History of Music in Sound Vol. I: Ancient and Oriental Music

various artists compilation - History of Music in Sound Vol. I: Ancient and Oriental Music

2-LP set released in 1966

This 2-LP set is the first in the History of Music in Sound series of volumes in conjunction with The New Oxford History of Music that surveys and discusses musical history. This series began in the late 1950s. Each volume includes a book in The New Oxford History of Music and the companion LP-set each including a booklet. According to the listing of titles in the booklet from this set, there has been 10 volumes. All volumes except Volume I: Ancient and Oriental Music focus on Western or European music. My copy once belonged to a high school library as the cover bears the stamps of the school and the pocket for placement of a circulation sheet. I do wonder how often this was either checked out or used at all by high school students and teachers. I wonder if high school libraries (or school library media centers) today have CDs of Eastern music.

Volume I of The History of Music in Sound may be regarded as an introduction to the main series of records devoted to Western music from the Middle Ages to the present day. In addition to the few examples of ancient Greek music which have come down to us, the volume comprises a selection of recrds from the Middle and Far East.
Oriental music, apart from some zither compositions and the ceremonial music of China and Japan, is transmitted orally from generation to generation. We have, therefore, no means of giving an historical survey of the music of any country represented in this volume. Some of the music, particularly the examples of sacred, ceremonial, and ritual chant may go back to a remote date and may have been handed down to us practically unchanged; others are of more recent date, while others again - for example the songs from Madagascar and Tahiti - are obviously influenced by European music.
The greatest difficulty for the Editor arose from the fact that the selection for this volume had to be made from the musics of peoples infinitely greater in number and variety than those of Europe, to whom all the other volumes in the History are devoted. The choice of examples, therefore, has had to be restricted to those which either supplement our knowledge of the origins of western music, such as the examples of Greek, Jewish, and Arabic music, or are most characteristic of their kind, such as the few examples of Indian, Chinese, and Japanese music.
In listening to music from the Islamic countries one should remember the main difference between our Western conception of music and that of the East. The western composer aims at expressing himself in a concise, clear form. The mind of the Eastern musician works differently; he makes music which flows in an unending stream. Different as the music of the various peoples may be in character; it has in common the endless repetition of a pattern which impresses itself on the audience and is often of a hypnotic nature.
Most of the examples from these countries, therefore, give only a small fragment of the whole chant or instrumental piece - in some cases longer in the LP than in the 78 r.p.m. version. There are some pieces in which the repetition and variation of the same pattern can be heard, but even in these examples the hypnotic effect of this kind of music cannot be fully experienced, for actually the singing, drumming, and dancing goes on for hours.
There is one feature of Far Eastern singing which seems strange to us: the Chinese operatic singer produces his tone with cramped throat muscles. To the West, singing is a sort of glorified speech and the singer is taught to avoid shrill notes; to the Far East, the art of voice production consists in singing with strained vocal chords, to make song as different from speech as possible.
Eastern music is mostly homophonic; part-singing in our sense is unknown though one does find that primitive part-singing which we call heterophony. Since the skill of the Eastern composers is concentrated upon one line, the melodic nuances are much richer than those of Western melodies, and so are the rhythmic patterns.
The differences in tuning and the variety of scales, which often include quartertones and even smaller intervals, make it difficult and in many cases impossible to transcribe Eastern music into our system of notation. Scholars have worked out methods of indicating quarter-tones by special signs or by figures, giving the number of vibrations; but such a notation is useless for practical purposes. We should bear in mind also the fact that unskilled singers frequently sing 'out of tune' and that it is purposeless to notate deviations from the scale which would not occur with trained singers.
Finally a word must be said about the quality of the records. Those of Arabic music go back to the Congress of Arabic Music held in Cairo in 1932; those from the Far East were mostly made in the countries whose music they represent, often under the most difficult conditions. Some of these are of unique musicological and ethnological value and it would be impossible to record them today. After listening to a great number of records made in recent years, the Editor has chosen those which he thought to be representative, though some may not be technically as perfect as we expect H.M.V. records to be, because they give a better idea of the character of music than the modern recordings do. Contact with European music through the gramophone, the radio, and particularly through the cinema, has left its traces on the music of the Eastern world; it has also influenced the technique of singing and playing. The majority of the records in this collection are therefore chosen deliberately from those made at a time when the impact of Western music was hardly felt. (Egon Wellesz)

Tracklisting:

Side I

(all tracks on Side I from China)

