy of Illinois was used to create the tape part. The tape is combined with the live performance on violin and English horn.

James Tenney - Saxony

Credits: David Mott - saxophone

recorded at the Music Gallery, Toronto, May 1984

"Saxony" was improvised and a tape delay system was used to record and replicate the sounds while the musician was performing. It's a mesmerizing drone piece.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. John Melby - Concerto for Violin, English Horn and Computer-Synthesized Tape {21:06}

Side 2

1. James Tenney - Saxony {23:50}

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Freud [soundtrack]

Jerry Goldsmith - Freud [soundtrack]

Early in his prolific and renowned career, film music composer Jerry Goldsmith scored a soundtrack to the 1962 film, "Freud". It is a biographical film of Sigmund Freud directed by John Huston.

From the liner notes:

From the very first moment of the film's main title, one is absorbed not only by the strange and effective art work, but even more importantly by the brilliant music. It is music of high energy and tension, at times disturbing. Other portions of the score contain passages of an eerie nostalgia and delicate lyricism. The style of composition is substantially atonal, similar to that of the experimental atonality of Freud's later contemporaries in Vienna: Berg, Webern, and Schoenberg (circa 1910-25). This type of stark agitated music was necessary; for had the central focus of the music been linked precisely chronologically to Vienna in the 1880's i.e., Mahler, Brahms, Johann Strauss Jr. and Richard Strauss, etc. (There are brief allusions to Johann Strauss Jr. in certain parts of the film, but in a style appropriate to the score's fundamental intentions), the effect would have been different and off-target.

The score sustains a cerebral character throughout. It seems to scan the psyche and direct the emotions in a severe and bizarre fashion perfectly descriptive of this important period in Freud's life. Goldsmith's musical expression seems to have a dual nature. At times it has the detached objective quality of Freud the scientist. At other times it takes on the aberrational identity of the various characters of the drama, including Freud himself, whose important psychological discoveries included revelations about the effects of a traumatic episode in his childhood on his own psyche. These two contrasting subjective and objective elements are skillfully manipulated by Goldsmith, who superimposes, when the film calls for it, his unique communication of a curious quasi-Viennese nostalgia.


Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Main Title {3:17}

2. Charcot's Show {5:08}

3. Thirsty Girl {1:18}

4. Case Histories {2:12}

5. Desperate Case {3:30}

6. The Funeral {0:45}

Side 2

1. Cecilie and the Dreamer {3:02}

2. Cecilie's Dream {1:07}

3. The First Step {2:10}

4. Red Tower Street {1:26}

5. Trauma {3:20}

6. Freud's Awakening {1:51}

7. End Title {2:30}

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Environments Disc 2

Syntonic Research Inc. - Environments Disc 2

For this Sunday's post, we have the beautiful computer generated bell sounds of "Tintinnabulation" and the lovely sounds of the countryside recorded during the morning. There's more information quoted from the liner notes.

TINTINNABULATION (Computer synthesized)

The ENVIRONMENTS concept is far broader than the mere simulation of natural sounds. The effect of sound on our abilities and thought processes is a little understood, mysterious phenomenon. As an illustration of the possibilities currently under examination, SR decided to experiment with bell sounds as an environmental sound source.

The effect we created, based on an oriental theory of musical harmonics, has never been heard before. The sound is bells, but bells so dulcet and beautiful that they affect the subconscious in totally unexpected ways. As a long duration environmental sound source, they are truly superb.

Imagine five different bells, each as big as an average room, which are sounded very, very softly and reverberate for minutes afterwards. The sound seems to float in the air, slowly moving around the room as a physical presence.

Tintinnabulation can be played at any speed, from 78 to 16 rpm, in full stereo. At different speeds, the sounds change in tone and apparent size, although the harmonics remain unchanged. The effect, unlike real bells, is fully controllable by the use of your volume, bass, and treble controls.

A creation of extensive research into computer acoustics, the sound is purposely random, rather than taking the form of a musical composition.

We think you will find Tintinnabulation highly useful for both meditation and relaxation, unlike side two of this disc, which is primarily intended for more active activities. Many people report that they become completely relaxed within the first few moments of play.

DAWN AT NEW HOPE, PENNSYLVANIA June, 1969

The dawn sounds superbly preserved on this disc are sounds which are gradually vanishing from the North American countryside.

