[aos]

Quote:

Hating the Ninth just means you're going to become an addict later on.

Perhaps. When I was about 15-16 (half my current age) I listened to all Tchaikowsky that I could get to (wasn't too easy because where I lived at the time). I thought 4th Symphony was the best, 5th was good but not as good, and 6th was a good concept but not well executed - with the exception of the 3rd movement. I couldn't understand why the critics were considering it the best of the bunch. Well, understanding of other 3 movements came to me gradually over several years. Since then it became (and still is) the most important piece of music to me personally and the one I never get tired of (there were many days when I listened to it several times over and over). Though, the 3rd movement is still my favorite (and my all time favorite too).

But then it could be something else. Like some books have much more impact at certain time in your life, and later you can't seem to understand what was so great about them. Well, maybe that's not the right phrase, what I should've said is "what was that moved me so much when I had read them". I remember trying to re-read Hesse's Steppenwolf - which I identified with - several years later and couldn't get past more than a few pages. I don't think I could re-read War and Piece (which I also identified with) now either. Maybe the 6th isn't really better than 4th, it's just more appropriate for an older me.

 

[scrypt]

Here's what I just purchased (not counting the new SACDs I ordered -- I mean pulling-out-of a-plastic-bag-right-now-and-listening purchased):

1. thomas jirku/judge - plusism (kompakt)
   (clean, restrained microhouse with basic channel damage)
2. taylor deupree - stil (12k)
   (Textures photographed in black and white with both objectivity and warmth. Doesn't insult but doesn't call attention to itself. Perfect for wiping out the Jerry Lewis rubato furniture ballet of self-absorbed upstairs neighbors)
3. aki onda - precious moments (softlmusic.com)
   (All three of the above titles are recommended, but the Ani Onda is difficult to find and combines a few acoustic instruments (clarinets, etc.) with more strictly electronic textures. Onda was a composer in residence at Dartmouth in 2002. I also recommend his album, Beautiful Contradiction (All Access, 1998).)
4. nobukazu takemura - assembler (thrill jockey)
   (This is the album to get if you want glitchier less friendly music by Takemura -- assembler sounds like a series of Gerhard Richter pastiches of other Thrill Jockey artists but rendered more expertly than Markus Popp, et al., can manage themselves. I haven't decided whether assemblage is more sophisticated than those people or simply tidier.)
5. biosphere - substrata/man with a movie camera (touch)
   (This one's less cliche than certain of his other releases, though I like those in limited doses as well (Nordheim Transformed is still my favorite).)
6. Blutig Seide - Mario Bava DVD (Hände Weg Edition)
   (Supposedly limited to 1000 copies; comes in a lurid yet garish black and red velvet slipcase. This is the best transfer of Blood and Black Lace on any DVD so far. The Bava filmography section also contains seven sub-pages of Easter eggs, all of them flawless transfers of trailers which Bava shot himself; most of the films no longer exist in that form, and some of the trailers feature scenes that aren't even in the films. There are also four trailers for Blood and Black Lace, one never included anywhere before. There are also alternate shots of every beautiful murder scene in the film, all of which can be played in succession. The German DVD of Kill Baby Kill (Die toten Augen des Dr. Dracula) is supposed to be of the same calibre. Anyone who likes the Brothers Quay for their dissolves from one decaying surface to the next should watch the German DVD of this film. No one else can make faces peering through a window look as complex and unsettling.)

Digital Performer 4.0 finally arrived! I've been working with it sporadically since Tuesday and will be concentrating on it more this weekend.

 

[stuartr]

Scrypt, how does assembler compare to Scope? That is the only Takemura album that I have really heard, and I am lukewarm about it.

Most recent purchases:
CD:

Pizzicato Five: Made in USA
J-pop, only good. It is incessantly catchy (catchy catchy!), but the performers are very good. I love Nomiya's voice. The lyrics are really funny, and they help me with my Japanese, so I am happy.

