On Wed, 14 May 1997, Styrolene vaT wrote:
quoted 5 lines Terry Riley - In C> > Terry Riley - In C
>
> Brilliant, If you listen to it in the shop youll flick the needle over all
> forty minutes and say 'it doesnt change!'... but it does, this is what
> trance music is really about.
I second this assessment. I listen to this stuff on long car trips :)
quoted 5 lines In C is a composition consisting> In C is a composition consisting
> of several musical patterns all based around one simple musical theme.
> The musicians (including Jon hassel on the original mid-sixties recording)
> change the patterns at will and in some ways its quite strict, but it is
> improvisation...
Close--there are 52 (53?) patterns which everyone plays in strict
succession (always the same order), underneath a pulse played on the top
octaves of a piano "by a beautiful girl" as the score says (for whatever
*that*'s worth--it was the sixties, you know--I'd just as soon substitute
a beautiful guy). Each person decides on his/her own when to move to the
next pattern, though, so eventually several of the patterns overlap, and
the piece oozes thru several textures and harmonic areas. Very elegant.
Incidentally, the score suggests a performance taking place over a
year--one pattern a week. As far as I know, no one's actually done this. :)
If this controlled randomness approach interests you, look for Fredric
Rzewski's "Les Moutons de Panurge"--everyone plays the same tune, but
additively (note 1, notes 1+2, notes 1+2+3, etc.) and you're *supposed*
to get lost (i.e. a "correct" performance is one in which the notation is
*not* followed accurately).
And I can't let this go without plugging Steve Reich's Music for 18
Musicians. A full hour of expertly paced and seriously blissed-out groove
(w/ no drums). Fabulous. J
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