Preface
"No one should be allowed to witness a linear journey through curvilinear space. It is a knowledge available only from a forbidden perspective, an observation point held as sacred taboo because the knowledge of the qualities of this mystery are dangerous to the underangement of the limited perceptual-conceptual organs of the ones below; they are never allowed to go above, to know the secret of spatial absurdity, that all roads lead to nowhere, that the journey is eventless, that linear is circular, that accumulation is evacuation, that horizon is origin, that beginning has no successor, that end has not arrived, that location is death, that trajectory is chaos, that curvature is loss, that a clock has red hands and an airplane in odd planar orbit for seconds marker, that the universe is, after all, bounded by a purple ring with several functional and/or decorative protuberances thereon, and needs to rest on a swatch of crinkly grey matter (firmament no doubt) to subsist in such stability as to maintain time around incrementing in planar diffractive attitude translational trajectory circumventing content and form both without flying out of space altogether causing the all of everything to fall apart, or in, or down, or out, or up or all or none of the abovebelow."
- Benjamin Boretz "Wiska Radkiewicz's 60 Minute Exercises : her video images" from "Being About Music Textworks 1960-2003 J. K. Randall Benjamin Boretz Volume 2: 1978-2003"
Texts
Streaming
November 21, 2020
Night of Punk Rock
The Rock Academy - Live from Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, New York
The son of a friend of ours in the Hudson Valley was one of 10 to 15 young people performing in a revolving set of mix and match punk bands in this end-of-term showcase in Woodstock, New York. It reminded me of many another school concert I have attended - except that we were streaming it to my computer and enjoying it from our kitchen table. The kids all did great, they were clearly having a great time, they were taking pains to be masked and as distant from each other as possible, and the production looked and sounded fabulous. What a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon!
savage
in the dark
rabble aye sion
(constellations of words)
fan fuck shun
syllabic
durational ratio
question to answer
ratios as image
what would Joyce think of this?
flabbergastified?
Wayward in Limbo
With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series now moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is curating and commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of exclusive material. Many of these will be essentially “live” performances recorded at home for this occasion. Others may create a mix of pre-recorded material that has not been previously released elsewhere.
- from the Wayward Music Series website at https://www.waywardmusic.org/.
November 22, 2020
Faith Coloccia
Voice II Continuum
music and language arise within the same mind
their differentiation or individuation is incomplete
though their juncture may be inaccessible
to either mind
that mind of language
or that mind of music
the third mind
the mind of consciousness
language mind may create consciousness
music mind may create an alternate consciousness
song is the proving ground
if so
the song mind
may be that third mind
the mind of juncture
November 27, 2020
Control/Release
the drum head
wind blows | bells
stand firm | jangly
flocks | swoop and
circle | we touch
surface | text
texture | shape and
sound orbit | stroke
Recorded
November 22, 2020
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Act II - Richard Wagner -Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Eugen Jochum, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Peter Lagger, Peter Maus, Roberto Banuelas, Roland Hermann, Gerd Feldhoff, Loren Driscoll, Karl-Ernst Mercker, Martin Vantin, Klaus Lang, Ivan Sardi, Miomir Nikolic, Placido Domingo, Horst R. Laubenthal, Catarina Ligendza, Christa Ludwig, Victor von Halem
though not a number opera
the image of numbers
lingers
recitative and aria is not absent
the recitativo is simply more songlike
and the arias are more conversational
their modes are accessed at any moment
I guess these music parts have names
- a clot of meaning -
and a branding collective noun (thanks von Wolzogen)
- Leitmotiv -
but the way their musical development collaborates with the flow of conversation is brilliantly done.
they shape and are shaped by the words of the dialog
as they go by together
: Walther as the stand-in
for Wagner
The Romantic Hero
The Superior Man
The Man of Genius
why should he submit to this contest?
but he is jealous of the honor,
a Don Giovanni trapped (how pathetic)
Sachs finally unleashes the voice of the true Meister
riot suppression
Boris Godunov, Act I, Scene II - (1872 version) - Modeste Mussorgsky - Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra, Jerzy Semkow, Martti Talvela, Leonard Mroz, Nicolai Gedda, Bozena Kinasz, Andrzej Hiolski, Aage Haugland, Halina Lukomska, Polish Radio Chorus of Krakow, Boys Chorus from the Krakow Philharmonic Chorus
second time through this scene - my error
we'll move on next time around
ideas are adrift in the populace
meanwhile
safe in her bedroom
in daddy's house
now where are we?
must be night time
really stunning things he's doing there.
November 23, 2020
Symphony in C minor (#2) - Josef Anton Bruckner - Staatskapelle Dresden, Eugen Jochum
1
kicks away his scaffolding as he goes
concurrent trajectories
sequentially actualized
not adding up
strenuously
2
wanders the back chambers
of the erstwhile symphony
going on out front
we can't witness all of it going by as it goes by
3&4
inhabits its formal parameters liberally
unselfconsciously
without irony
November 24, 2020
Trio in C Major, op. 87 - Johannes Brahms - Istomin-Stern-Rose Trio
really gets into the violin cello in octaves sound
pairing them as the conjoined foil
to the piano
how material is shared
and how the sharing makes like conversation
subject matter
the entertainment and delight of the excellent players
for the cognoscenti in secret
music at home
makes a game of the contrapuntal figurational busy-work
Waltz from Serenade in C - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Jascha Heifetz
as arranged for Paganini and chamber orchestra
Allegro appassionato in E-flat minor, op. 4 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti
keeping tabs on the whole closetful of insistent melodies
November 27, 2020
Penthesilea - Hugo Wolf - Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Otto Gerdes
grand ceremonial celebration
a parade
an enchanted scene
incidental
lovely nymphs
diaphanous fountain fall
invaded! violence and rapine
soaring angels
tone painting
not tone
poetry
made for Disney
epic
wide screen
battle
disenchanted scene
no more nymphs
so sad
I was amused by the Wikipedia article on Penthesilea, which contains this little howler: "Here the Greek army is charged by the Amazons, who gain the upper hand, and at the height of the battle Achilles slays Penthesilea on a slab known as BM 537."
Postscripts
it is violet now and I am not
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