Love Spirals Downwards wouldn't sound out of place in a dance club; languorous synthesizer chords and spookily sweet melodies are complemented by electronic beats at a tempo just fast enough to dance to. On Flux, this is overtly demonstrated by tracks like "Nova," where the repeating tones that open the piece become syncopated with the main beat. The female vocals throughout the album are all appropriately ethereal, but solid enough that they never sound superfluous, especially on "City Moon" (featuring long time vocal collaborator, Suzanne Perry) and "Psyche." The closing song, "Sunset Bell," is the longest on the CD, clocking in at nearly eight minutes, but composer Ryan Lum keeps things interesting by starting simply and becoming progressively more complicated. This style of music is all too often bland, but Love Spirals Downwards opt for a more refreshing, and rewarding, approach. --Genevieve Williams
Flux,Love Spirals Downwards,Projekt Records,"Flux" is ambient-tinged electronica featuring ethereal female vocals and melodious guitar work, creating a relaxing, yet envigorating dreamscape of sound to lose yourself in.,Ambient,Contemporary Instrumental,Dance Music,Indie Rock,Pop,Space Rock
Average customer rating:
|
In Flux
Ravi Coltrane Manufacturer: Savoy Jazz ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B0007GP6AG Release Date: 2005-02-22 |
Tracks:
- The Message Part I
- Coincide
- Variations III
- Away
- Leaving Avignon
- Blending Times
- Dear Alice
- Angular Realms
- Scram Vamp
- Variations I
- United
- For Zo
Album Description
Ravi Coltrane's Savoy Jazz debut captures the artist confronting change and transition. In turn lyrical and probing, this music is the most profound statement yet from one of jazz's most fascinating contemporary stars.Customer Reviews:
His father would be proud,,,,,.......2007-02-19
beautiful execution by the group...not overcooked in the least, but just very COOL stuff. Have also seen them recently in concert, which really perked my interest in Ravi.
Mature muscianship plus immagination.......2006-06-14
Gress has not sounded as good live when I've heard him and the sound and mastering on this CD really helps bring out a nice sound! Despite a slightly out of tune piano, Perdomo is relaxed and inventive in all that he does. Strickland even reminds me a bit of Victor Lewis in Strickland's ability to drive and sustain the entire group without sticking out as if it were *his* album. Lastly, it is an injustice to compare Ravi with his father since Ravi has his own voice in the music and though there is some influence from the elder, it never becomes contrived or blatant. Like the NY Times reviewer said, this is a good example of how the better players are thinking nowadays.
Clearly, there is some great playing and writing going on here and this would have to be one of my picks for this last year (2005). Better late than never I guess.
great saxophone.......2006-02-02
Ravi Coltrane plays Tenor en soprano saxophone with a sharp but elegant ring to it. Ashly Kahn says in the linernotes that Ravi Coltrane is evolving still and he wonders where it will lead to. I don't know about the evolving bit. This is my first Ravi Coltrane experience. I find it to be more then average. It's melodic with out overdoing. There's a beautiful build up with layer over layer. This craftsmanship leads to the composing depth of an album that keeps on giving. I just stay intrigued by it. The only negative point I can think of is that this album will probably never do as background music.
Niels-Henning once said to me that the great jazzmen are a dying species. I hope Ravi Coltrane is one of the new guys that will prove Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson wrong. A. Kahn has a good point in wondering where it will lead. We have to follow this guy and his excellent quartet!
Simply Delicious. You'll Appreciate the Influence AND the.......2005-11-23
Treat yourself! Smile why don't you...I can't help it--everytime!
