The Fredösphere

Baba Yetu

You people are supposed to keep me informed about this stuff! My friend John finally got around to telling me about Baba Yetu, a World Pop treatment of the Lord's Prayer in Swahili. In our post-listen IM discussion, we agreed the song is an emotional chameleon, wherein sadness, happiness, grandeur and pure simplicity can be found, depending on who's looking. (Or I should say: depending on who you happen to be at the moment you're looking.) I hesitate to call a mere pop song great art, but like all great art, Baba Yetu leaves gaps that the audience may fill however they like.

John first heard the song while playing his favorite computer game, Civilization IV. It's the theme song. Very odd choice. I'm tempted to say: brave choice. It's got that Africa! Cradle of Mankind! vibe that kind of makes sense, and nobody (but you and I) will notice the religious specificity. (I guess some folks on the Civ4 design team researched Monotheism in their spare time.)

Labels: Compooters, Culture, Religion, VideoClip

Atlantropia and Other Baleful Nazi Entanglements

I realized that, as I wrote yesterday's post, my thoughts drifted from the real point of the Cult of the Composer, which is not about Historically Informed Performance so much as a simple submission to the music as it appears on the page. In fact, I feel that the Cult, even in that reduced form, is not completely without problems.

I'll use Randall Thompson's Alleluia as an example, since I'm familiar with it and the controversy surrounding it. Written as a horrified response to the rise of fascism and European war, Thompson indicated a tempo of lento for the piece . . . which almost everyone ignores. Here's a (not outlying) example:

Sometimes, performances of this Alleluia are shockingly brisk. Is Thompson right, or the mob? Well, if by the mob you mean a very large group of highly-trained and talented choral conductors, I answer: the mob!

Alleluia simply doesn't work slow. Thompson made a mistake; it's just that simple. His emotions, while perfectly valid, do not translate to the piece. His dread is an artifact; an accident that has no bearing on the music, however strong both may have become entangled in his mind. Nobody thinks of invading Nazis when they hear this piece except the composer, and he was wrong. Wrong! Compounding the problem is the work's problematic key and register, which cause unaccompanied singers to loose pitch, especially at a slow tempo—but that's a secondary issue; the real point is, doing it slow is just wrong!

Whew. And now, some bonus goodies:

What do you get when you combine a big dumb object with retro-futurism and Nazis, and shake them for one minute? Atlantropia, that's what:

And finally, John C. Wright informs us that officials in Saxony want all Germans to obey the law and pay for the television license, and that means all Germans, even Friedrich Schiller!

Labels: Architecture, Choral, Composer, Futurism, VideoClip

Screwtape

SFF Audio found out about a new audio dramatization of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. Watch the promo and see the actors having way, way too much fun recording these diabolical words:

Labels: Religion, Spooky, VideoClip

Til SF Voices Wake Us And We Drown

More on my favorite mashup, vocal-heavy soundtracks of science-fictional stuff:

Via A Cappella News we read of Gaggle, a not-your-mother's-female-chorus from England with a sound described as "sci-fi riot." Fusty reputations, begone. You can here their heavily post-processed sound at their MySpace place but bewarned, perfect intonation is not a priority.

Via SF Signal comes this animation accompanied by the Schubert Ave Maria (of all things) depicting the rings of Earth—or what the rings of Earth would look like if Earth had rings, like Saturn's. Dang, rings would be cool. We gotta get us some of them rings!

Okay, this last one has no vocal music, but it's futuristic, it's (even better) retro futuristic, and terribly arty: it's the art of Retropolis: The Future That Never Was! Do visit the posters page. Heck, do visit this future! Let's please go there, and never come back.

Labels: Choral, Futurism, sci-fi, VideoClip, vocal

Rajaton

Via Philip Copeland at ChoralNet, I present Rajaton, a fab six from Norway:

The group's English-version website says "Rajaton" is Finnish for "boundless" but I think it must be American for "wonderfully precise vocal ensemble singing." Here's there tune "Butterfly," with velvety-soft pop vocals:

Labels: Choral, VideoClip

They're Made Out of Meat

My favorite SF short story is a very short story indeed by Terry Bisson entitled They're Made Out of Meat. The two minutes it takes you to read the whole thing will be the best possible use of your time. Do it. Now. I'll wait here 'til you're done.

Wasn't that fabulous? I've been re-reading that story for years and re-urging all my friends to read it, yet only recently (about a year ago) did I notice the secret of its brevity: it contains not one word of narration. The entire story is pure dialog. Not even a "he said" anywhere.

I meditated on that profundity for a while and finally noticed the story in its original form reads like a play, or a script for a movie. (Or—he said, trembling with excitement—the book for an opera.) Clearly I'm not the first person to have noticed this; someone has made a movie directly from the story:

They're Made Out Of Meat - The funniest movie is here. Find it

So now you ask, why is the Fredösphere talking about a short story that reads like a script, and could easily be made into a work of drama? Why, in short, is he talking about a science-fiction story that is practically begging for operatic treatment?

Keep asking yourself that question. Perhaps one day soon I will answer it.

