Quote Of The Month (2) (12/2008)

Gino Robair

'There was everything: graphic scores, scores with noteheads but no rhythms, scores with complex dense rhythmic stuff. Every day something different: a new piece every day. 9am. It would kick your ass. He'd [Braxton] come in with these scores, there'd be like three saxophones, a woman on steel pan and me on snare drum, and he'd say, Gino you play the flute part. So I played the flute part on snare drum. That's how you play his scores. At first you think it's insane, but then you realise that for him it's not about purity of orchestration, it's about density and movement. If he gives a piccolo part to a bass player it's because he doesn't want those pitches, he wants something in that time frame that's rhythmically similar, with the same kinds of shapes. The whole thing about layering, the collage aspect turned me on.'

Gino Robair: Interview with Paristransatlantic.com

Quote Of The Month (1) (12/2008)

Kosuth: One and three chairs (1965)

'Perhaps only because it's been this way for me, it seems that the strongest artists have their "why" before they have their "how". It certainly was that way for Pollack, for Reinhardt, for Judd, for Flavin. It's about having one's "why" and realizing that everyone else's "how" won't do; and the continuing search for a personal "how" that directly answers and relates to his "why".

Joseph Kosuth Art After Philosophy and After: Collected Writings 1966-1990

Quote of the Month (?)

'On the day Mick Jagger stopped by for his first visit, one of the above-mentioned splinters crammed itself into the end of my big toe on my right foot, just as I was making my way to the door.I greeted Mr Jagger, hopping on one foot. He asked why I was behaving in this manner.

I told him about the splinter and hobbled over to a chair. He followed, got on the floor in front of me, located the little wooded tormentor and removed it. We spent about an hour after that discussing European history.'

Frank Zappa: Chapter 5 'The Real Frank Zappa book.'

Not quoted anything for a while (got off to a good start early on though), here is one to be going along with (nothing profound, just lightly amusing, perhaps).

Stockhausen, Gruppen, Video, Rattle, Carewe, Harding, CBSO, Etc

Yes indeed, a video of Stockhausen's Gruppen performed by the CBSO conducted by Simon Rattle, John Carewe and Daniel Harding. I'm not sure what year this was but it was performed somewhere in Birmingham as part of the 'Towards The Millenium' project/concert/something (in the late 90s then presumably).

Not sure who owns the copyright to this or where the footage came from but it's there to be seen so get it while you can, Andrew Clements of the Guardian was disappointed back in 2001 that this performance 'never found it's way onto disc', well now it has, sort of.

Via the excellent Aulaelectroacustica blog

[if you own the copyright to this and are selling it somewhere etc then let me know and i'll remove the link, my apologies in advance]

The Sound of Root Rectangles

Following on my previous post/geometry quiz (won by Tom from Geneva, his prize is currently being considered) here is a musical rendering of that pattern, well, the root rectangles aspect anyway.


Find more videos like this on NetNewMusic

[Text below copied from NetNewMusic video uploads section]

This PC Set/Chord is based on simple root rectangles (approximate, could go microtonal for more accuracy perhaps). Intonation isn`t great, most of the instruments are new (to me). Working with projective geometry now which is yielding some interesting results (has a counterpoint and register aspect too). Will come back to this root rectangles thing (it has a dominant 7th in it which I didn`t expect, a bit like the Spanish Inquisition). Also I need more hats and sunglasses.

NetNewMusic

A new music site featuring music (see player below), profiles (like mine), discussion, blogs, all manner of exciting things, nice action Jeff, Steve and David.

Pierre Attractions

Boulez speaks to The Times in a podcast about the Proms (the interviewer suggests that when Boulez was the music director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra he made the repetoire 'funkier', erm, what?)