Enjoy,
Bead
He's better than his dad!.......2005-10-09
Average customer rating:
|
Erkki-Sven Tüür: Flux
Manufacturer: Ecm Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B0000244W6 Release Date: 2000-02-01 |
Tracks:
- Symphony No.3: Contextus I
- Symphony No.3: Contextus II
- Concerto for Violoncello And Orchestra
- Lighthouse For Strings
Amazon.com
Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tuur is one of today's brightest lights, creating works that combine drama, mystery, and emotional directness within complex structures. His music is listener-friendly; its rhythmic life, deep textures, and compelling sound world reward repeated listenings. The Symphony No. 3 is in two movements, the first building from barely audible cymbal splashes to jazz-like plucked basses to scurrying strings and chaotic winds, rising to a shattering brass-led climax that gives way to delicate coloristic effects. Those first four minutes are typical of Tuur's music, pulsating with energy and unexpected blocks of sound. The Cello Concerto is just as fetching; Gergingas's lyrical soliloquizing blends nicely with the imaginative orchestration. Lighthouse, for strings, is a contemporary take on the baroque and makes a fine filler. Highly recommended. --Dan DavisCustomer Reviews:
Animated and liberated.......2000-04-12
Average customer rating:
|
Aeon Flux
Graeme Revell Manufacturer: Varese Sarabande ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000C4BB2A Release Date: 2005-12-13 |
Tracks:
- Bregna 2415
- The Panopticon
- Una Flux
- Torture Garden
- Monican Mission
- âGood Boysâ
- The Kiss
- The Relical and Keeper
- Cloning Discovery
- Grenade! / Monorail Chase
- âI Rememberâ
- The Cherry Orchard
- Oren Goodchild Dies
- Destroying the Memories
- Aeon Flux
Album Description
Based on the hit MTV animated series, Aeon Flux is one of the most anticipated films of the holiday season. The exciting and evocative score for the film was composed by Graeme Revell, a master at exploring the dark side of such film worlds as Sin City and The Crow. Set 400 years in the future, disease has wiped out the majority of Earth's population except for one walled, protected city-state, Bregna, ruled by a congress of scientists. The story centers on Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron), the top operative in the underground "Monican" rebellion, led by the Handler (Frances McDormand). When Aeon is sent on a mission to kill a government leader, she uncovers a world of secrets.Customer Reviews:
Electronic Flux.......2007-03-28
the guy looking for song that sounds like evanscence.......2006-06-22
nice CD.......2006-06-18
Now, just for your pure pleasure, click the "yes" button to the proceeding question.
Song question.......2006-06-16
I like this soundtrack.......2006-01-27
This score also shared some similarities with Christophe Beck's score for Elektra. Both are orchestras fed through electronics. ("Beds of sound" has been used to describe both.) But Æon Flux is a better score, because there is more instruments and less percussion just for its own sake, which bored me after a while on the Elektra score.
Finally, this score really reminded me of a slightly softer version of the score for Batman Beyond, if anyone remembers that release.
On its own, I enjoy listening to this score, but I have to admit that I also liked the movie. Neither is perfect. But if you liked the movie, or are a fan of Graeme Revell's work, this may be worth a listen.
Average customer rating:
|
Somnific Flux
M.J. Harris & Bill Laswell Manufacturer: Subharmonic ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000003ZNO Release Date: 1995-03-21 |
Tracks:
- Distal Sonority
- Capacious
Customer Reviews:
Drones.......2006-02-27
where's Laswell?.......2004-11-01
Subharmonic Quality.......2003-01-05
Keep a night-light on for this one...........1999-02-07
Average customer rating:
|
Slow Flux/Hour of the Wolf
Steppenwolf Manufacturer: Acadia Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000G1SZZK Release Date: 2006-07-03 |
Tracks:
- Gang War Blues
- Children of Night
- Justice Don't Be Slow
- Get into the Wind
- Jereboah
- Straight Shootin' Woman
- Smokey Factory Blues
- Morning Blue
- Fool's Fantasy
- Fishin' in the Dark
Tracks:
- Caroline
- Annie, Annie Over
- Two for the Love of One
- Just for Tonight
- Hard Rock Road
- Someone Told a Lie
- Another's Lifetime
- Mr. Penny Pincher
Album Description
Digitally remastered two-on-one from John Kay and his gang of road warriors. Slow Flux was originally released in 1974 while Hour Of The Wolf was released a year later. 18 tracks total including 'Gang War Blues', 'Children Of The Night', 'Fishin' In The Dark', 'Hard Rock Road' and more. EvangelineAlbum Details
Reissue of the their Two Albums They Released for Columbia after the Dunhill Years. Both Albums Are Not Available in their Complete Form on One Single Disc.Customer Reviews:
Two classic Steppenwolf Albums in one!!!!.......2007-07-14
The Legacy Of Steppenwolf Goes On.......2007-01-24
Average customer rating:
|
Flux
Ben Monder Manufacturer: Songlines ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000005IF3 Release Date: 1997-06-24 |
Tracks:
- Muvseevum
- Flux
- Food For The Moon
- Red Shifts
- Jello Throne
- Don't Look Down
- Orbits
- O.K. Chorale
- Lactophobia
- Propane Dream
Customer Reviews:
Great player!!!.......2007-06-11
I want to mention one most obvious influence that nobody else has. He sounds to me to be heavily influenced by Allan Holdsworth. That's where those chords come from. Pick up a copy of "The Sixteen Men of Tain".