Labels: Composition, Opera, They're Made Out Of Meat, VideoClip

The Wrath of Khan: The Opera

Diva Diane, my sci-fi singing buddy, found this gem: Le Wrath di Khan:

It's a claymation production from Adult Swim, but believe it or not, the music is compelling and the singing is shockingly excellent, with a bit of choral writing that, to my intense embarrassment, makes the hairs on my arms stand up. "Khan! Khan! Khan!"

Labels: sci-fi, Space Opera, VideoClip

Five Smooth Notes

Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale.

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Hat tip goes to my friend, the SF author, fellow Starship Sofa lounger, and super genius Matthew Sanborn Smith.

Labels: MusicTheory, VideoClip

I Can Has Schoenberg

Alert the animal rights police! Via The Standing Room we learn of cats cruelly forced to recreate Schoenberg's Drei Klavierstücke, without their knowledge or consent. Cory Archangel used freeware and perl scripts to hack together a performance of the piece using Youtube clips of cats walking on pianos. Madness! Torture!

(Don't miss the audio file of a direct, simultaneous comparison of the cat version with Glenn Gould's, one in each ear, which is far more impressive than the video, which I didn't bother to finish. Of course, if you happen to love music that never resolves, by all means listen to all three videos.)

Labels: MusicTheory, VideoClip, Wrong Note

Westminster Chorus

A Cappella News found this video of the Westminster Chorus winning the Llangollen '09 competition, thus claiming the title of "Best Choir in the World." Wales is the home of this competition, rightfully so due to its long tradition of men's choruses associated with, of all things, the coal mining industry.

Despite their name, these are American singers, and the influence of Barbershop singing is obvious. I can't express complete satisfaction with the quality of their music selection—they go so far as to commit Shenandoah—but there's no questioning the quality of their singing, the tightness of their ensemble, or their soulful enthusiasm. No question: a knock-out performance.

Labels: BarbershopHarmony, Choral, The Best Choir On Earth, VideoClip

Disney y Dali y Destino

Read about this Salvador Dali/Walt Disney collaboration called Destino that was left on the Disney cutting room floor. (Twice. Once when only 18 seconds of film was made, and another time when the project was completed for—then cut from—Fantasia 2000.) The word that keeps coming to my mind is surreal for reasons I can't quite understand. The link is Monsters and Rockets,a blog new to me.

I suggest you do what I did and watch the clip without sound. It is, by its nature, a silent film, and the soundtrack given it is just as brainlessly incidental as most others soundtracks assigned to silent movies. This observation is becoming a Big Idea in my life, and, yes: you are free to draw Deep Yet Vague Conclusions from my admission of that fact.

Labels: Anime, Spooky, VideoClip

Rejection

Today I address you, gentle reader, in my role as an aspiring but, for now, frustrated science fiction writer. First, I direct you to this wonderful bit from Nielsen Hayden, a slush pile reader. You'd think such an avenging angel would derive sufficient spiteful satisfaction from writing all those rejection letters, but no: upon discovering a website exists for disgruntled and rejected authors, the angel turns demonic:

What I find weirdest about their take on rejection is that it's all completely personal. I don't just mean the rejection itself, which they're bound to take personally, being writers and all. They take things personally which have nothing whatsoever to do with them [. . .]

and then he tears the authors to shreds. For example, to the person who was insulted because the rejection came typed on a half-sheet of paper:

Right. I can just see the staff at Prominent Science Fiction Magazine doing the slush, with all their different-size rejection notes stacked up in a little row in front of them. If your story really sucks, you get a rejection note that's mimeographed on a sheet of paper the size of a large postage stamp. If you've got strong writing but defective storytelling skills, you get a half sheet. Acceptances come on foolscap. And so on.

Great stuff. Read and savor the whole thing. Thanks to the ever-fascinating John C. Wright for the link. John has his own list of authorial boo-boos, and his commenters (why can't I seem to attract dozens of clever, literate commenters? No offense, Steve) riff at length on his "empirical storm troopers." Not to be missed.

By the way, since I know you're dying to ask me, I have sufficient experience as a writer to have attained Nielson Hayden's level 9 (Nobody but the author is ever going to care about this dull, flaccid, underperforming book) which is something I'm pretty proud of. Sadly, the final level (Buy the book) is level 14. Five more to go, which doesn't sound like a lot until you realize each level is 20 times harder to attain than its predecessor.

Other fun links: a 13-year-old boy tries out a music-playing gadget called a Walkman and finds it inadequate. Don finds an animation to accompany the Hoedown from Rodeo. And finally, Jalopnik has fun with a rendering of a gorgeous but hopeless Bugatti concept car:

[. . .] French industrial designer Bruno Delussu's rendering of a modern Bugatti Type 57 is so far removed from reality that the mind is free to conceive of anything. Say, a France removed by tractor beams from the way of an imminent Nazi invasion. Then allowed to grow in isolation for decades, acquiring high technology on the border of magic, to come up with this thing. A modern take on the Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic, powered probably by ion cannons instead of the original's clockwork straight-eight.

Not to mention that this princess has a chassis clearance so minimal, she would crash if she hit a rock the size of a pea.

Labels: Design, Fiction, Futurism, sci-fi, VideoClip

The Church, the Choirister, and the Devil

Star Trek is a religion. I could have told you that. I did tell you that.

