Steve Reich: "Piano Phases"

Some people don't even consider the work of Steve Reich music calling his music noise instead. Regardless how you feel about Mr. Reich what is certain is that he is one of the most controversial composers of our time. As strange as it may be Steve Reichs "Phases" has become one of my favorite pieces of music to listen to. I wont deny that his music is not for everyone. But let me tell you that this man is ahead of his time. The following work was written in 1967 and sounds like something that could be on the very cutting edge of music today.

The first time I heard "Phases" I sat memorized for hours listening to the slow modulations of notes and tempos. I loved it from the very first time I heard it. I was fascinated by the almost machine like mathematical progressions of different phrases. It is just cool stuff. It bends your mind a little if you listen to it closely.

Here is a brief description of the following video:

The original 'Piano Phase' for two pianos was composed in 1967. Both pianists play the same repeating pattern but one of them gradually increases tempo so as to slowly move one-eighth note ahead or out of phase with the other. This process is repeated with three repeating patterns that get shorter in duration. The video portion of this piece was created by David Cossin in 2000 and utilizes a pre-recorded video of him playing the piece on midi percussion pads that then trigger piano samples of the notes of the piece. Against this pre-recorded video, projected on a screen in front of him, he then plays the moving part that gradually moves ahead, or out of phase with the recorded part. The audience can then see and hear the process unfolding. Steve Reich

Steve Reich - "Piano Phases"

Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile: Fence Post in the Front Yard

I just found an awesome collaboration between two of my favorite musicians - Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile (of Nickel Creek). Most of the album is awesome. I found the following article that contains a link to an audio stream of their song entitles "Fence Post in the Front Yard." It's pretty amazing. Just scroll down in the following window till you see the Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile album and click on "Listen."

Erik Satie: Gnossienne No. 1 & No. 3

I am feeling somber today.  I have had a stream of odd dreams over the last few days from red gloves growing out of pies as they are cooked to my friend Michael and me attempting to stop an assassination attempt on Barak Obama.  Dreams are odd things.  I truly believe that they mean more than we give them credit for these days.  I need to start writing them down as soon as I wake up so I can think about them the next morning in all their detail.  You are probably asking yourself, "What does this have to do with music?"  

Well, it may be a looser connection than many of my posts,  but in short, these works my Erik Satie make me feel as if I am dreaming when I listen to them.  They are almost painfully slow, yet beautiful and enticing.  They draw out of me deep emotions, thoughts and images like dreams.  I can't really explain it, yet, it utterly captivates me. 

Another reason for this post has to do with classical music recordings.  I truly did not understand the importance of knowing several different recordings of a piece of music.  I had heard these pieces before but played at a much faster tempo.  For me hearing Erik Satie's work played at this  slow tempo made it come alive to me.  My favorite recording of this piece is by Branka Parlic.  I have posted a link to Gnossienne No. 1 (my favorite piece of the two, you should really check it out!) because the youtube poster disabled the embedding capability for that video, but not Gnossienne No. 3.   So enjoy them.  If you are interested you can click on the titles of each song (above) to hear the faster version I was talking about.  Both versions are good, but I really love the slower ones which you can find below. 

Gnossienne No. 1 (played by Branka Parlic) 

(Click Here for video)

Gnossienne No. 3 (played by Branka Parlic)

Schubert: Death and the Maiden, 2nd Movement

After the more out there posts from the last few weeks I felt a need to restore the natural order of things.  Therefore, this post is going to be about yet another piece of classical music that I adore.  This one was written in 1824  by Franz Schubert shortly after hearing of his declining health at the age of 27 would soon lead to his death.  The Takacs Quartet preforming Schubert's Death and the Maiden and let me say once again that the Takacs Quartet is absoulty amazing.  They are perhaps the greatest string quartet that exist in the world.  They are unequalled. 

I selected only a section of the second movement, but  you can listen to the whole work beginning here.  The entire work is amazing.  A mix of anger and sadness, hope and despair.  It is absolutely stunning.  The first chord is like a knife through the heart.  You should really listen to the whole piece, but for now let us focus on the second movement.

For me the magic in this piece really begins about 2 minutes and thirty seconds in.  The first few minutes could be a funeral procession Schubert seems to be walking himself towards his grave.  The music is somber but thin begins to show signs of hope.  Maybe the satisfaction of the musical legacy he has left behind.  Maybe he envisions himself capturing glimpses of heavens gates in the distance, either way this piece has a haunting melody.  

Pieces of music like this, as apposed to some of my posts - especially that last one, makes me ponder deep questions of life and even death.  It makes me journey ever deeper into the very heart of my emotions.  In this particular case what I find is my desire for hope in the darkest of times (and no I am not talking about politics).  Not even my darkest of times.  This particular work of music reminds me that I can be hope for a friend, hope for a stranger, and they hope for me.   Through the darkest of emotions hands can reach down and find you.  They can lift you up and raise you to the highest of highest.  They can clean you up and turn you around.  They can fight and even die along side of  you emotionally.  

However, the trick is actually doing so.  So today I remind myself as much as another to remember to as authentic and real as I possibility can.  To be a true friend to those whom I love.  To get down there with them and fight for them.  To care and be cared for, so that we might truly live. 