Totally different in mood and concept from the sounds of Disc One of this series, Dawn at New Hope recreates the aural environment of a beautiful morning in late spring, complete with owls, crows, doves, insects, dogs, and geese. Our objective was not to make an artifically "beautiful" recording, but a real sound, which seems to get better each time you listen to it.

So many people had written us asking for this specific environmental sound that we felt obligated to give them the finest recording of a North American dawn ever made. In full stereo. On a good high-fidelity system, the sounds produced are so realistic that most people soon forget they are listening to a phonograph record.

The usefulness of the recording is a subtle thing... Walk into a room where it is playing and you may feel the city had suddenly vanished - replaced by serene, verdant countryside. If played in the morning, we think you will find the sounds influence your entire day.

Unlike the "opaque" sounds of Disc One, Dawn at New Hope is a transparent sound which does not neutralize other environmental sounds. Thus, conversations are gentle in tone, and the sound seems to appear and disappear, dependant on your activities of the moment.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Tintinnabulation [33 1/3 RPM] {29:59}

1a. Tintinnabulation [45 RPM] {22:31}

Side 2

1. Dawn at New Hope, Pennsylvania {30:11}

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The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

Frederic Rzewski - The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

Performer: Ursula Oppens - piano

To be honest, I'm more interested in hearing Rzewski performing this himself, but unfortunately, I don't have that recording on hand at the moment. However, this recording is the original as Ursula Oppens commissioned Rzewski to write something for her and this music was the result. Rzewski even dedicated this work to Oppens. This work is considered a classic in the canon of modern piano music. It is a bunch of variations on a song of the same name written by Sergio Ortega. Ortega's song became an anthem of the Chilean resistance movement against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. There have been several recordings of this work yet Oppens' version is still worth a listen if at least for historical importance.

Tracklisting:

1. Thema {1:23}

2. Variation 1 {0:53}

3. Variation 2 {0:53}

4. Variation 3 {1:07}

5. Variation 4 {0:58}

6. Variation 5 {0:58}

7. Variation 6 {1:05}

8. Variation 7 {0:52}

9. Variation 8 {1:04}

10. Variation 9 {1:05}

11. Variation 10 {0:57}

12. Variation 11 {0:58}

13. Variation 12 {1:09}

14. Variation 13 {1:44}

15. Variation 14 {1:15}

16. Variation 15 {1:19}

17. Variation 16 {1:32}

18. Variation 17 {1:06}

19. Variation 18 {1:27}

20. Variation 19 {0:38}

21. Variation 20 {0:34}

22. Variation 21 {0:48}

23. Variation 22 {0:44}

24. Variation 23 {0:28}

25. Variation 24 {2:10}

26. Variation 25 {2:13}

27. Variation 26 {1:10}

28. Variation 27 {4:54}

29. Variation 28 {1:22}

30. Variation 29 {0:34}

31. Variation 30 {2:24}

32. Variation 31 {0:55}

33. Variation 32 {0:57}

34. Variation 33 {1:00}

35. Variation 34 {1:01}

36. Variation 35 {1:01}

37. Variation 36 {4:21}

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Bali: The Celebrated Gamelans

Bali: The Celebrated Gamelans

From the liner notes:

Side 1:

1. Ramayana Ballet (kendangs, suling, genders sarons, bonangs, & gongs)

Selections: An evocation of the Ramayana in ballet form.

1. Rama pursues the golden stag and slays it.

2. Rawana kidnaps Sita.

This recording was made on a tour of Bali, traveling at night on a bicycle. In this silence, the only guide was gamelan music echoing through the darkness. In the vilage, young dancing-girls (6 years old) were learning, to this music, the different gestures and body-movements necessary to the performance of this ballet.

2. Barong or Kris Dance (suling, kendangs, bonangs, sarons, & gongs)

Selections: Prelude to a ceremony called "Barong," played on the flute (suling).

3. Offering-Procession (gongs and cymbals)

Processions are very common in Bali: those taking folk to the temple move to the sound of this strange music. Clad in their most beautiful "batiks" (decorated material worn as skirts), the young girls bear on their heads the great silver domes holding the offerings that are to be placed in the temple.