Diva Dianne is a friend who is just like me; she sings, blogs, and occasionally is heard hangin' out at the Starship Sofa podcast. Her latest post rants on a topic dear to my heart:

I find it shocking how rarely it is to find a classical singer you can actually understand. Concern these days is often placed solely on a "beautiful" sound at the expense of nearly everything else. If singers would pay more attention to vowel quality and intensity many of the inconsistencies and "problems" would melt away. But many are so busy covering up technical deficiencies they have no idea how to actually remedy them.

Finally, via SF Signal, enjoy this creepy trailer for the new BBC offering, Torchwood: Children of Earth, although those of us with kids of our own will find no new information here. If I am allowed one critique of this (truly hair-raising) video, its that it gives too much away. I think its punch would be most forceful if it would end with the little dears barking their first communal words: We. We Are. WE ARE COMING! Yow.

And now, pardon me while I rush home and lock my kids in the basement.

Labels: CuteKid, TeeVee, VideoClip, vocal

The Man, the President, and the Singing Japanese Robot Chick

At the official blog of the Tor publishing house, John Ottinger III notes a Parisian statue that honors the man who could walk through walls.

The most ridiculous political video ever? A candidate, at least, but let's at least give Nixon credit for pulling off a nice one-liner about Truman, that other piano-playing president.

Too bad Nixon didn't enter that piece in a competition; with his political clout, he could have won! Meanwhile, Don has heard the future, and it sounds like a nasal Japanese pop diva.

Labels: Futurism, sci-fi, VideoClip, vocal

Britain's Got Narrative

First of all, let me stipulate that I absolutely do not begrudge Susan Boyle her 15 weeks of fame. I hope her Christmas album goes platinum. I really do. Why shouldn't thousands choose her over all the crappy alternatives out there? And we can be glad Susan Boyle is (presumably) unlikely to pull a Charlotte Church and take her million pounds to a topless beach.

However, it's time to examine what's going on with Britain's Got Talent. We've seen Paul Potts; now we've seen Susan Boyle. The pattern is obvious. The narrative is unmistakable. The key to the whole thing is revealed in those moments when Paul Potts talks about being bullied in school, or when Susan Boyle confesses she's never been kissed. I think the way the whole thing is rigged, with the crowd trained to start cheering so you really can't tell how good they're singing, is pretty impressive. (And note the supporting role played by the Timon and Pumbaa characters waiting in the wings.) I was fooled into thinking Boyle was better than good the first time I heard the clip. Alex Ross was sufficiently impressed with Paul Potts (or maybe I should say the Paul Potts phenomenon, which at least had the virtue of promoting Puccini, not a pretentious pop musical that needs no more grease applied to its already slick skids) to link to him from his blog. The show is brilliantly manipulative, and what they're selling is:

wounded inner child finds redemption through show biz.

I like that narrative better than Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's redemption through McMansion, but that's not saying much.

Meanwhile, Britain's Got Talent is an excellent reminder for us music snobs just how much it is true that, in the opinion of a great mass of people, music itself ought never aspire to the so-called condition of music. It wants to be a sound track for something else.

Labels: VideoClip, vocal

Across the Wide Missouri

Garrison Keilor once observed that, every 15 minutes, somewhere in the United States, a choir commits Shenandoah:

Hat tip to The Standing Room. This is not my favorite arrangement, due to its dominant chord dominance, a Mozartian prettiness that doesn't really belong in American Folk music (or anywhere, but that's another post). However, this song was the highlight of Chanticleer's 2009 Ann Arbor performance—an unforgettable occasion, like all Chanticleer concerts—and the balance in that unenhanced setting was even better than engineers achieved in this video.

Labels: Choral, The Best Choir On Earth, VideoClip

Watchmen Reax

Rejoice, Eveölators! Her Tushness hath spoken on the Watchmen question. Many links, and a fair amount of negative analysis, can be found, but she (like me) felt an initial, visceral joy in the movie that she refuses to repudiate. Upon mature reflection, I agree with her complaint about the use of Mozart's Requiem and the Helicopter Ride of the Valkeries, and I would add the one-millionth appropriation of Phillip Glass to the list—so I guess the movie disappoints in my area of specialty. (That would be high-brow music, in case you couldn't tell). And, yes, the love scene was regrettable to say the least.

In a sort-of-related developement, I really enjoyed this 9-minute, 150-Euro movie my friend Jeremy told me about:

Here's the official website. (But how do I enter the site??? Apparently, you have to dig for the treasure.) Jeremy tells me the rumors of viral marketing have been denied, and with that, I have officially entered spreading-rumors-about-rumors territory.

Finally, moving from science fiction to science maybe-fact, we learn that cold fusion is back, baby!

Labels: movie, sci-fi, VideoClip

Kiss This Candle

The disciplines of my workplace being what they are, my co-worker and friend Victor found it necessary to send my a link to the video of Rick James' seminal masterpiece Super Freak.