Cheers,
Matt Zito
The Best Current Voice In Jazz Guitar.......2005-04-22
As a young person listening to this recording and watching Monder perform live, I'm privileged to experience what it must have been like for Wes Montgomery to have heard Charlie Christian, or for Pat Metheny to have heard Wes Montgomery a few decades later. That's the potential that is waiting for listeners to discover on this record.
Ben Monder combines the chordal fluency of Van Eps with the single-note facility of Metheny and the adventurous texturalism of Frisell. It's an extremely exciting synthesis with something to offer all jazz listeners and musicians.
His non-traditional chord voicings are completely fresh. His single-note soloing is deft and articulate, with long, arcing phrases executed perfectly. He dazzles guitarists by using familiar vocabulary and tricks in unfamiliar harmonic settings. His attention to string muting and tonal balance are very rare in jazz guitar. And his impressive, through-composed pieces are long, but never meandering. He has clearly spent quite a lot of time studying classical composition and technique. I should also add that guitarists and engineers should study this recording (and "Dust") closely, as Monder coaxes, in my opinion, the FINEST clean electric guitar tone ever committed to tape. I mean this sincerely. His clean tone, unadorned by effects, colored only by his fingers, heart, and soul, is beautiful and bell-like. And as I mentioned before, he controls it with such precision and grace.
Plus, he just rocks! Jimmy Page is just as much of an influence upon Monder as Jimmy Raney. I think "Flux" and "Dust" have great potential to initiate non-jazz listeners into the world of improvised music. Considering how young Monder is and how much he has already accomplished, jazz guitar is in quite capable hands.
Nice Trip.......2004-07-16
I'm really struck by this music. The music, for the most part, is darkly dreamy. The cover displays a painting called "space jazz" and it looks like a picture of space (stars, galaxies, gasses etc), and it pretty much reflects the overall tone of the music. Dark, dreamy, mysterious, beautiful. The song titles also: "Food for the Moon", "Orbits", "Propane Dream", "Don't Look Down", evoke a kind of spacey feel. But, as the title suggests, there is a lot of movement too. After all, this is "jazz." The rhythm section here (Jim Black and Drew Gress) are amazingly fluid, aggressively propulsive, graceful on slower tunes, and really play a huge role in defining the music. Their roles are definetely collaborative rather than suppportive, which adds tremendous richness to the music. This isn't just about guitar, its about guitar, bass and drums.
What moves me most about music are the intangibles, the psychographic effects of melodies, rhythms and sounds that can't really be explained in words, but have the power to move us, so the listening becomes more of an experience and less an appreciation. And I guess what makes this music so special is that combination of spaciness and virtuosity (Ben has incredible tecnique), that combination of amazing guitar with equally amazing drums and base, which allows you to listen to the music a lot, love it, and never tire of it.
The best guitar trio cd of the nineties.......2004-01-11
Guitar is a polyphonic instrument, but electric guitarist worldwide seem not to know it. Monder shows how to use the guitar in a polyphonic way, using musical material which belongs to our times, the XX century music.
Monder's compositions are beautiful and complex, his solo pieces are wonderful.
The other members of the trio, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Jim Black are wonderful musicians, and add a lot to Monder's music.
