Architecture 1

 

Listen: Architecture 1.Mp3

111/365

Austin
In the mid part of the 20th century two very different experiments were going on in the world of concert music. Composers like Schoenberg, Webern and Berg had brought to life a new approach to music, a form of systematizing, which allowed for architectural construction the likes of which Bach and his ilk could never have dreamed of. This was taken to even greater, more complex heights by composers like Stockhausen and Boulez.

Simultaneously, John Cage and his crowd began experimenting with so-called "chance music," where many (if not all) the musical events are governed by total randomness. Dice throwing, coin tossing and even things like the ancient Chinese book "I Ching" were used to generate music, avoiding the composer's personal ego and input, and channeling the ethereal universe in a more 'pure' form.

And yet (as explored today and tomorrow) ... can one tell the difference between these two diametrically opposed philosophies? Which do you suppose is extremely tightly controlled serialism, and the other a product of random number generation?

Andy

Paint it black.

Green

 

Listen: Green.Mp3

110/365

Austin
What's in a name?

Andy

Glory, fame?

Free - Part 5

 

Listen: Free - part 5.Mp3

109/365

Austin
The penultimate movement of this 6-part series featuring Lisbeth Scott (vocals and lyrics) and David Walther (viola). The extended soliloquy of the viola, before only really hinted at, now serves as a farewell. The dance draws to a close.

Andy

The struggle for freedom continues.

... Function

 

Listen: ... Function.Mp3

108/365

Austin

Today represents the polar extreme of "Form," from two days ago. Whereas that was a lifeless execution of an essentially arbitrary "musical machine," today is the opposite: totally unfocused, meandering and meaningless "raw emotion." This is not deliberately a nod to any particular composer, but I'm sure we've all heard endless varieties of this basic thing. It drips with "feeling" to the total exclusion of thought or craftsmanship (though I take credit for the rather poor piano playing).

Andy

Quite literally the driving force behind the car. Function.

Free - Part 4

 

Listen: Free - part 4.Mp3

107/365

Austin
Part four of six. Lisbeth Scott's tremendous lyrics and performance in a dance (or possibly duel) with David Walther's wonderful viola playing...

Andy

C, indeed. Better late than never today. Here we have a fish, longing for freedom, and... to find Nemo. Tired of his 9 to 5, longing for a condo in a tropical coral reef. Wishing desperately that he could swim past the boundaries of his little home.

Form vs...

Listen: Form vs ....Mp3

106/365

Austin

In somewhat of a return to the "Birth of Originality" series from January, I decided to explore the extreme poles of "Form vs. Function," in the form of meticulously detailed 12-tone "intellectual" writing versus 100% unplanned, mindlessly "emotional" writing. The first of those is today. It's almost like anti-music, devoid of most any discernible emotion, more like a clock executing its tasks as pre-destined by its machinery. Yet it also represents a certain form of admirable perfection (especially in the case of music by Webern, who brought this style to its absolute zenith).

Andy

If only it were a sports car...

....vs. Blue

 

Listen: vs. Blue.Mp3

105/365

Andy

Blue, a real man's color. A manly, man's color. Of course, the contrast between pink and blue can be one of harmony or dissonance, and can dynamically shift toward an equilibrium between the two extremes.

Austin

As with Andy's observation above, the music (like yesterday) isn't precisely male or female. It takes, in the context of a rather strange musical vocabulary, elements from both and the inherent dissonances between the two.