(Those early videos were crude things, weren't they.) Another co-worker has the Super Freak intro as a ringtone on his (constantly ringing) cell phone, and I had not recognized it, so Victor corrected my ignorance. In my email reply, I admired one especially inventive lyric: "she's got intertwining candles." I thought the imagery brilliant, with a queasy decadence that perfectly matched that of the song. My amused friend shot back with a link to kissthisguy.com, for truly I had misheard the lyrics which say, "she's got incense, wine and candles." My mistake was one of those rare instances where the mishearing actually improves the song. Most mishearings are along the lines of the very famous Jimi Hendrix lyric "I kiss the sky" which so many (reasonably) mishear as "I kiss this guy." Follow the link and enjoy 15 minutes of fun.

Labels: fun, VideoClip

Dr. Manhattan

From the Watchmen viral website The New Frntiersman comes this archival footage of a color presentation of the NBS Network Nightly News:

What's up with those Canadian accents, eh?

Watchmen. Oooh, I am so ready to see this movie.

Labels: GraphicNovel, movie, sci-fi, VideoClip

Scary Weather, Scarier Presidents

That's right, just keep telling yourself that these things are "clouds." Yep. Clouds. That's what they are.

Alex Ross dreams of a Messiaenic inaugural, conveniently forgetting just how Nixonian presidential fixations on dowdy, devout French modernists can be.

I got this video from A Cappella News. These guys make Anglican chant sound actually attractive (ooh, that was snarky):

Labels: Choral, Composer, fun, Spooky, VideoClip

Tom Milsom

"Try googling Britney Spears intellectual rigor and see how many hits you get." Our conversation ended with this sentence, but it began--last night, in our living room--with me telling the Wifeösphere about Hexachordal, a rising internet meme and renaissance Brit. Youtube pointed me to Tom Milsom (his real name) a few months ago; yesterday, aworks reminded me of his existence, and informed me of his remarkable awareness of 20th classical music history, via this video:

Notice Milsom's suggested starting points into the avant garde maze: Cage, Berio, Stockhausen, Berg, Schoenberg. Not the advice I'd give to neophytes, for personal or pragmatic reasons, but hey, you've got to be glad a kid like this is paying that much attention. Besides his youth, his astonishing skill at writing and performing pop tunes seems an improbable trait to combine with geeking out on 12 tone and musique concréte techniques. Here's him singing Indigo:

Very good, don't you think? I confess to multi-multiple listenings yesterday afternoon. I haven't overdosed on a song like that since I discovered Polyphonic Spree. I would like to see Milsom rework the 2-voice counterpoint during the 7th inning stretch, but otherwise, it's got a great beat and you can read your thesaurus to it. (Yes, it's mostly a list. You see Milsom use that approach in other songs to less effect, but with Indigo he seems to have struck goldenrod. And anyway, Walt Whitman wrote a lot of lists and nobody complains.)

Pop tune talent; appealing looks and non-threatening affect; and some intellectual chops in the music theory department: a triple threat. Jupiter is aligned with Mars. A rare, magical combination. Hoo boy, do I hate him.

Labels: Composer, VideoClip

And Pfft You Was Gone

My never-ending research on the topics of science fiction, choral music, and the effects of Hee Haw on modern font development led me to these gentle distractions from today's Big Event. First, a one-man quartet synopsizes Star Wars:

Then, I give you a very nicely-prepared summary--and one more example of the kind of kooky obsessiveness that the internet enables--of font jokes from Mystery Science Theater 3000. Does anyone do obscure reference humor more boldly than these guys? Finally, here's the official Hee Haw site. Man, that was a bad show. Bad, bad, bad.

Labels: fun, sci-fi, VideoClip

But the Pope Ain't One

Speaking as a Lutheran, I'm thrilled by the enthusiam shown by the general population in celebrating Reformation Day. (But what's with all the costumes?) In honor of the day, here's 95 Theses:

Here's more.

Labels: Antipope, fun, Religion, Renaissance, VideoClip

What's My (Horizontal) Line

By way of Terry Teachout, it's Frank Lloyd Wright appearing on What's My Line:

I have nothing profound to say on the subjects of architecture, the death of the middlebrow (one of Terry's pet subjects) or, surprisingly, megalomania. Instead, I'd just like to point out those amusing little sequinny-buttony things the producers added as decoration to the perimeter of the female panelists' blindfolds. A little detail no one would even think to use today.

Labels: Architecture, Culture, VideoClip

Raisin Brahms

Via The Standing Room via this is sippey: the most wonderfully stoopid promotion of high culture by a big fat corporation, evar:

Labels: Culture, Food, fun, VideoClip

Drum Pundit

A new angle found by SciFi Scanner, and a perfect topic for the Fredösphere: Ancient Christian Paintings Give Evidence of Space Alien Visitation. It sounded kooky, but then I saw the painting first cited: The Baptism of Christ by Aert de Gelder. I'm not sure who, but somebody's phoning home in that painting.

Meanwhile...

My son is enjoying a Boychoir retreat this week, and I was privileged to observe a special educational demonstration given to the boys by John Churchville, a local expert in classical Indian drumming. It's amazing what just one hour of explanation can do to greatly increase one's appreciation of an art form. Hey, here's an idea: we could introduce music education into the public schools and effect an explosion in classical music interest among the general population!

Anyway, John's demo was info-packed and conducted with grace, even when the boys in the front row fidgeted or experienced gastric indiscretions thanks to the meal of tacos and refried beans consumed just minutes before. Oh, and then there was the "please back up; I can feel your breath on the back of my hands" moment.