Side 2:

1. "Ketjak" or monkey-dance

In the silence of the night, a hundred or so men, bare to the waist join together around a huge torch. Shaking their shoulders and lifting their arms skyward, they cry in cadence: "chak, chak, chak..." while characters tell the Ramayana epic: the pursuit of the golden stag, its death, the capture of Sita, the eagle's flight, Sita in the palace rescued by monkeys. At the outset, the repetition of the sound "chak" put a girl named Sanghyang into a trance. This ceremony provided knowledge of the gods' wishes as transmitted through Sanghyang.

2. Gender wayang: Ansarun (genders)

The genders provide musical accompaniment for the wayang kulit (the Balinese version of the shadow-plays of eastern Java). The puppets are buffalo-hide cutouts. The "dalang," the real hero of the shadow-play, conducts the ensemble of genders. He sits behind a screen lit by an oil lamp.

3. Pendet (kendangs, genders, sarons, bonangs, and gongs)

Selection: This religious dance is performed by "pemangkus" (priests and priestesses), women, or little girls. Recently introduced into the Legong performances, the pendet is usually danced by three young girls. In their hands they hold silver cups or braided palm-leaves containing offerings of flowers, food, etc. At the conclusion of the dance, they throw flowers at the audience to bless it.

4. Legong (kendangs, genders, sarons, bonangs, and gongs)

Selections: From the age of five, every little girl hopes to be chosen to belong to the group of Legong dancers who meet in the village every evening. Thus, the girl-child you pass on the road in the daytime may appear among the temple dancers in the evening; her peasant father will leave his rice-field to take his place at the gamelan, while her mother will oversee the family preparation of the offering (i.e. the plaiting of palm-leaves).

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Ramayana Ballet [excerpt] {6:17}

2. Barong or Kris Dance [excerpts] {6:57}

3. Offering Procession {1:36}

Side 2

1. "Ketjak" or Monkey Dance [excerpts] {5:26}

2. Gender Wayang: Ansarun {2:22}

3. Pendet [excerpt] {2:54}

4. Legong [excerpts] {4:11}

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80 Trombones and 30 Basses

Henry Brant/Gerhard Samuel - 80 Trombones and 30 Basses

Henry Brant - ORBITS

ORBITS was recorded in St. Mary's Cathedral, San Francisco, California, on February 1979.

Credits: Bay Bones Trombone Choir and assisting artists; Will Sudmeier and Billy Robinson, directors; Henry Brant, organ; Amy Snyder, voice; Gerhard Samuel, conductor

From the liner notes:

Berlioz is said to have exclaimed "No instrument can lift you from the depths of hell to the heights of heaven as can the trombone." Perhaps this was after hearing the sinister unisons of pedal tones on eight trombones in his Requiem, notes previously unknown or thought impossible by trombonists. But what might Berlioz have thought of a complete orchestra of trombones, eighty strong, playing at times in eighty real parts, and spanning a better than five octave gamut, comprising soprano, alto, tenor, bass and contrabass trombones?

This is what HENRY BRANT has undertaken in his ORBITS, and the present CRI recording was made during the first performance on February 11, 1979, described in the following account of the concert in Time Magazine's issue of March 5, 1979.

"The scene at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco was vaguely surreal. In the pews was an audience of 1500, sedate as any church-goers. Ranged about them in a huge semicircle was a gleaming array of 80 trombonists, as if a parade had lost its way and sought sanctuary.

"But when the music began, the sound was a far cry from Sousa. Separated by staccato commentaries from the cathedral's pipe organ, densely dissonant sonorities clashed and blended over the listeners' heads. Full-throated blares, splintery muted phrases, the crooning tones of the soprano trombone, the rumble of its contrabass relative - all seemed to accelerate in a circular motion, spinning into the cathedral's 190-foot cupola like an earthly echo of the music of the spheres."

Gerhard Samuel - WHAT OF MY MUSIC!

WHAT OF MY MUSIC! was recorded in the Ralph Corbett Auditorium of the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati on July 1979.

Credits: Nelga Lynn, soprano; 36 string basses from the International Summer School for Double Bass of the International Society of Bassists (Barry Green and Paul Ellison, soloists); Allen Otte, James Culley, and Michael Hakes, percussion; Gerhard Samuel, conductor

From the liner notes by the composer:

WHAT OF MY MUSIC! was written between March 13 and 29, 1979 at the request of Barry Green on behalf of the International Society of Bassists which holds an annual summer school at the College-Conservatory.

