Tuesday, July 29, 2014

It's not really music...

Playlist
The Bad Plus - Never Stop
Dave King Trio - Village Vanguard, September 11, 2013
Happy Apple - Back at Lawrence, March 26, 2011
Various - Favourite UK No 1 Singles 1959-2014
Maxwell Davies - Naxos String Quartet No 1
Cage - Number Pieces

Up as early as possible and, at present, part of the routine is to write this up, which is what I did...

Out and into the world as bacon was required to be brought home...

If you want to be a musician, be a plumber...

A salad at lunchtime and some music listening - number one hits - in direct contrast to the earlier jazz...

Also today, some funding movements...

Back home, a nice chilli marinaded salmon fillet salad from the skilled hands of the Exec Producer and some old "Big Bang Theory" (later on "New Girl" and a "CSI" also entertained gogglebox-wise)...

I am not interested in the Commonwealth Games though, so I played through a couple of songs and listened to some jazz on the headphones while checking my e-mails, one of which alerted me to a concert in Glasgow in September for Peter Maxwell Davies' 80th birthday, at which he will be in attendance - the Exec Producer jested that she hoped he'll still be alive by then...

Shocker...

I secured tickets, having enjoyed one of his string quartets - in lieu of finding any recordings whatsoever of the proposed programme - a string trio, a string duo and an oboe quartet......

The Exec Producer eschewed the opportunity to sample his work, in favour of watching some people swimming...

The world would be a boring place if everyone liked the same things though...

Davies' music set me off to look for more avant garde stuff and I end up downloading enough John Cage music to assemble a four CD set of ten of his "Number Pieces", written mostly between 1990 and 1992...

CD1 (72 mins)
"Seven" for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola and cello (May 1988)
"Seven2" for bass flute, bass clarinet, bass trombone, two percussionists with unspecified instruments, cello and contrabass (1990, before July 23)

CD2 (42 mins)
"Four2" for SATB choir (October 1990)
"Five2" for English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet and timpani (May 1991)
"Two4" for violin and piano or shō (July 1991)

CD3 (75 mins)
"Two5" for piano and tenor trombone (October 1991)
"Five5" for flute, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet and percussion (October 1991)
"Sixty-Eight" for orchestra (February 1992)

CD4 (65 mins)
"Fifty-Eight" for wind orchestra (March 27, 1992)
"Two6" for violin and piano (April 1992)

Cage died on August 12, 1992...

While the 52 minute "Seven2" was playing the Exec Producer passed by the room and I asked her for her thoughts...



A triumph - in that they were the same as they were for Cloudland Blue Quartet's "Twenty Four Paintings" 16 hour opus...

"It's not really music is it?"...

And there we have it, my music is up there with that of Mr John Cage...

Highlight of the Day : Being as good as John Cage...

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