John showed us a video of his teacher, pandit (i.e., pundit, sort of like the Indian equivalent of a Ph.D.) Swapan Chaudhuri. I found the following video which seems to be the clearest picture of the master employing the one-handed roll characteristic of his region's style of drumming. See it for the first time at about 1' 30"; in most videos the hand moves too fast to see that he's flapping the right hand in a left-to-right movement, using the thumb and forefinger as one "drumstick" and the other three fingers as the other.

Am I the only person who sees a bit of Harlan Ellison in Chaudhuri's face and posture?

Boychoir conductor Tom Strode mentioned the influence of Indian Music upon Olivier Messiaen. If only Messiaen had Youtube, think of how much more he could have achieved! Although, in that case, we may have had the Messiaenification of the following--which is too disturbing to contemplate!

Labels: Culture, Religion, Renaissance, sci-fi, VideoClip

Empire Builder

Who besides Daniel Wolf is blogging brainily about the process of composing? If there are others, I want to (I should!) know. Most recently he's making an analogy about the world-building of speculative fiction and role-playing games. Yeh got yer composing, yeh got yer SF; perfect.

Next, let's sample some SF video. First, we return to the most SF country that ever was, the USSR, for an animated interpretation of Ray Bradbury's There Will Fall Soft Rains:

There will fall soft rains
Uploaded by DublinBen

...followed by a Star Trek mashup called A Cavalcade of Redshirt Fatalities:

Finally, we explore two interstitial realms of the almost-real and the almost-fake. Of the former, Design Observer reverse-engineers the Steampunk movement and finds it wanting, making good points but adopting a regrettable "gatekeeper" tone in the process: how dare these people design when they're clearly not real designers?! (I like DO; why do I only link when they annoy me? Maybe I am the regrettable gatekeeper.) Of the almost-fake, check out these "tilt-shift" photos (more here) that make true cityscapes look like cheesy H0-scale models. Be-yootiful, and don't miss the skeptics in the comments section.

Labels: Composition, Creativity, fun, Futurism, VideoClip

Dr. Horrible

A musical ... a sci-fi comedy musical ... released on the web? I admit, I was grossly derelict in my blogging duties by not telling you to go watch Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog while it was available for free download. (The DVDs will be on sale soon, with--wait for it!--a sung commentary track. Geniuses.)

Anyway, I just found out the good Doctor is available for one more day for free. Today. What are you waiting for?

Oh, yeah. You're waiting for the link.

Labels: fun, movie, Opera, sci-fi, VideoClip

Juste, Juste, Juste!

Sorry Don, but this is my topic: harmonic intervals in all their beautiful, mediaeval purity:

I'd like to see the monk's reaction to some of my yummy minor ninths.

Labels: Choral, fun, MusicTheory, VideoClip

Milk, Apples, Adorable Babies, Nazis

The title says it all: The Revolution Will Not Be Pasteurized. (Hat tip 2Blowhards.)

Meanwhile...

Rene's Apple will have what Ann Althouse is having:

I'd rather see a show where philosophers descend on a woman with a perfect exterior and rip into her for her intellectual and spiritual failings, put her on some kind of internally transformative regime, and turn her into a human being of substance. Can we get that?

...and furthermore...

Man Babies. Plus, have a look at Nazis on the Moon.

Labels: Culture, fun, Futurism, movie, VideoClip

Space Opera, Furthermore

In an earlier post I commented with pleasant surprise on a Swedish composer's attempt to create an opera on a science fiction theme. Commenters assured me this was hardly the first composer to attempt such a feat. Daniel Wolf cited as ancient an example as Haydn, which impressed me to no end. Those of you familiar with my Haydn animus won't be surprised my mental picture of Haydn as a space opera-tor is that of the salt vampire of Planet M-113.

Anyhoo, I'm pleased to add another work to this growing list: Jacques Offenbach's adaptation of Jules Verne's Le Voyage dans la Lune. Wikipedia has the details, including a wonderful photo showing costumes and a set from the original lush (but to the modern eye, goofy) production. Kudos is due (hey! I conjugates that verb real good!) to io9 for dredging up this information (especially considering that deep historical perspective is not what you expect from a Gawker-related site) in a terribly interesting roundup of info on Georges Méliès' groundbreaking 1902 SF film A Trip to the Moon, which itself was recycled in a trippy music video by The Smashing Pumpkins called Tonight, Tonight:

And I suppose I'll have to comment on The Man that Fell to Earth if I ever get up the courage to watch it.

Space. And opera. What else have I overlooked?

Labels: Composition, Culture, Futurism, movie, Opera, sci-fi, VideoClip

Prince Caspian

I am so looking forward to Prince Caspian. First, because it's my favorite of the seven Narnia books. Indeed, the opening sequence--when the Pevensie children dig through ruins to learn that their own castle, and even their own past lives, are now relegated to half-forgotten legends--is the spookiest, most melancholy thing I've ever read in all of fantasy literature. It is my sword Rhindon; with it I killed the Wolf. Ooooh, yes!