Jim White: No Such Place
A country-esque album. I am making my way slowly towards hee-haw music via a compilation album called Another Country which I will describe in a moment. No Such Place has songs which tell a story, which is a nice thing about country. They are more sophisticated and nuanced than most country I have heard. Some of the downtempo songs are excellent.
Vinyl:

Various Artists: Another Country: Songs of Redemption from the Other Side of the Tracks.
I just saw this in the record store and saw that it had selections from Jim O'Rourke and Sam Prekop, two of my favorite artists. Many of the songs are only tangentially country, some are pretty full-fledged. All of them are excellent. This is the best contemporary album I have bought in a long time, and it has really expanded my horizons. Some included artists (other than the three already mentioned): The American Analog Set, Wilco, The Scud Mountain Boys, Low, Calexio, Hayden, Kelly Jo Phelps and others. It is seriously good stuff.

Dmitry Shostakovich: Eight Preludes and Fugues played by the Composer
This is an original 30-40 years old Russian vinyl pressing of Shostakovich doing his thing on his own preludes. It is astonishing. The condition of the record is perfect -- as in never been played perfect. There is very very little noise, and though the recording is a little distanced, it is still the best recording I have heard of the man himself playing his music. It is just such a pleasure to hear something performed by the composer the way that they believe it should be performed. I got this record from a contact in Russia who bought up some unbelievable Russian vinyl. All of it was in never-been-played condition. He said it was good, but he was seriously underestimating it. I also had him get a set of all 24 preludes and fugues played by Tatyana Nikolaeva (her second performance), the Sonata from Op. 134 by Richter and Oistrakh (the premiere recording on original vinyl...gasp) and the Borodin Qt's rendition of the 12th and 13th string quartets. This stuff simply does not exist outside of Russia, not for sale anyway, so I was extremely pleased to find this guy.

Edit: I figured I would add one more because it is so good, and I don't think it is available on CD (or at least it wasn't several years ago when I last looked for it).
The old Monitor recording of Dvorak's Dumky Trio and Smetana's Trio Op. 15. Ah, this music is what classical music is supposed to be. Or at least it is what the Romantic era is at its best. Happy, Sad, Epic, virtuosic. This is the recording by David Oistrakh, Lev Oborin and Sviataslav Knushevitsky. It don't get much better than this folks. If that weren't enough, the recording itself is incredibly good. Astonishingly good in fact. It is one of the best period LPs I have heard outside of Mercury Living Presence. It is just excellent.

 

[scrypt]

What thimps my udders is not that you're an Epicurean, Stuart, but rather that you're an Epicurean with *sources*. The piano player in me would kill for the Shostakovich and Richter vinyl you've just mentioned. I've been listening to a rather mainstream SACD of Shostakovich and Schnittke all morning. Not the best performance I've ever heard, but they're not yet making high-definition SACDs of my favorites.

Some people have compared Assemblage to Scope, which I haven't heard enough. The Takemura I know is rather more famous -- Child's Play and so forth.

I find Markus Popp deeply irritating because he has no concept of form and so fingerpaints to the applause of people who don't know the difference. Whereas N.T. obviously knows what he's doing when, as on Assemblage, he embarks upon juxtapositions of experiment and pastiche (hence my Richter reference).

 

[stuartr]

Well Mr. Scrypt, if you are very good, feel free to email me and I will give you the guys name. Though I asked him for specific stuff, I found him through ebay, so it is basically the public domain. I am sure he would appreciate the business, as long as you don't take something I want...
As for N.T., perhaps I am being unfair. I like Scope, but I just found that I never listened to it. Does that make it lukewarm? I don't know, but it was certainly something I could put down. I would be interested to hear Assemblage. He certainly has a way with "beep"'s.

 

[aos]

When I lived in Europe I had a fair bit of Russian vinyls. Even on uber-crappy equipment I had back then (basically crappiest stuff you could possibly have, then used the same needle for 5-10 years) I found a lot of them to be superb both sonically and musically. I still haven't found a recording of Beethoven's 5th or Franck's D-minor symphony that I'd like more than that of USSR Symphony conducted by Yevgeny Svyetlanov, or comparable perfomance of Tchaikovsky's 4th by same orchestra and Vladimir Fedoseyev. And especially, a great performance of Prokofiev's 7th - I found those few recordings I found on CD over here completely unsatisfying - as if it were a completely different work, and quite insignifficant at that. And to boot, this vinyl was very cheap. I came once from Poland with two dozen LPs for what was then perhaps 15 Deutchemarks (10 bucks US or so). Their vinly struck me as quite thick and heavy yet flat and uniform (physically). I'd say well worth checking out if you can find any these days (and that's probably very hard).