IDM Mailing Archive

On Tue, 21 Nov 2000, Null DuJour wrote:

quoted 3 lines Could anyone please point me in the direction of some

> Could anyone please point me in the direction of some > kind of minimal experimnetal classical music? > It would be greatly appreciated.

I assume you're looking for classical music that is minimal, as opposed to minimalist music recommendations? Try any of Ligeti's work from the 60s, when he was putting his fingers in many a post-serialist pot to majestic effect. Besides some pretty nifty electronic works, you get a bunch of works which are more traditional in orchestration but show a kinship with his minimalist colleagues across the ocean- one work is even titled "Self-portrait with Reich and Riley (with Chopin in the background)". There was a big Ligeti campaign launched by Sony Classical a couple of years back, but I was always partial to the recordings on Wergo. Another fave is Olivier Messiaen's 4CD compilation of all of his pipe organ works, called _Par Lui-Meme_,of which I once wrote "Not only does the organ sound like the usual drawer of cliches (rich, majestic, etc), but there's continous timbre adjustments going on that almost make it sound like Messiaen is playing the soundtrack to Judgment Day while his pipes are melting. The actual eponymous moment of l'ascension is like riding a massive wave of sound slowly like an elevator up to heaven and potentially one of the most devastating sounds in my collection." It'll run you less than $30 and is well worth it. In sticking with the threes, I'll also toss in a recommendation for anything by composer Helmut Lachenmann from the late 60s into the 70s. His work focuses on the use of non-traditional ways of playing traditional instruments in order to showcase the physicality of the instruments. What you get are creaks, scrapes, thumps, etc, arranged in a shockingly deft musical manner. My first exposure was through a fabulous CD on Col Legno (Gran Torso/Salut fur Caldwell- gotta love those ping-ponging "yuh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duuuuuuh"s), which I wholeheartedly recommend as well as the Montaigne CD with all of the instrumental solos on it. I don't really know what "microsound" is, but if it doesn't sound this good, I don't want to. -rob ps- I'd be happy to recommend minimalists qua minimalists as well --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org