I'm also hoping this movie will not disappoint as the previous one did. I'd like to see a little more compelling performances and a little less cringe-making dialog (but the trailer does not inspire a lot of hope along those lines). I'd also prefer no more of the kind of scene we saw in the first movie, where Aslan comes to the underground lake, and the White Witch emerges from the water wearing little more than stiletto heels and a thick layer of gold paint, and I'm like, whoa, dude, I don't remember this being in the book.

Watch the trailer and hear our hero introduce himself: "Ah im Printz Gespian!" What's with the vaguely continental accent? Is it an artifact of the trailer, or does he talk like that all the time? Here, the ugly head of linguistic nit-picking opens its Pandora's box: how is it that 20th century English is spoken in Narnia--over a period lasting many centuries? Did the filmmakers decide to throw in a little weirdness in the Narnian accents to slightly cover their hienies on the issue of linguistic drift? I really doubt it, but it's fun to imagine they did.

Labels: movie, VideoClip

Monday YouTubage

Via SF Signal, it's High Noon exactly as you remember it. Well, as I remember it anyway:

Via Ionarts (who got it from Boing Boing, who got it from Laughing Squid), it's a cat playing a theremin. I definitely detect the influence of Messiaen, although I'm thinking not so much the Turangalîla Symphonie as some of the more pointillistic moments in Des Canyons aux Etoiles:

Labels: fun, movie, VideoClip

A Cappella Aflame

Frankly, if you're going to email me asking for my help and you can't even be bothered to do me the courtesy of placing your apostrophes correctly, don't expect me to call 911 for you.

Here are two excellent a cappella groups to sample. First, via A Capella News, it's Naturally 7:

This group is so hot, they make their tour bus burst into flames. Meanwhile, Chicago A Cappella is equally caliente--listen to samples of them singing Mata del ánima sola by Antonio Esévez, Son de la loma by Miguel Matamoros, arr. J. Castillo, and Salseo by Oscar Galian.

My hoary custom of playing Bach's St. Matthew Passion every Good Friday has gradually given way to Golijov's La Pasion Segun San Marco. I switched because I figured the hot Latin rhythms would be more compelling to my kids ears (plus, they have enough Spanish that they can translate most of it). What I didn't anticipate is the way the music sets their feet a-dancing. We compromise, and I make them wait a decent interval, then let them cut loose. Watching them dance to the Death of God is disconcerting, but their urges are innocent and I think it would be wrong to suppress them completely.

Labels: Choral, SoundClip, VideoClip, vocal

The Fox Touch

Aworks found one of many Virgil Fox Youtube manifestations. You gotta credit Fox for blowing the dust out of the pipe organ world with his Heavy Organ tour, but here, he disappoints. With the funeral home decor, the fruitcake attire, and the middlebrow attitude in his introduction, he seems to be laboring under an ambition to leave no organist stereotype unresuscitated.

I did enjoy hearing again his interpretation of Ives' Variations on America. This, along with The Unanswered Question, is among Ives' few unambiguously successful compositions. To my knowledge, it was Fox's recording of this piece on the Wichita Wurlitzer that most closely achieved the ideal, optimized combining of performer, instrument, and composition. In my only conversation with Michael Daugherty, I asked him if he knew of Fox's America recording (since the topic of the day was organ music) and he did. Michael Daugherty knows everything, apparently, since he remembered which record company produced it, and asked me to confirm. Sorry, Michael; I didn't realize that information would be on the test.

For sound clips of the Wichita, go here and scroll down. Also have a look at the beautiful album art for the two-volume set of direct-to-(vinyl)-disc album "The Fox Touch." For in my previous, vinyl-centric listening life, these records were my most precious possession. Each side, about 20 minutes of music, was performed in a single take, as necessitated by the technology. The (few) blatant clams only added to the charm. They were as close to live as vinyl could get.

Poor Virgil; the Youtube video does not hide is ugly hands. He comes off better in a video of a work he championed, Symphonie Concertante by Joseph Jogen--although his Nixonian form factor is on display. "Let me make each note puurfectly clear."

Labels: Organ, VideoClip

I Have No Mouth and I Must Whine

I do hope you are catching the YouTube sneak peeks of the Harlan Ellison documentary, Dreams with Sharp Teeth. Start here (bad language alert), and also don't miss Mr. Ellison's unambiguous (and salty) opinion on the new all-content-is-free era we seem to be living in. Don't overlook the irony, as you watch it, that you downloaded it for free.

Labels: Fiction, VideoClip

Harmonic Convergence

What a combination! Terry Teachout discussing Alex Ross' book The Rest Is Noise. Terry's take: Alex is the first historian to understand the non-inevitability of any particular avant garde innovation in 20th century music. (Terry throws in a nice anecdote from his recent wedding as well.)

Now, if only we could get a video of Alex Ross discussing Terry Teachout discussing Alex Ross--that would be better! And then, best of all: Alex Ross and Terry Teachout together discussing the inevitability of the internet producing the Fredöshpere!

Labels: Culture, VideoClip

Eight Neat Guys

A recent visitor mentioned two barbershop quartets:

Realtime. I love those black velvet jackets, but I bet it's a nightmare getting the hair clippings off them after a long day's work behind the barber's chair. The group sneaks in a few quasi-legitimate sixth chords, and the baritone displays fine control of the all-important single-eyebrow waggle during his closeup. This performance shows why they crush the competition, and the velvet.

