::: 21 August 2019 :::

soundcloud...

blog

honesty, process, embodiment



Live performance bootleg from 9 May, 2017
Levinsalen concert hall, Norwegian Academy of Music

A rare aural glimpse of this pure and profound life artist ~ Seshen ~ in offering, in performance, transformation, meditation... emergence and return, depicting through sound/musical perception (as well as movement/dance/motion) existence through the stages from caterpillar, to pupa, to butterfuly. The audience was never told what the "story" was, and the space was clear and highly attentive. Fearlessness, purity, beauty, intention, originality, honesty, journey... I am deeply moved to honor and share this and make available to those who have come here now, ready and wanting. Love, B

Celibidache, Carnegie Hall 1984

In 1984 at the age of 71 conductor Sergiu Celibidache agreed to give a three-week intensive rehearsal and teaching residency at the Curtis Institute of Music which culminated in a performance at a Carnegie Hall 60th anniversary benefit concert with the student orchestra. It was also Celibidache's "American debut".

First what Harold C. Schonberg wrote the night before this concert.

Then what John Rockwell wrote the night after.

Then listen to the unreleased tape of the concert.

Also, here is a transcript of one of his sessions from this time at Curtis.

Susan Synnestvedt, a member of the Chicago Symphony who was concertmaster of the Curtis orchestra during Celibidache`s visit recalled, "He is obsessed with trying to create certain moods and colors. His whole concept is that every phrase has a shape and it comes from one phrase and leads to another. He feels there is a truth in music, and it should be discovered." For further research...



















2-octaves (s)low Brazilian Amazon forest village morning 6:23

Live nature/outdoor feeds...

via www.locusonus.org/soundmap/051/...