Challenging but Rewarding Music.......2002-04-09
Average customer rating:
|
Tour de Flux
The Jazz Mandolin Project Manufacturer: Accurate Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00000DDME Release Date: 1999-01-26 |
Tracks:
- Flux
- Chapeau
- Good And Plenty
- Barber's Hint
- Boodha
- Clip
- Nimbus
- The Phoenicians
Amazon.com
Mandolinist Jamie Masefield, acoustic bassist Chris Dahlgren, and drummer Jon Fishman's moniker for their collective, the Jazz Mandolin Project, may be a bit misleading. Most of the material on Tour De Flux falls somewhere in the cracks between jazz, funk, and the more expansive and improvisation-heavy brand of rock favored by Fishman's other band, Phish. But that might be precisely why it's so enjoyable. Recorded right after the trio's 1998 tour (which built on their 1996 debut), the eight tracks on the album have enormous variety, segueing seamlessly from the countrified funk of "Chapeau" to the Zappa-esque wackiness of "Barber's Hint" to the folk ballad "Boodha." All showcase the kind of telepathic group interplay that only occurs between musicians who know each other's habits and styles intimately. Dahlgren and Fishman are a solid supporting cast, but Masefield is the real virtuoso: his playing throughout the album, from his high-velocity crescendos on "Clip" to his guitarlike heroics on "Nimbus," is consistently astounding. Whether it's enough to guarantee the entrance of the mandolin into the pantheon of widely accepted jazz instruments remains to be seen, but it's certainly a good start. --Ezra GaleCustomer Reviews:
bland background music.......2006-10-14
just awsome.......2002-03-26
Beautiful.......2000-02-29
mellow and electrifying.......1999-09-04
Has a high chill-factor.......1999-04-03
Average customer rating:
|
Flux
Love Spirals Downwards Manufacturer: Projekt Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000009OL4 Release Date: 1998-08-11 |
Tracks:
- City Moon
- Alicia
- Sound Of Waves
- Psyche
- Nova
- By Your Side
- Ring
- I'll Always Love You
- Sunset Bell
Amazon.com
Love Spirals Downwards wouldn't sound out of place in a dance club; languorous synthesizer chords and spookily sweet melodies are complemented by electronic beats at a tempo just fast enough to dance to. On Flux, this is overtly demonstrated by tracks like "Nova," where the repeating tones that open the piece become syncopated with the main beat. The female vocals throughout the album are all appropriately ethereal, but solid enough that they never sound superfluous, especially on "City Moon" (featuring long time vocal collaborator, Suzanne Perry) and "Psyche." The closing song, "Sunset Bell," is the longest on the CD, clocking in at nearly eight minutes, but composer Ryan Lum keeps things interesting by starting simply and becoming progressively more complicated. This style of music is all too often bland, but Love Spirals Downwards opt for a more refreshing, and rewarding, approach. --Genevieve WilliamsCustomer Reviews:
So ethereal as to lack any content.......2004-08-01
Massively underrated and ignored.......2004-06-04
This album fuses together my favourite elements of music- melodic guitars, brilliant percussion and dreamy soaring vocals. Nova is by far the best track on this album, though they are all good quality, and seemingly unique these days (if anyone knows of anything like this album get in touch!). Sunset Bell is also brilliant provided you listen to it sparingly.
If you enjoy drum and bass- you will like this. If you enjoy spanish guitar- you will like this. If you like strong, but not grating female vocals- you will like this. It's an album that appeals on many levels. So go and buy it and ignore the LSD fans who don't like the electronic feel of the album.
3 vocalists & an excellent producer.......2002-07-06
Drum and Bass with feeling.......2002-06-22
That is why an album such as "Flux" comes as such a welcome surprise. Many of the songs here fall into the drum and bass style of electronica, with multi-instrumentalist Ryan Lum crafting elegant, if forceful, electronic textures to most of the songs. The keyboards and acoustic guitars build up to an odd combination of sterile, techno beats and lush, emotive musical arrangements, similar to Everything But the Girl's "Tempermental". And, much like Tracy Thorne of EBTG, the true star of this disc is vocalist Suzanne Perry, who adds her unique, beautiful voice to the electronic backdrops.
Perry's vocals seemingly meander in from nowhere in tracks such as City Moon, and carry other tracks such as "Sunset Bell". Rarely can a vocalist achieve a successful mix of emotion, range, and style in their singing, but Perry accomplishes it quite easily on Flux, adding a layer of warmth and comfort to many of the songs throughout the disc.
LSD have managed to create a meaningful, emotional album out of a style of music known more for its beats than its substance, which is no small achievement. Though some of the songs tend to fall into a predictable pattern, the ease and grace with which they bring out the feeling and emotion in each track more than makes up for any deficiencies in the song structures.