Death and the Maiden - 2nd Movement 

Building Bridges: Gnarles Barkely, Radiohead and Christopher O'Riley

As many of  you know, I absolutely love the band Radiohead.   Perhaps even more of you wonder why.  To explain my love I could try to show you the pervasive operatic themes the permeate their melodies, or the deep electronic rhythms and organic beats that create the foundation for their music, the catchy guitar riffs, or even the significance of their experimental music that influences other musicians today - but none of that would really matter to many of you, would it.  Nope, didn't think so.  So I am going to try a different approach.  

When introducing your ear to new music, I am a firm believer in building bridges.  Mostly because that is how I have come to love certain types of music I once hated.

In this case, I am attempting to build a bridge to the band Radiohead - whom many just simply find "scary" or "weird."  I have selected the song "Reckoner" as a starting point off of their near perfect album "In Rainbows" from 2007.   Reckoner is a simple and powerful song that has very operatic vocal harmonies and lots of soul.  I am posting two versions of this song for your listening enjoyment.  The first is a cover by the band Gnarls Barkley - you remember, they did that absolutely amazing song, "Crazy," a few summers back; and secondly, the original version by Radiohead.  Both versions of this song are awesome.  Gnarles Barkey opens up the music of Radiohead to their audience and in turn introduces Radiohead fans to the alternative soul scene.  It is a two way street.  Not only has Gnarls Barkley covered songs by Radiohead, but so has the classical pianist and host of "From the Top" on NPR, Christopher O'Riley.  There is also his version of "Exit Music for a Film" written  by Radiohead after both versions of "Reckoner."  It is one of the ways I was first introduced to classical music, along with films I have mentioned in previous posts.  I hope you enjoy all of them. 

With all of that said.  I just want to leave you with one thought about building bridges.  In music, as I just illustrated , different types of listeners can be introduced into new types of music.  I truly believe that music is not the only medium that this phenomena occurs.  It happens with cultures, it happens with ethnicities, or at least has the ability to.  So I encourage all of you to not only stretch your musical pallet and explore the many different forms and genres that music takes around the world, but to also to get out there and met someone different than you.  Whether it be culturally, economically, or even politically explore someone else point of view and see what makes them tick.  In the end you may learn more about yourself than the other person.  Celebrate the diversity and the freedom we have to express it, especially here in the good ol' US of A!  Don't hate what you don't understand or even what you may disagree with - in the end the hate and demonization of those with whom you disagree accomplishes little.  However, what does accomplish something is reaching across aisle because it builds bridges.  

Gnarles Barkely - "Reckoner"

Radiohead - "Reckoner"

Christopher O'Riley - "Exit Music for a Film"

Radiohead - "Exit Music for a Film"

Johannes Ockeghem: Missa Pro Defunctis

Missa Pro Defunctis (or Mass for the Dead) is one of the earliest polyphonic pieces of music to have survived to this day.  It is thought to have been written between 1410 and 1497, which is just really cool to think about.  It's simply awe inspiring.  I love turning this up as loud as I can take it and letting it shake my very soul.  

Chopin: Ballade No. 1

I actually lied a few post back.  I said that "orawa" by Kilar was my first love in classical music.  Actually, that is not true.  Even though that piece is one of the first I loved, the first time I truly fell in love with classical music came when I saw the movie "The Pianist" for the first time.  

The movie is set during the Second World War and is about a Polish Jewish musician (named Szpliman) and his struggle to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto by the Nazis.  He goes into hiding for months if not years.   He even hides in an apartment with a piano unable to play it for fear of being discovered.  

Playing the piano was his love, his livelihood, and it would seem even his very soul.  The war took that away from  him, at least until this scene (see video) when is discovered in an old abandoned house by a Nazi officer.  Then the officer eventually asks him his profession to which he responds, "I am... I was a pianist."  The officer seems not to believe him, so he tells him to play on the grand piano in the next room.

He begins to play slowly at first, but then he begins to play with all of the passion and emotion that has been bottled up within him since he first went into hiding.  All the death, the sadness, and the hunger he has seen and experienced spills out of him like a flood through his music.

While just watching this one part of a scene doesn't do the moment its full justice, I hope it catches at least a part of it.  It is one of the most powerful moments I have ever seen in a film.  Purely stunning.  The beauty of music juxtaposed with the harshness of war creates a moment of clarity. 

Here is a short and a long version of that scene, in that order. 

Short Version:  Chopin Ballade No. 1

Long Version:  Chopin Ballade No. 1

Wojciecha Kilara: Orawa

Imagine yourself standing on the edge of a vast space. The wind running through gently your hair and then you are slowly lifted off your feet high into the air.  Then you begin to soar through the air as if you are on the wings of eagles. 

This is a minimalist piece of music, give it chance.  Like my last entry you really need to engage yourself in the music.  Shut your eyes and let it take you on its wings into the air.  This piece is one wild ride.  It is one of those pieces that got me into classical music for the first time.  In many ways its my first love of classical music, but certainly not my last.  I once listened to this piece eight times in a row, slowly digging deeper into the piece - each time peeling away a layer, and each time finding more.  It's simply amazing. 

"Orawa"

From Amelie: Comptine d'un autre ete - L'apres midi

The song moves me from darkness into the light.

Philip Glass: Violin Concerto, 1st Movement

Nothing like a little classical music in the morning. Philip Glass is one of those modern composers that will one day be thought of as a Mozart or Schubert in my opinion. This piece is one of my all time favorites in classical music. It the profoundly thought provoking. There are a lot of people out there who have never given classical a serious try, this is good place to start. It's good for the soul.