~ Jasper Ridge Birdcast, San Mateo, CA
~ Chicago, Camp Sherwin
Location: Lake Michigan, East Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois. Operator: Eric Leonardson
"Currently, sounds are received by an Audio Technica AT822 stereo microphone perched on a third floor window ledge facing east toward Lake Michigan, approximately 60 or 70 meters away from the beach. The microphone is connected to a Raspberry Pi Model B+ with a Griffin iMic USB audio interface."
~ Gary - GMO DUNES1, Black Oak, Indiana
"Stereo PZMs along the north wall of my house facing the garden and trees." - Gregory O'Drobinak, Singing Sands Studio
~ Galilee, Pennsylvania
Location: Galilee: a hamlet in the Delaware Valley Pennsylvania. Operator: GH Hovagimiyan.
"You might hear birds, (bluejays, redtail hawks, owls, robins, woodpeckers, american goldfinchs, wild turkeys...) insects: crickets and larger animals: deer, bears, squirrels, crickets, woodchucks, and the occasional passing pickup or tractor."
~ Greensboro, North Carolina
"A long standing stream by Dustin Perdue."
______________________________________
~ Liverpool, Ormskirk
Location: "Suburb of Liverpool, near Ormskirk in Lancashire, using a pair of binaural microphones for that "3D" effect - However, headphones are required to experience that effect." Operator: "Frank the binaural dummy head - with 3D printed ears of my own ears, he hears everything like a human does, so when played back through headphones gives the listener a interesting sound experience of being there, with sounds external from your bonce. Great eh?
This is possibly the only binaural 3D microphone streaming on the internet right now? Please wear headphones for the 3D effect and close your eyes, imagine standing perfectly still in a UK urban garden.
Cirrus Logic audio card working on a Raspberry Pi B+ with Binaural Audio (3D sound).
LOWER your the volume level until it sounds the most natural for you - Headphones must be worn for the true binaural effect to work. At present the mics are facing in the direction from the camera angle that is looking at "Frank" in the main vertical image.
Have birds flying past above your head and singing in close proximity (can be loud) hear the dogs barking from the dog walk, trains coming and going to and from the station every 15 minutes during the day, church bells can be heard on bell ringing practice nights depending on which way the wind is going from both Aughton Christ Church, and Aughton St Michaels (7.30pm - 8.30pm UK Summer time) - Monday evenings. Police helicopter fly past about 11am most days - but don't count on it! trains every 15 minutes during the day. About 8am there is a neigbour who has a bad time trying to start their car - 5 days a week!! ughh! As a rule, there is a traffic drone from the M58 Motorway a few miles away, pity, as there is so much wild life in my garden.
During the day there is our local bus service which runs every 10 mins after hour - or there about.
We have a local park which is quite close, and on Sunday mornings you may hear the locals playing football, and doing other things. Some Saturdays you may hear the sounds of motorcycles in the distance, racing at Aintree race course - yeah, the place where they have the horse races (they have a special track there), when it thunders here, the sounds are reflected from winter hill and the mountains in North Wales - can be quite an interesting effect!"
~ Suffolk Coast, Walberswick
Location: Rural suffolk garden. Operator: Peter Sinclair (my mother's garden).
"Walberswick is in a protected area on the Suffolk coast surrounded by woods and marshes you should hear lots of birds, perhaps also the occasional bellowing munjak. The sea when it's rough a couple of kilometers away. And of course there is usually someone cutting their grass.
The microphone is a artificial head (pair of ears) made by Gregoire Lauvin, fixed to the wall of what used to be my fathers studio. Several layers of nylon stocking are being used as wind screens."
~ London, Windsor
Operator: Christian Nold, www.softhook.com
It uses Raspberry Pi 2 with an Icicle soundcard and Superlux ECM999 measurement microphone. It is based on a customised version of the soundCamp disk image that also runs a real time decibel data analysis script.
This device is the first of a network of monitoring devices around Heathrow Airport in London. The aim is to produce evidence and demonstrate the impact of the noise on a variety of living entities.
~ London, Camberwell
location: Cambria Road, Loughborough Junction, S London. Operator: Grant Smith - self-noise.net
The microphone hangs in a tree in the back yard of a house in South London.
The yard is a small patch of trees and vegetation surrounded by buildings and roads. There is a chicken run and a beehive.
Planes fly over on the way to Heathrow International Airport, starting around 4 in the morning.
Sounds from hens, nearby schoolyard at recess, The Cambria pub, adjoining houses and backyards, a neighbour playing drums in his shed. Traffic. Wrens, woodpigeons, goldfinches, starlings, blackbirds - morning and evening, especially in Spring. Sirens. Helicopters. Domestic sounds.
______________________________________
~ Cologne, Aporee
Location: Cologne, Belgian Quarter. Operator: Udo Noll, radio aporee.
"Cologne, Belgian Quarter, street-side balcony over a little street with low traffic, cyclists and pedestrians. At night you hear the freight trains passing the nearby bridge, as well as sounds coming from a pub next street corner.
~ Le-Rove, Niolon, France
Location: In Niolon. Operator: Peter Sinclair.
"In the summer lots or tourists, lots of cicada. In the winter waves and birds. There is a small train line so you might hear the whistle blow. For once there are very few cars to be heard."
~ Marseille, Rue Fongate
location: Rue Fongate, Marseille 1er. Operator: Grégoire Lauvin Host by lab DELETERE.
______________________________________
~ Farm 510, Olosiva, Tanzania
"Sounds from a re-wilding project by ornithologist, expert guide and gardener, James Wolstonecroft, on the lower slopes of Mount Meru.
The garden is in a periurban area outside Arusha, surrounding a family house. Starting with a typical collection of exotic plantings, the garden has been gradually transformed into a more or less wild area with different zones of mainly indigenous vegetation, through selective cutting, and importing leaf litter and dung from surrounding areas. In the Fast Track Forest approach, developed gradually since 1983 in various habitats and locations, the gardener emulates the behaviour of a large browsing ungulate, in the Meru case an elephant.
The resulting landscape can be imagined as an inverted egg box, with vegetation forming alternating mounds and glades. These create a maximum of soft boundaries and habitat niches, which are particularly varied botanically and rich in invertebrates and other wildlife.
The density and variety of birds is particularly striking, with a consequently rich avian soundscape, divided into a number of micro habitats and concentrated in a number of 'hollowed out' areas, which function as small amphitheatres.
Species you may hear: Tropical Boubou, Blue Spotted Wood Dove, Spotted Morning Thrush, Grey-Backed Camaroptera..
Good times to listen are just before dawn and dusk, both around 6. Tanzania time is set at UTC+3 throughout the year.
The power supply and internet can be unreliable. Please be patient."
______________________________________
~ Kolkata, Jadavpur
"Location: Our home in Jadavpur, south Kolkata. Operator: Sukanta Majumdar, The Travelling Archive, thetravellingarchive.org
Sounds from a south Kolkata residential area. Microphone situated on the rooftop or beside the open window in my room.
About 70 years ago, Jadavpur used to be one of the outskirts of Kolkata. Many small industries developed here before and after Independence, in 1947; now they have all shut down. After Partition of the country and the creation of Pakistan, which happened also in 47, this was one of the places to which thousands of refugees flocked from then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Here they set up their new homes. It is a completely residential area now, although there is also Jadavpur University not far from our house.
Over the past two decades, the character of the locality as a refugees' colony has been rapidly changing.
The small, old houses are being demolished regularly. The trees in the courtyards are vanishing. The birds you see most of all are the crows and the sparrows. Some pigeons too. In springtime you can hear the cuckoos. And sometimes during a droopy summer mid-day, when everything is quiet and still, you will hear the distant eagle. Interestingly, with high speed fans and air-conditioning, I feel that the summer mid-days are quieter outside the house than inside! The market and the main road are not far. Since my house is located at the end of a small closed road, we hear mostly cycle-rickshaw horns, motorbikes and car horns passing through other surrounding lanes. The peddlers still come, to sell and buy new and old things. And, and each has his or her own call. People watch a lot of television. At night the watchman beats the ground with his stick and blows his whistle. And yes, some kind of construction noise comes from somewhere everyday.
______________________________________
via Cyberforest
~ Otanomo
from Shinshu University Institute of Nature Education in Shiga Heights (Shiga Nature Education Park, Nagano) ~ Yamanakako
from Fuji Iyashinomori Woodland Study Center, The University of Tokyo Forests (Yamanakako, Yamanashi)
~ Funadaike
from Funadaike pond, Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba (Chiba, Chiba)
~ Yatake
from Yatakezawa in The University of Tokyo Chichibu Forest (Chichibu, Saitama)
~ Tetto
From top of a observation tower(23m height) within natural beech forest in The University of Tokyo Chichibu Forest (Chichibu, Saitama)
~ Otohama
Coastal Soundscape from The University of Tokyo International Coastal Research Center (Otsuchi, Iwate)