A nearly flawless album.......2002-05-13
Average customer rating:
|
Uncarved Block
Flux of Pink Indians Manufacturer: One Little Indian ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B00000IXZD Release Date: 1998-10-23 |
Tracks:
- Value of Nothing
- Youthful Immortal
- Just Is
- Children Who Know
- Backward
- Footprints in the Snow
- Nothing Is Not Done
- Stonecutter
Album Description
CD debut of the British alternative act's fourth album,originally released on the One Little Indian label in 1986.'Uncarved Block' was the first time they abandoned theirtrademark political punk for industrial leanings. Eighttracks. 1998 One Little Indian Records release.Customer Reviews:
classic.......2007-04-26
A TURN FOR THE UNEXPECTED !!!.......2005-03-21
Average customer rating:
|
String Quartet 2
Morton Feldman , and Flux Quartet Manufacturer: Mode ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00006SF9I Release Date: 2002-11-26 |
Tracks:
- String Quartet No. 2
Album Description
In the 1970s Feldman took up the study and collecting of antique Turkish rugs, a highly evolved and exquisite folk art. The rugs are intricately patterned, symmetrical in basic design but with constant variation and displacement in the detailed execution of that design; strikingly and subtly colored, including fine variegations of principal colors resulting from the dyeing process. Analogies are clear to Feldman's music as it takes up large-scale patterning, partly working with his familiar subtle gradations of rhythm and instrumental color and ostinati, loops or extended repetitions of a sounds, partly - and especially in this second string quartet - continually finding new and surprising qualities of color. There are a number of sounds in this piece unlike anything one has heard from a string quartet. Lasting more than six continuous hours, it is "a disorienting, transfixing experience that repeatedly approached and touched the sublime." - Alex Ross, in his review of the FLUX Quartet's New York City performance in The New Yorker. String Quartet 2's score is 124 pages, at one tempo marking of 63-66 beats per minute - as such, a slow tempo. Feldman idiosyncratically sets the bars, so one page may last as little as about half a minute or as much as nearly seven minutes. "A very exciting quartet composed of four young men...who have lots of ideas and clearly enjoy making music together," - Anthony Tommasini, NY Times, the FLUX Quartet has performed to rave reviews at many music centers around the world. FLUX have performed Quartet 2 in concert numerous times and know the score intimately. The FLUX Quartet's repertoire consists of notable pioneers as well as visionaries of tomorrow - from "classics" by Nancarrow, Ligeti, and Cage, to works by John Zorn, Ornette Coleman, Oliver Lake, and tenor balloonist Judy Dunaway. This deluxe set features liner notes by Feldman's colleague Christian Wolff, mixing personal experiences and recollections with analysis; and by FLUX founder Tom Chiu who writes of the "experience" of performing such a large-scale work.Customer Reviews:
6 Hours, 7 Minutes and 7 Seconds of pure bliss.......2007-02-22
Now I know what one of the questions you may be asking yourself could be: How can a piece stay interesting for over six hours? I can answer that question with four words: "Feldman's Second String Quartet." Feldman takes you on a surreal journey of color, texture and sound that will take you straight to your happy place. Using minimalist style composition Feldman takes the listener to places they've never been before. The piece just breathes. The length can be trying but any lover of minimalism will truly enjoy this piece. You will recognize recaped themes and really get a sense of form even though it may be a full hour before you hear a theme recalled.
It may be more valuable to pick up the DVD instead of the CDs as the DVD plays uninterupted. Even if you rip the CDs to a digital device, the transisitons aren't as smooth as some may like.
However this piece is not for the faint of heart. The length is just as definitive of the piece as it is hindering the piece from being universally enjoyed. I don't like to think of it as a piece, but a journey. So if your ears are up for a listening challenge, there's none more challenging than Feldman 2.
An amazing performance.......2006-07-24
I tried in vain to find a copy of the DVD Audio version of this recording as five CDs in definitely an inferior way to experience this piece. It would be much better to press play and let the world drift away. The performance is quite remarkable. Flux maintain an intense interpretation throughout. The listener may break up the experience over time and revisit certain sections with fresh ears. Flux had one marathon chance to get it right - no edits, no stopping for a break. They treat SQ2 with respect, not as some sort of endurance/novelty challenge. At this point, a few string quartets have performed this work, but I would definitely place this performance among the top.
The one unfortunate aspect other than the 5 CD treatment is the packaging. The CDs come in paper sleeves housed in a flimsy cardboard container. We're lucky to have a performance of this caliber, but it's still unfortunate that the box is so worthless. The liner notes aren't bad, but a nice analysis of the work would have been helpful, but there is an interesting account of the preparation that went into the performance.
Overall, the CDs are worth the fairly high price. If you're familiar with Feldman, this will definitely interest you. If you're new, there are better places to start such as "Piano and String Quartet", "Crippled Symmetry", and "Triadic Memories". This is a wonderful document of an amazing performance.