Nightlife. Here they sing "One Moment in Time," a oddly beautiful meditation on the metaphysics of temporal existence, the persistence of subjective perception, and the politics of meaning. I think. I do know it ain't "Coney Island Baby."

Labels: BarbershopHarmony, VideoClip

Barbershop Confusion

Let's continue a little longer with our barbershop quartet theme. First, theory geeks can enjoy an old discussion over at Kyle Gann's place on barbershop's unanalyzable Chord Of Mystery. My opinion, if I dared express it, is that the chord defies functional analysis because it has no function. It ain't right.

Meanwhile, enjoy this performance by a barbershop quartet that would be my favorite even if they didn't have the coolest name possible: Derf. Or Ferd. Or something; I forget.

Labels: BarbershopHarmony, VideoClip

Maitre Sans Box

How does this French beatboxer do it? With not much besides his mouth. A Cappella News found him first.

Labels: VideoClip, vocal

Fall Up

Gravity Lens comes through again with a Frank Lloyd Wright link. You simply must watch this CG video of Fallingwater growing before your eyes. They don't call it organic architecture for nothing. Dang, people, this is good.

Labels: Architecture, VideoClip

Why Do Men Wear Earrings on One Ear?

Minnesota Public Radio caught Chanticleer on video asking the eternal question, and my friend Alan sent me the link. Don't overlook the other great performances on video.

Labels: VideoClip, vocal

Nixon in Cincinnati

Cincinnati Opera is hyping their production of Nixon in China with a cheesy video called Nixon in Cincinnati.

We badly wanted to head down there and see the show, and we had made tentative plans to do so months ago, but the Wifeösphere's bump in the road last winter (in the form of recurrent cancer) made us reevaluate lots of things. The opera road trip was cancelled. Meanwhile, Julie's doing much better now and continues to regain her strength, thanks be to God, but we still need to play things conservatively for the forseeable future.

Labels: VideoClip, vocal

Baaaaaaaach

A young man known only as wzauscher sings Bach as a one-man quartet.

If you like, follow the links to his other transcriptions, although the ones I found had intonation problems.

Okay. More intonation problems.

Now, finish it off with the master: Bobby McFerrin singing Bach/Gounod.

Labels: VideoClip, vocal

Paul Potts

Paul Potts won the Britain's Got Talent semi-final last night. Watch him do it. He will appear this Sunday in the final, opposite a ventriloquist operating a singing, dancing monkey. Think about that. A ventriloquist and a monkey. Paul, the contest is yours to lose.

The winner will receive a chunk o' change and a chance to perform before the Queen. I imagine Her Grace is scrambling right now, demanding to know how she can circumvent the rules and vote multiple times. Our royal person will not suffer the indignity of clapping for a mechanical monkey that sings Michael Jackson songs! Show me how to run this bleeping vote-bot right nooooooow!!!

Let's speculate about what's going on, here. The viewers were able to choose three of the eight semi-finalists. Then the judges chose two of those three to go to the final. I don't know anything about the third contestant the judges rejected, but come on -- a ventriloquist? The judges say they chose him because of the variety nature of his act. "Variety" -- that's an interesting way to put it. I think the judges love Paul's voice, love his back story, and are greasing the wheels for him. Not that he needs the help. According to this report, bookies are already laying odds on whether Paul will score the Christmas number one hit in the UK this year.

We should keep in mind that this packaging of opera, the hype, the glitz, the screaming crowds, the silliness -- all the extra-musical ephemera that classical fans eschew -- is an example of opera returning to its roots. It remains to be seen if Paul will make the commitment to return opera to its roots all the way.

Labels: VideoClip, vocal

Nessun Dorma

Alex Ross blogs a mobile phone salesman from South Wales named Paul Potts who brings "Nessun dorma" to Britain's Got Talent, a UK version of American Idol. His back story has a hint of Cinderella in it, and he gives a spellbinding performance, although he enjoys an unfair advantage in that he gets to sing the greatest freeggin' love song that ever got wrote. Plus, it's refreshing to see someone allowed on TV with ordinary good looks that haven't been surgically "perfected."

I must confess, however, to having a soft place in my heart for another amateur interpreter of Puccini, Stephen Miller. Part of Stephen's charm is his approach to self-packaging, which, like Paul's, is not yet perfect. (Hint to Stephen: a few simple Photoshop commands can fix the red-eye and nasty aspect ratio issues in your thumbnail photo.)

Of the many permutations of Three Tenors, one that's new to me is the Three Redneck Tenors. What's that, you ask? Why, gosh darn it, yes -- they've got their own version of "Nessun dorma." It's a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll, a little bit bad, and it's just about the most toe-tappin', gooder-than-grits, and hotter-'n-a-goat's-butt-in-a-pepper-patch version of "Nessun dorma" I ever seen: there's something about cummerbunds with mullets that's cuter 'n a sack full o' puppies. They do Beethoven's 5th as well, which isn't quite as dreadful as it should be, although it suffers from the same problem as that of all musical jokes: a punch line that lasts three minutes is never funny.

Labels: VideoClip, vocal

Let's Put On a Show

Very cool: Terry Teachout is writing an opera. (Aren't we all.)