Lobi van Beethoven


Sonata No.13 Op.27 No.1, 2.Allegro molto e vivace + balafon playing from Ghana
April 2016

2:O3

Vivaldi
Octave lower, half speed



Concerto RV 159 in La maggiore
1. Allegro
2. Adagio
3. Allegro

Concerto RV 271 "L'Amoroso" in Mi maggiore
1. Allegro
2. Cantabile
3. Allegro

The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock [direttore e cembalista]

Sunday morning bells
Padova, Italy, from Hotel Igea bedroom window, October 11, 2015



4:13, and in halftime: 2:06

Enlightening listening/viewing



Acoustic records of the underwater soundscape at PALAOA - Antarctica

Audio stream files, sound spectrum images and 24hr-to-1min timelapse videos above land on site (!!), 2005-2011: www.doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.773610
2013: www.doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.844106?format=html

""
Scientific background: Marine mammals use sound for communication, navigation and prey detection. Acoustic sensors therefore allow the detection of marine mammals, even during polar winter months, when restricted visibility prohibits visual sightings. The animals are surrounded by a permanent natural soundscape, which, in polar waters, is mainly dominated by the movement of ice. In addition to the detection of marine mammals, acoustic long-term recordings provide information on intensity and temporal variability of characteristic natural and anthropogenic background sounds, as well as their influence on the vocalization of marine mammals

Scientific objectives: The PerenniAL Acoustic Observatory in the Antarctic Ocean (PALAOA, Hawaiian "whale") near Neumayer Station is intended to record the underwater soundscape in the vicinity of the shelf ice edge over the duration of several years. These long-term recordings will allow studying the acoustic repertoire of whales and seals continuously in an environment almost undisturbed by humans. The data will be analyzed to (1) register species specific vocalizations, (2) infer the approximate number of animals inside the measuring range, (3) calculate their movements relative to the observatory, and (4) examine possible effects of the sporadic shipping traffic on the acoustic and locomotive behaviour of marine mammals.

The data, which are largely free of anthropogenic noise, provide also a base to set up passive acoustic mitigation systems used on research vessels. Noise-free bioacoustic data thereby represent the foundation for the development of automatic pattern recognition procedures in the presence of interfering sounds, e.g. propeller noise.