WHAT OF MY MUSIC! requires a lyric coloratura soprano, two solo double basses, (also two solo basses in the ensemble), twenty-eight tutti basses and three percussion players playing flexatone, vibraphones, marimbas, tam-tams, suspended cymbal, triangle, crotales, snare drum, chimes, thermos-shell and gourd. On a basic level the soprano represents the exterior manifestation of Emily Dickinson's intense quest for reaching 'the sole ear I care to charm'; the basses carry the interior monologue. But, as always when talking about music, this is gross oversimplification, since fundamentally WHAT OF MY MUSIC! is, after all, my reaction to Miss Dickinson's poem.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Henry Brant - Orbits {21:07}

Side 2

1. Gerhard Samuel - What of My Music! {15:10}

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Earwicker News

The bad link in my La Monte Young post from last week is fixed.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience caused by Massmirror's instability.

There's also a new mix up at my HCE blog. Very deep and slow-flowing.
I hope you like it.

The Language and Music of the Wolves

The Language and Music of the Wolves

I missed last Sunday's nature/environmental sounds post. Didn't mean to do that. I guess that's the way it goes sometimes. I decided to post something other than bird songs this Sunday. Hope this is educational as our foolish government thinks it's okay to shoot wolves again so they could go back on the verge of extinction.

From the liner notes:

The actual language and music of the Wolf recorded in his remaining territories. And the true explanation of the Wolf and Man, narrated by Robert Redford, actor and nature lover. (Another project of Natural History Magazine)

Some slightly technical information:

The wolf howl is a long, low, mournful sound. It is continuous - from about half a second to 11 seconds in length. It consists of a fundamental frequency, between 150 and 780 cycles per second, and contains up to 12 harmonically related overtones. The pitch remains constant or varies smoothly, and may change direction as many as four or five times. Total intensity does not vary greatly throughout. Yet there is much variation in the howling of different wolves.The following howls were recorded in Ontario, Michigan, and Minnesota.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Robert Redford narrates The Wolf You Never Knew {14:25}

Side 2

1. Sounds of the Wolf: Opening Howl {1:07}

2. Sounds of the Wolf: First Growls {1:28}

3. Sounds of the Wolf: Pup Howls {1:26}

4. Sounds of the Wolf: Wolf Barking {1:15}

5. Sounds of the Wolf: Series of 3 Adjacent Single Howls {2:12}

6. Sounds of the Wolf: Comparative Difference in Howls {0:50}

7. Sounds of the Wolf: Single Howls {0:54}

8. Sounds of the Wolf: Combined Sounds of the Wolf {1:17}

9. Sounds of the Wolf: Distant and Close-up Howling {1:54}

10. Sounds of the Wolf: Series of Group Howls {4:14}

11. Sounds of the Wolf: Joint Group Howl {3:00}

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Ceremony

Spooky Tooth and Pierre Henry - Ceremony

Electronic music pioneer Pierre Henry collaborates with Gary Wright, then a member of blues-based hard rock band Spooky Tooth, for this concept album revolving around a Mass. Even though this album was Pierre Henry's idea and Spooky Tooth were called in as a session band to record some songs for Henry, Ceremony was sold as a Spooky Tooth album. From what I understand, Spooky Tooth fans generally enjoyed the previous album Spooky Two and were looking forward to their next release. Most of the fans seemed to be rather disappointed with Ceremony with some still hating it up to this day. Spooky Tooth's rock music is blended with Pierre Henry's electronics throughout the album. The mix works for some while it doesn't for others. Overall, I think this album rocks.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Have Mercy {7:50}

2. Jubilation {8:21}

3. Confession {6:46}

Side 2

1. Prayer {10:48}

2. Offering {3:25}

3. Hosanna {7:35}

(1) (2) [may be reposted soon]

TONES, EXTRA-LONG

The bad link is FIXED now. DL via Mediafire. I've been away for a few days, so I couldn't do it earlier. Thanks for your patience.

As stated in the comments section, this version is from 1984, performed in Cologne by the Trio Basso.

In 1958, when John Cage worked on his anarchic "Concert for Piano and Orchestra", young La Monte took off in a different direction with his composition "Trio for Strings". Inspired by Indian Ragas and Japanese Gagaku, this 12-tone piece conveys a strong feeling of musical stasis.

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"This serial piece, with its silences and long tones, paved the way for music based on tonality, drone and infinite time spans, brushing aside elaborate formal development in favor of the contemplation of pure sound."

