Archive for the ‘Listening’ Category
Review: I Step Into The Advent
Cover: I Step Into The Advent
Title: I Step Into The Advent
Artist: Mikael Fyrek
Label: Kahvi Collective
Release Date: 11/10/2009
Catalog No: Kahvi 276
License: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND-SA
Mikael Fyrek is another example of one of the extremely fine electronic musicians that has been on the net for quite sometime. This release is his fifth on the Kahvi Collective, and it exemplifies what one person can do with a home studio and more than a dash of skill and creativity.
re:Sound: Work & Play
Welcome to a new series of articles called re:Sound. The idea for this column came from a couple of magazine columns I have seen in the past. Basically, the idea is to dig back into my collection and select a recording that is worthy of tracking down and listening to. While many of these will be netlabel releases that you can find fairly easily, some of them may be commercial releases that may be more difficult to find. (However, I will stay away from RIAA releases as much as possible in favor of true independent releases…)
So, let’s get to my first choice.
The Faust Cycle: Day Four
Artist: Ergo Phizmiz
Title: The Faust Cycle (or The House of Dr. Faustus)
This section is sub-titled Operatic Laughter. The opening of this portion reminded me of something Negativland would do: use a sample from an opera, chop it up and loop it, then juxtapose it with a really cheesy latin-style jazz piece. This segment is then followed with the Monkey Song.
Ergo, now presumably in the middle of a dream, has come to the realization that he is a puppet, who gets to do a dance once a day. Now he is relegated to watching all manner of unusual performances around him, being unable to move since he is made of wood. The monkey reappears, using Ergo Puppet to relieve himself. It always seems that with the appearance of monkeys the subject turns scatalogical. 
After being used, Ergo is shown several short films… However, first, he is subjected to Igor Stravinsky’s standup routine which ends with Stravinksy disappearing through a picture of Caruso’s buttocks. Then the films.
Eventually there is a filmed production of Eloise. This stage production is about a doll being trained in opera by Dr. Faustus, or rather, someone portraying Dr. Faustus. After the film we are presented with another Negativland style collage of operas being mixed into a new rhytmic and melodic structure, and juxtaposed with a piece of pop music.
This finally gives way to a minimalistic piece for cello and electronics (by Bela Emerson). This is a wonderful piece, reminding me of a cross between a Karlheinz Stockhausen piano piece, and some of the works of Klaus Schulze and Rainer Bloss.
This last piece is just incredibly gorgeous. I’ve started thinking that I want to download the music sections of this piece seperately (I know they are available on FMA), and this piece alone makes the case for having the music as a stand-alone entity.
Onwards…
Shoestring Classical Collection: The Beginning
Introduction
When it comes to trying to get into classical music there seems to be several barriers that people encounter, or at least there are perceived barriers. In this new series of articles I will set out to:
- Dispel many of the myths about classical music,
- Show you how to learn more about classical music,
- Show you how to start building a collection of classical music for either free or very little cost.
Classical music is a very large territory to cover. It is my hope that by presenting this information, those of you who read these articles will be able to start listening to and appreciating the music.
Read the rest of this entry »
Review: Cosmonaut by Space Weirdo
The 555 Sonatas
The Domenico Scarlatti Keyboard Sonatas (Complete) by Pieter-Jan Belder.
By the time you read this, I will have finished listening to all of Domenico Scarlatti’s Keyboard Sonatas. There are 555 of them in total, over 36 hours of music on the CD collection above.
This really isn’t a critique of the music. As I write this article, I am through about 460 of the pieces, and can say that I love them. They are not something that one just listens to in the backgr0und, however. And becuase of that, I know that I will find myself re-listening to these works again and again over the next several months. In fact, I have them on my MP3 player now so I can listen to them when I am working out.
What this article is about is the magnitude of the feat of writing this many Sonatas, or for that matter, writing this many pieces of anything in general, be it pieces of music, poetry, fiction, books, essays. It’s honestly quite staggering. It is something that I can only aspire to accomplish, be it in articles for this website, or for any other endeavors that I have undertaken.
What is astonishing to me is that there is such a precision and consistency in the music that it really is a complete whole, and not just a series of pieces. But, The Keyboard Sonatas aren’t weakend when taken as a series of pieces, or as individual pieces either. Each piece stands alone as it’s own work, and can be appreciated within it’s own context.
Ahh, what a piece of work… All 555 of them.