I'm glad to say I've adopted Google Notebook as a tool for organizing projects, which mainly means a place to store bookmarks to poetry I'd like to set, snippets of lines I've written myself, and titles of works I'll probably never get around to writing (but who knows?). I've needed a project organizer for a while, and especially lately, as I've become more serious (more is a relative term here, people) about writing science fiction. Fans of this plot, rejoice: I'm writing it. I even have a audience of non-zero size already in place, ready to read it. Teaser: imagine Augustus Caesar sitting in Albert Einstein's lap. (This Albert Einstein.)

Beyond that, I harbor special ambition to combine my two main interests into one project. No, I don't mean anti-popes and synaesthesia, I mean composing and sci-fi. I don't mind sharing with you my working title -- Space Opera -- since it has almost certainly been used already. [Accessing ... accessing ... --yep! Darn.] I've got some plot ideas that I think are a teeny bit original, so I'll keep quiet about them. Sadly, considering how long it will take me to write this thing, it's only chance of attracting interest will be as a piece of retro-futurism.

On a related note, yes Don, you're right: this is the greatest shampoo commercial ever.

Labels: Composition, Creativity, sci-fi, VideoClip

You Got Any Idea What a Slab of Carreras Costs These Days?

The rules of modern American politics require a person like John McCain occasionally to humiliate himself ritualistically. What's these kids' excuse?

Mixolydian Mode has moved -- don't get left behind.

Here's a story on the Aristides Atelier, where painting is taught the old-fashioned way. (You come in here with palettes full of mush...!) Disturbingly, recent experience has caused me to question the emphasis on craft. Just as everyone else is loosing faith in self-expression, I'm reminded that some people got it and some don't. (More on that topic when I've processed it fully.) Anyway, this talk of old-fashioned pedagogy reminds me of stories of the bad old days at U-M: student composers presented scores to their teachers on vellum. Here at the Fredölogical Institute -- the only place in the world a student can get full, rigorous training in nested counterpoint -- I require my students to submit their counterpoint lessons carved in Italian marble. Which means the kids learn to think really, really hard before committing themselves to each note.

Labels: Counterpoint, Creativity, VideoClip

Random

Alex Ross continues to dig for new music ideas you can ... dig. Here's one idea that's good enough to steal: generate notes randomly, then constrain the randomness with a few smartly-chosen rules, and listen for the music to pop out.

Meanwhile, YouTube brings the vast world of choral music to your door -- just search for "choir" and let the goodness stream in. Or you can go straight to the Red Army Chorus backing an annoyingly driven tenor soloist (forgive the redundancy) while the crowd roars and the dancers kick their heels and the smoke swirls around the giant mutant mullets. Surreal. Or, check this out: as he enters, school girls swoon and the cameras flash and the adults become very deferential. Is this Taiwanese idol a pop star? No, he's a choir director! (Truthfully, he's both.) More seriously, the Bulgarian State Radio Choir never fails to amaze.

Labels: Composition, VideoClip, vocal

Their Generation

God of the Machine thinks the Saw Lady has the best observation on Joshua Bell's Slumming Qua Busking. That's yesterweek's topic, but I link mainly because I want you to turn up your speakers and hear her soundtrack.

Yes, it's Friday, and I owe you a silly link, but this video of "The Zimmers," a bunch of old farts recording a cover of "My Generation" is no joke; it's genuine choral content of a kind you only get from the Fredösphere. This is serious!

Labels: VideoClip, vocal

The Fredösphere

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Baba Yetu

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Atlantropia and Other Baleful Nazi Entanglements

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Screwtape

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Til SF Voices Wake Us And We Drown

Monday, November 16, 2009

Rajaton

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

They're Made Out of Meat

Friday, September 18, 2009

The Wrath of Khan: The Opera

Monday, August 03, 2009

Five Smooth Notes

Friday, July 31, 2009

I Can Has Schoenberg

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Westminster Chorus

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Disney y Dali y Destino

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Rejection

Friday, May 29, 2009

The Church, the Choirister, and the Devil

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Man, the President, and the Singing Japanese Robot Chick

Friday, April 17, 2009

Britain's Got Narrative

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Across the Wide Missouri

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Watchmen Reax

Monday, March 23, 2009

Kiss This Candle

Friday, January 23, 2009

Dr. Manhattan

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Scary Weather, Scarier Presidents

Friday, November 07, 2008

Tom Milsom

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

And Pfft You Was Gone

Friday, October 31, 2008

But the Pope Ain't One

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

What's My (Horizontal) Line

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Raisin Brahms

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Drum Pundit

Monday, August 11, 2008

Empire Builder

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Dr. Horrible

Monday, June 16, 2008

Juste, Juste, Juste!

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Milk, Apples, Adorable Babies, Nazis

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Space Opera, Furthermore

Friday, April 25, 2008

Prince Caspian

Monday, April 21, 2008

Monday YouTubage

Friday, April 18, 2008

A Cappella Aflame

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Fox Touch

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

I Have No Mouth and I Must Whine

Friday, October 26, 2007

Harmonic Convergence

Monday, October 08, 2007

Eight Neat Guys

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Barbershop Confusion

Thursday, September 13, 2007