Miami Livin' (Sterereo Edition)
So I'm finding that one of the great joys of living in my own apartment is having my stereo set up in the living room, as opposed to my bedroom. This experience may be boosted, in fact, by the fact that I haven't had my stereo set up at all. Add in the fact that I have no job and no car, and it's like, in the 90s and humid here everyday, and suddenly I sit around listening to records all day. In fact, its good thing I'm not bringing any money right now (and, really should be sitting comfortably in the red for the next three years), 'cause otherwise I would be wasting all sorts of time shopping for records.
Of particular note is a favorite record of mine, that I have no analgous CD recording of: Bohuslav Martinů's Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani. Played by the Czech Philharmonic, under the baton of Karel Sejna. I think its a record that Jack gave me, back during a brief phase of time where he would give me interesting records that he stumbled across in Philadelphia.
It's a fast-slow-fast three movement thing. When people down here ask me what kind of music I like, under the influence of my stereo being across from my futon, I tend to just go for it and say "20th century Eastern European art music." (I don't like to say "classical" (but will say "classical," if clarification is necessary).) I listen to it loud.
I'm tempted to try a Jack-style of a description of the music itself, but I'm unfortunately distracted by the recalling of the Mr. Show sketch (which, sadly, does not seem to be on youtube.com) where Bob Odenkirk, as a faux-Hemingway style author gives a description to a hunting lodge that is entirely inappropriate for Of Mild Interest. "You don't know what words mean, do you?"
I will mention that sometimes I think that Angelo Badalamenti (the guy that wrote the scores for most of David Lynch's movies (starting with Blue Velvet)) cops Martinů's tonal world a bit in his orchestral scoring, when he's going for the creepy this-is-a-David-Lynch-movie sound. (And incidentally, Lynch didn't use Badalamenti in his most recent film, Inland Empire, instead going for a score that I think, as I heard it, was mostly Penderecki (which made sense, I guess, 'cause there was a lot of weird shit having to do with Poland in that there movie).)
So that's that.
Of particular note is a favorite record of mine, that I have no analgous CD recording of: Bohuslav Martinů's Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani. Played by the Czech Philharmonic, under the baton of Karel Sejna. I think its a record that Jack gave me, back during a brief phase of time where he would give me interesting records that he stumbled across in Philadelphia.
It's a fast-slow-fast three movement thing. When people down here ask me what kind of music I like, under the influence of my stereo being across from my futon, I tend to just go for it and say "20th century Eastern European art music." (I don't like to say "classical" (but will say "classical," if clarification is necessary).) I listen to it loud.
I'm tempted to try a Jack-style of a description of the music itself, but I'm unfortunately distracted by the recalling of the Mr. Show sketch (which, sadly, does not seem to be on youtube.com) where Bob Odenkirk, as a faux-Hemingway style author gives a description to a hunting lodge that is entirely inappropriate for Of Mild Interest. "You don't know what words mean, do you?"
I will mention that sometimes I think that Angelo Badalamenti (the guy that wrote the scores for most of David Lynch's movies (starting with Blue Velvet)) cops Martinů's tonal world a bit in his orchestral scoring, when he's going for the creepy this-is-a-David-Lynch-movie sound. (And incidentally, Lynch didn't use Badalamenti in his most recent film, Inland Empire, instead going for a score that I think, as I heard it, was mostly Penderecki (which made sense, I guess, 'cause there was a lot of weird shit having to do with Poland in that there movie).)
So that's that.
3 Comments:
I don't remember buying you that record, but it sounds like something I'd do.
Martinů's Double Concerto is an amazing piece of music: rhythmically driven, unrelenting, aggressively dissonant, yet emotionally very moving. He wrote it in '38, as the Munich Pact was worked out (Martinů himself was living in France at the time), and start to finish the piece churns out clouds of dread. There's a good note about it here. That note includes a more hopeful description of the work's emotional state from Martinů himself, but it's hard to hear that in the piece.
There are a small handful of CD recordings out there. Jiri Behohlavek with the Czech Philharmonic is probably the one to go for; James DePreist with the Malmö Symphony is also very good.
Martinů wrote hundreds and hundreds of pieces of music, many of which are pretty disposable; none of them that I've heard sound remotely like the Double Concerto. Other recommended listening is this 2-CD set of chamber music, which includes a very good late Nonet with some light neoclassical works and "La Revue de Cuisine," his nutty dancehall-music ballet from the '20s.
Yeah - you actually bought me a couple of good records - also of note: Britten's Death in Venice and Berg's Lyric Suite.
I think those two came from the Second Best used furniture store on Astoria Boulevard.
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