David Paul, Seconds Magazine No. 50, NYC 1999

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"After completing UCLA, I got my BA in 1958. Over the summer I had permission to compose on the large organ in Royce Hall. I had the idea that I wanted to write something with long sustained tones. I wanted to actually hear the tones sounding. The idea to write a piece with long sustained tones came to me totally by intuition. It was not something that I calculatedly decided I should try. It wasn't an experiment. It was not a lark. It was something that came to me totally through inspiration and intuition. Something that was inspired from above, and I felt that I must write long sustained tones. I had to do this. It was my calling. I began to write them.

I had written some long sustained tones in the middle section of For Brass in 1957. These tones were so long that it prompted Lucas Foss to once say, "La Monte Young lived on Zen standard time; a second to him was just a heartbeat in the life of the Buddha." He was very supportive of me, whereas nobody else at UCLA was really understanding of this kind of work with serial composition. He was understanding of it, and he was encouraging me to continue even though I was not at the time directly having a class with him. I had previously had classes with him, and so we knew each other, and he was very supportive of me.

So, in the summer of '58 I wrote the Trio for Strings at the great organ in Royce Hall at UCLA. I actually finished writing out the transparencies, the "onion skins", on Sept. 5 after I had already arrived at the Berkeley campus. I was just finding my way around at Berkeley. I showed this composition to my new composition teacher Seymour Schiffrin, and he expressed concern about the piece. He was having these private music calls for the graduate students in his composition class at his home. It was a very interesting composition class, because not only did it include me, but it included Pauline Oliveros, David Del Tredici, Lauren Rush, Charles McDermott, and Terry Riley who was auditing the class. ... Meanwhile though, Seymour was concerned. I didn't know what I was hearing with these long sustained tones, even though I had written it at the organ mind you. He arranged to have a performance of the work at his house, which was nice. The violinist was Oleg Kovalenko, the violist was John Graham, and the cellist was Bonnie Thompson. In any case, they played it and I was very happy to hear it. Clearly I had known what I was writing and so I was able to talk about the piece. The piece became a constant topic of conversation at Berkeley forever after that, especially in that class. I venture to say that none of the people in that class would have ever gone on to do what they did had they not heard the Trio for Strings at that time."

An Interview with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, by Gabrielle Zuckerman, American Public Media, July 2002

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"I think that this kind of sense of time has to do with getting away from the earthly sense of direction which goes from birth to death, in other words, like developmental form, and has to do with static form and moving up into, by up I mean like vertically, as in Vertical Hearing, moving, then, up through the sound of a chord or the sound of a tamboura or the sound of an interval that's sustained, using this to create a drone state of mind as I described. By using this to create a drone state of mind, it provides a means toward achieving a state of meditation or an altered state of consciousness that can allow you to be more directly in touch with universal structure and a higher sense of order. And that once one achieves this kind of state of consciousness, in order to maintain it, one is not trying to get back down to the earthly level and get back involved with directional, climactic form, developmental form, one wants to stay in this more static state. The drone constants are very supportive and allow you to use them as positioning points of reference, to remain aloft, so to speak, in this special state of consciousness and awareness."

La Monte Young & Marian Zazeela: an interview by Ian Nagoski.

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Stasis

Inside the Great Pyramid

Paul Horn - Inside the Great Pyramid

Flute player Paul Horn recorded this album in three rooms of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh (Cheops). Sides one and two were recorded in the King's Chamber and side three was recorded in the Queen's Chamber. Side four was actually recorded in the Burial Chamber of another pyramid (Kephren). Horn was attempting to obtain a spiritual experience from playing in the pyramids as well as record his playing including the unique echoes, in the pyramids' rooms, generated by his playing.

Previously, Horn has played and recorded inside of a structure. In 1968, he recorded his playing from inside the Taj Mahal. The tape of the results were released as the album Inside. Afterwards, Horn would go on to record the "Inside" series of albums including this album, Inside the Cathedral, Inside Canyon de Chelly and Inside Monument Valley.

Horn started out as a jazz musician playing mainly what is described as "cool jazz" then went to India in 1967 to study trancendental meditation. This experience would mark a new direction in his career as he started to create more new age or meditative style of music starting with his Inside album from Taj Mahal.