1. Louis Chen - Three Ancient Melodies: Tzuey Ueng Charn {0:48}

2. Louis Chen - Three Ancient Melodies: Lanq Taur Sha {1:35}

3. Louis Chen - Three Ancient Melodies: Nan Jinn Gong {2:02}

4. Orchestra of the Classical Theatre of China - Instrumental and Dramatic Music: The Poet Rides {3:15}

5. Ja Fuhshi - Instrumental and Dramatic Music: Meihua San Nonq {0:43}

6. Ching Yu-feng and T'ang Kuei Fang with orchestra - Instrumental and Dramatic Music: Duet from Sheau Fanqniou {1:45}

7. Shang Hsiao-yun with orchestra - Instrumental and Dramatic Music: Excerpt from Muudan Tyng {1:02}

8. Tu Chin-fang with Orchestra of the Classical Theatre of China - Opera: Excerpt from Bair Sheh Juann {2:25}

9. Hsiao Tsung-i with Orchestra of the Classical Theatre of China - Opera: Excerpt from Wuu Jia Po {1:28}

10. Hsiao Tsung-i with Orchestra of the Classical Theatre of China - Opera: Excerpt from Yuanmen Jaan Tzyy {5:51}

11. Chao Wen-kuei with Orchestra of the Classical Theatre of China - Opera: Excerpt from Tsao Chyau Guan {3:17}

Side II

(tracks 1-3 from Tibet; track 4 from Cambodia; track 5 from Madagascar; tracks 6-9 from Laos; tracks 10-12 from Bali; tracks 13-14 from Tahiti)

1. [uncredited artist] - Lamaist Instrumental Ensemble {1:10}

2. [uncredited artist] - Lamaist Chanting {1:49}

3. [uncredited artist] - Hymn by Two Nuns {1:16}

4. Mme Nouy with instruments - Bampe {2:59}

5. [uncredited artist] - Raivo {1:21}

6. Thao Nenh - Song of a Nam-Ngum Bargeman {0:43}

7. Thao Nenh - Mengphoutomdok {0:50}

8. [uncredited artist] - Laoh-Tenh {1:48}

9. [uncredited artist] - Thoum {1:05}

10. [uncredited artist] - Tjroektjoek Poenjah {1:41}

11. [uncredited artist] - Excerpt from Tjalonarang {3:01}

12. [uncredited artist] - Excerpt from a Gamboeh {2:23}

13. [uncredited artist] - Paoa {0:49}

14. [uncredited artist] - Aue Aue {1:04}

Side III

(tracks 1-3 from Japan; tracks 4-14 from India)

1. Shinichi Yuize - Gagaku (Court Music): Dance of the Great Peace {1:30}

2. Shinichi Yuize - Rokudan (Nos. 1, 3, and 6) {2:40}

3. Shinichi Yuize - Chidori-no-Kyoku {3:58}

4. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Rice-transplanting Song (Western Ghats) {1:02}

5. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Harvest Processional Song (Western Ghats) {1:16}

6. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Toda Song (Nilgiri Mountains) {1:08}

7. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Death Wail (Cape Comorin) {0:43}

8. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Afridi Song (Khyber Pass) {0:59}

9. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Marathi Weaver's Song (Hyderabad) {0:53}

10. [uncredited artist] - Folk Music: Bhajan (Marathi Villagers' Prayer) (Hyderabad) {2:08}

11. Vasanta Koakilam - Classical Music: Sundari Nann'indarilo (Telugu) (Carnatic Devotional Song) {1:35}

12. Khan Saheb Hamid Hussain - Classical Music: Pahadi (Dhun) (Sarangi with Tabla) {2:00}

13. Hirabai Barodekar - Classical Music: Kankariye ji na Maro (Hindi) {1:00}

14. Ali Hussain and party - Classical Music: Raga Kedara (Shannai) {5:29}

Side IV

(tracks 1-3 Jewish music; tracks 4-5 ancient Greek music; tracks 6-8 music of Islam: Near East; tracks 9-10 music of Islam: Iraq; tracks 11-13 music of Islam: The Maghrib)

1. Cantor Jacob Goldstein - Lamenasseah al Haggitit (Psalm 8) {1:05}

2. Cantor Jacob Goldstein - Moholel Kol Wehol Johol (Hymn for Hasha'na Rabba) {2:11}

3. Cantor Jacob Goldstein - 'Al Naharot Bobal Hosehoh (Paraphrase of Psalm 137) {1:03}

4. Arda Mandikian - First Delphic Hymn {3:26}

5. Arda Mandikian - Epitaph of Seikilos {0:38}

6. S. S. Alami - Muezzin's Call to Prayer {1:35}

7. Maulawiyah Atrak - Taqsim Bayati (Turkish) {1:09}

8. [uncredited artist] - Bedouin Song (from El Fayum) {1:23}

9. [uncredited artist] - Tahher Fouadaka Bil-Rahat {2:27}

10. Muhammad Efendi el Qabbanji - Ya Naees el-Tarfe {1:58}

11. Muhammad el Shuwaikah - Oomri Alayki (Moroccan) {2:04}

12. Muhammad ibn Hasan - Alhazo Zabi (Tunisian) {1:32}

13. Al-Hajj el-Arabi ibn Sari - Fah el-banafseg (Algerian) {1:17}

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