Drive, he said............2005-03-06
This brilliant music suggests you listen to it with a sense of humor. Feldman was after all part of John Cage's circle, & Cage smiled a lot.
Long day's journey into night (and back again).......2005-01-15
This is Morton Feldman's curriculum vitae. An assemblage of "found objects", examined and re-examined. Those familiar with Feldman's other works will find bits and pieces from works composed immediately prior to this, including "For John Cage", "Patterns in a Chromatic Field" (aka, the untitled composition for `cello & piano), "Three Voices", and his first string quartet, as well as the other, shorter string quartet pieces that he wrote in the 1950's. Feldman also loved his Schubert, insisting that the musicians play portions of it like [presumably, the beginning of the slow movement of] the "Death and the Maiden" string quartet. At six hours, this piece could resemble a road trip when taken in full: you're looking out the window, the scenery changes, some of the buildings are the same with often subtle differences, things return, unexpected things appear. In the first 2½ hours there's a short progression of a rising four note figure followed by a falling four note figure cushioned by `cello harmonic drone that springs up now and again, acting like a segue, a divider, a curtain, a wipe of the slate, a slice of pickled ginger after a great piece of sushi, a gasp of air before diving back into the pool, a pause for station identification. (The opening "Deal Music" from Stravinsky's Jeu de Cartes also came to mind.) Nothing announces its final appearance and before you know it, it has vanished. Occasionally there are some loud moments, just to keep you on your toes, but then the delicate moments return and order is restored. Some things return, sometimes verbatim with slight alterations, other times cleverly disguised but still maintaining its identity. Other things are tried out and abandoned in favor of other ideas. There is a progression of nine measures introduced part way through the third disc that gets shuffled upon its next go-around but it's not like you are comparing one version to another. ABCDE later becomes BDCEA, then CABED (or is it the other way around, or another?). Come midway through the fourth hour, things have slowed down to a comfortable crawl, like an exhaustion was built right in, with occasional spurts of "second wind". The four penultimate pages seem like an eternity, a summing up. Then comes the sunlight of the last page ("...the darkness has past and it's daylight at last." -Gilbert & Sullivan, Iolanthe). It's morning, afternoon, night and dawn.
Another important aspect of the Second String Quartet is time. Time does not become a factor to listening here. Like a baseball game (also with an absence of a clock), it is an escape from thinking about anything else. And something from John Cage also came to mind: I think it was from his "Lecture on Nothing" (see Silence); something like, "If anyone feels they should leave, they should go now." But there is nothing wrong with taking this in smaller portions as well (the index points allow you to do so). It's like looking at a selection of photographs. Or, sampling your favorite parts from a box of chocolates (no references to Forest Gump, OK?). Or., catching the highlights of a ballgame on the news: removed from its context, but substantial nevertheless (like Barry Bonds hitting a three run homer, but you don't bother to see how the two runners before him got on base (and no cynical references to that BALCO brouhaha)). In other words, one should have a little sense of what is happening before diving in; most expectations should be well enough abandoned. But that is not hard and fast essential: again, this may sound clichéd but this more like a journey rather than a novel.
The last thing (at least for now) that comes to mind about this Second String Quartet is the sense of tradition. The institution of the string quartet has now been in existence for over 250 years. It's the kind of institution where one can take liberties with, and usually succeed, that other chamber formats could not pull off (if you can find it in a library, Paul Griffiths' book, The String Quartet, A History, is an excellent tome on the subject; see the portion about Mauricio Kagel's quartet). A work of this magnitude could never get written for, say, a string quintet (Feldman's "Violin & String Quartet" does not really count; it is a technically a string quintet, true, but it is really more like a violin concerto accompanied by a low budget orchestra (I thank Frank Zappa for that designation)), although a string trio might receive something comparable (see LaMonte Young; and when in the heck will his string trio ever get commercially produced, or even his "Chronos Kristala" for string quartet? (sorry for the digressing and usual grousing...)). Anyway, this is the best I can talk about this Second String Quartet for now. I have listened to this many, many times, sometimes in full (a long work day can allow that), others in random pieces; I even chose to have a page of this played at my wedding in 2003 (for those wondering, page 22, the page we used, is at 8:39 on the fifth track of the first disc). A piece of this enormous stature requires a different kind of listening "strategy". There are no rules as how to properly listen to this piece, just a sense of acceptance.
a work that exists outside itself.......2004-11-30
The 'Second Quartet' however doesn't need such categroical values to place itslef on the globe, in the lifeworld of the aesthetic. It is simply there. The string quartet genre is unlike the piano. My personal conviction is that the piano solo genres offers a purer focused state for all this late music Feldman found a new innovative voice.(i.e. "Triadic Memories", "For Bunita Marcus")
The Second Quartet here works quite well because it doesn't drain or irretreivably spend one's listening constitution, it admirably inhabits(haunts at times) the durational frame it adopts.