In the first week of May 1976, Horn went to Cairo with his recording engineer. Horn and his recording engineer accompanied a group touring the pyramids and other Egyptian ancient structures and monuments. Horn only had a few days available to get permission to play in the Great Pyramid after closing hours. Horn eventually was granted permission to go in the Great Pyramid on the evening of May 6th, 1976 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Horn's recording engineer had one tape recorder and a microphone which were used to record Horn's playing. The music Horn created that evening was totally improvised. He interacted with the echoes as if he was playing with another musician. The next evening Horn and his recording engineer were granted permission to go after closing hours in the pyrmaids Kephren and Mycerinus and Horn's playing was recorded in these pyramids.

Inside the Great Pyramid was originally released as a 2-LP album with a booklet that was used as a source to provide some of the information in this post.

Tracklisting:

Side One - Initiation

1. Invocation {0:41}

2. Psalm 1 {4:06}

3. Psalm 2 {2:10}

4. Psalm 3 {2:18}

5. Psalm 4 {2:49}

6. Psalm 5 {3:18}

7. Psalm 6 {2:20}

8. Psalm 7 {4:04}

Side Two - Meditation

1. Psalm 1 {3:45}

2. Psalm 2 {1:17}

3. Psalm 3 {4:55}

4. Psalm 4 {2:57}

5. Psalm 5 {2:59}

6. Psalm 6 {5:08}

Side Three - Enlightenment

1. Psalm 1 {4:01}

2. Psalm 2 {4:07}

3. Psalm 3 {2:28}

4. Psalm 4 {3:04}

5. Psalm 5 {4:26}

6. Psalm 6 {0:53}

Side Four - Fulfillment

1. Psalm 1 {5:07}

2. Psalm 2 {3:21}

3. Psalm 3 {1:52}

4. Psalm 4 {3:43}

5. Psalm 5 {2:11}

6. Psalm 6 {1:24}

7. Psalm 7 {2:15}

8. Psalm 8 {1:21}

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New Events: Boston Composers of the '70s

various artists compilation - New Events: Boston Composers of the '70s

Neyrac Lux by Pozzi Escot

performer: Harry Chalmiers - guitar

"Neyrac Lux" (1978) was written in memory of the French scientist, M. Emm. Pozzi-Escot, "le jeune savant de Nancy", born in Neyrac Mont in 1880.Harry chalmiers, remarkable young virtuoso on the guitar and for whom the work was composed, is on the faculty of Lowell State University. In this work he plays three different guitars: 12-strings, classical and electrical.

Utterances by Robert Cogan

performer: Joan Heller - voice

"Utterances" is an open-ended folio of music for a single solo voice. Open-ended means that the composer retains the option of continually adding to it: it is never to be complete, he will simply stop adding. For a performance, pages are chosen from the folio and ordered (we lack a better word) by the performer: for this recording by Joan Heller, at whose request "Utterances" was composed during the years 1977-79. The work draws on texts, and not only texts, by Jorge Juis Borges, Bertholt Brecht, Chiang K'uei, ch'in Kuan, Huang P'u-sung, Kalidasa, Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams; by anonymous Balinese, Chinese, Japanese, and Kwakiuti poet-musicians; and especially by William Bronk and William Butler Yeats.

Constellations by Shirish Korde

performer: Boston Saxophone Quartet

"Constellations" for saxophone quartet was composed in 1973-74 for the contemporary music festival held at Brown University in May of 1974. The work is in one movement which evolves gradually from a single sustained pitch, sounding in the middle of the combined saxophone range, to a cluster of pitches, sounding in the outer extremities of the quartet's range. The gradual unfolding of the acoustical space is controlled by a series of symmetrical harmonic formations which are co-ordinated with a characteristic texture motion from pure beatless sounds to complex multifaceted tone color formations.

Serenade by Thomas DeLio

performer: Michael Dewart - piano

Thomas DeLio's "Serenade" for solo piano was composed in 1974 in response to a commission from the pianist-musicologist Ivan Waldbauer. In it the composer explores various applications of mathematical information theory to musical composition. The work is in three sections and traces the evolution and dissolution of various fixed pitch and time fields which are continuously being juxtaposed and transformed as the composition unfolds.

Tracklisting:

SIDE A

1. Pozzi Escot - Neyrac Lux {7:41}

2. Robert Cogan - Utterances {13:07}

SIDE B

1. Shirish Korde - Constellations {9:18}

2. Thomas DeLio - Serenade {8:42}

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