So then we have a conceptual problem, for how does one experience this work.?Feldman naturally intended it for the concert hall, subverting (so he thinks) that genre. But I would never sit(nor many hardcore new music afficianados) six hours in a concert hall to experience this work.Sorry! Long durational music works on the body as well as the mind,the intellect.Our own life rhythms interface with a work like this. ((And this might be the orientation for some doctorial candidate,to discover how we listen to a work of this length,mind and body))
So again where does this work reside conceptually?, well as a recording seems to be its purest state,somewhat convincing,for we needed interrupt our lives,we can amble about walking between rooms,with hopfully minimal motion; for we are simply speaking about the experience of timbre, there is no description of this work or analysis(although I venture to guess ones will be submitted to doctoral programs). The 'Second Quartet' is an assemblage, materials simply inhabiting a durational space.
Incredible the FLUX Quartet who sustain themselves in this voyage to the timbral stars and galaxies, the timbral/performative concentration was wonderful, the gently plucked strings,high on the string(second or third position) sometimes to get more a percussive un-resonant pluck, beautiful.I could listen to that repeatedly in and of itself. The sustain sound(non-vibrato) as well is difficult for the waverings are immediatly revealing to the ear. The intention here is to listen more,as with a microscope in our ears. So all these performative subtleties will come to the surface now. But there are ugly timbres here as well, suggestive as well from the literature,It's impossible to avoid these cliques music ideas,Stravinsky I'd say(the more haunting obvious moments of the 'Rite') they are always with us. Anton Webern still held a formative influence for the late Feldman here hovers above this voyage and the threadbare,pencil-thin shapes, fragments and moments of beauty is apprarent almost in each moment. But then I'm listening wrong if all these historical musical associations come to the surface of my mind. I just need to listen.You really loose concentration, I found myself idly looking over my library,thumbing through a magazine,sdeeply absorbed in the timbral manifestations goings on. Again the materials here does not overly tax one's listening lifeworld.But again the work does have a narrative at work, even if it is an unintended one. Our internal dramatic "workings" do begin to make associations,For we do need to travel forward with this work.And Feldman does coach it along with again obvious clique-ish at times music materials. We cannot go backwards.Out memory for listening purposes is linear, not para-tactical. There is no point in remembering what we heard. It is like flotsam in the water of a wreck of a clipper ship,or moments from Tarkovski.Move forward onwards.
There is a question of selecting the correct tempi, for which none are indicated. So FLUX intends the work to be played as slow as possible, where a friend informed me the work should in fact be only 5-Hours in length. But I don't know now. Faster would have made the obvious materials even more graphic,needlessly boring and pronounced(within the Feldman aesthetic). A dangerous business playing Feldman.
This is really not a "string quartet" for the four parts has no function anymore, another genre to throw on the scrapheap of history. This is one large string sound we hear, and we really don't care who is playing what, again a Western academic prejudice. So then why did Feldman not write a string "quintet"?, well he wanted to sustain a threadbare beauty,too many strings would suggest something larger, uncontrollable perhaps. Four is enough.
Album Review:
- France Joli - Greatest Hits [Import]
- Funk All Y'all [Explicit Lyrics]
- I Believe in You [CD-single] [Import]
- I Touch Roses: The Best Of
- Illuminati [EP]
- In the Name of the Mother the Daughter and the Holy Will
- International Affairs v2.0
- Introducing
- Italo Disco Collection, Vol. 3 [Import]
- KC & The Sunshine Band's Greatest Hits
Album Review
That's the Way It's Gonna Be [Import]
Bach: Christmas Oratorio (Weihnachts Oratorium)
Amazing Grace: 40 Treasured Hymns
Music: Do Not Spit/Passive Backseat Demon Engines [Enhanced]
Amazing Grace - A Country Salute to Gospel, Vol. 1
Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons/Sonata For Oboe/Concerto Grosso Op. 3
50 Years of Bluegrass Hits, Vol. 2
At the Club [Import] [CD-single]