""

For more information, please have a look at their joint paper on the whole project HERE

fukanzazengi



Taisen Deshimaru chanting Dogen's fukanzazengi

7:50

ghau kilori

“The Aeolian organ [ghau kilori] is a wind instrument which is not played by man but blown by the wind. The instrument we recorded consists of four bamboo-canes (ghau), about 15 to 18 feet in length. After stripping off the foliage the men cut an opening in the internodes of the upper part of the canes…In practice, each cavity does not give one precise sound, but a multitude of harmonics, some of which emerge more clearly than others, depending on the force of the the wind. A real storm is needed for the Aeolian organ to be heard properly. On this recording the sound of the waves can be heard breaking on the shore and the leaves of the coconut palms and other trees rustling in the wind. The ghau kilori used to be built for one particular event: the committing of a body to the sea. The sound of the Aeolian organ was thought to call the spirit of the dead man back to his village before it went to dwell in the island of Malapa, situated off the south-east tip of Guadalcanal.” (OCR 74 liner notes)

2:15

An extraordinary musician; a truly original drummer and improviser in a language of rhythmic orchestration and dynamics, counterpoint in ideas, space, touch, spirit...
The recent passing of this dear friend and close associate of ours had a most profound affect on us all. The cause of his death was Mesothelioma. I saw him for the last time on October 26th at Tuft's Hospital in Boston.
I was first introduced to Johnny through violist Mat Maneri back in 2004. They already had a rapport going back many years, and a closely connected family style of improvisation developed with the father of it, Joe Maneri... something which can only really thoroughly be understood via aural transmission, listening and first-hand experience, rehearsals... Around the same time I also formed a quartet with Johnny, saxophonist Jonathan Moritz and Eivind Opsvik which we called THE UP.

Back in July of 2010 at a gig of guitarist Chris Welcome's quartet, I happened to have my camera with me and simply couldn't take it off Johnny. He was killing me! On display for all to see... At his best. Taking the music to levels only he could. On the day of his death, it suddenly hit me that it was time to release this footage. (For years I wasn't quite sure what to do with it, since it was essentially focused on him.) Luckily I had just gotten it back, as it was on a hard drive which had recently broken and cost me hundreds of dollars to get the data back from. It is the only video that exists of its kind, and a truly important document of his character which needs to be more widely understood and appreciated. He is so beautiful, so brilliant, entranced, serving the music so fully, so originally, so naturally. Watching it for me now is essentially prayer in his remembrance. I feel relieved that more people will see and hear him in action like this now. Chris's music too and the playing of all involved is also so important, so deeply connected, sympathetic, honest, inspired...
With love, I offer,

Do you know the arrangements for string orchestra of these late quartets?
Opus 131 by Dimitri Mitropoulos and Opus 135 by Leonard Bernstein.
Leonard Bernstein recorded them both with the Vienna Philharmonic...
Here is the Youtube link to the recording of Opus 131; and here the link to 135.
THIS is the actual album for purchase.
Also, the reductions for solo piano! Here is the pdf to opus 131; and here the one to 135.
And then of course the string parts... to 131; and 135...
An enlightening experience to read and play along with. Such masterpieces! And returning to them this way in the sound of full string orchestra performed at the highest level brings elements of Beethoven's genius to light... It blows my mind and my heart.
Op. 131 was recorded live and there's also a video of it: youtube.com/watch?v=g_x0S0JOpWw

A rare bootleg of the group headlining the Downbeat Jazz Festival. To quote from Coltrane: The Story of a Sound - "His performance at Soldier Field....has been understood as a famous breaking point - a Dylan-at-Newport, or a Rite of Spring. As with both of those examples, the challenge put forth from the artist to the audience is half-overstated and half-real. The set was 37 minutes long. The quartet, with Archie Shepp as an extra on tenor, yoked together a set out of the theme from "Nature Boy" and "Blue Valse."... It aggravated a great part of the crowd, prompting, according to some witnesses, a large exodus....casual jazz fans who had been in the sun all day at a free festival, listening to more straightforward performances by Woody Herman and Gerry Mulligan and Monk and Joe Williams..."

At a thrift shop I frequent on the upper west side of Manhattan where LPs are $1 each, a came across this record not knowing who Ervin Nyíregyházi was, just going by the jacket which made it clear these were historic recordings of someone quite phenomenal. It wasn't until the following day when I listened to the music and read the notes on the inside that in the matter of an hour my life was changed forever by the incredible story and pianism of this guy.
Links of interest: Wikipedia entry; Documentary posted on Youtube; the 2007 biography "Lost Genius" (priced at just cents! Oh, please get it...) ; Various recordings and memorabilia

Also just discovered, the remaining out of print CBS recordings from the 1978 sessions (as of side A on the LP above), and in fact the only studio recordings which exist of him. This piano playing is about the most engaging I have ever experienced. The gravity of his sound and time... A window through to the truth; this man's spiritual life message. So important... so one-of-a-kind...

Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 21:26
Hans Rosbaud, cond., Symphony Orchestra of the Southwest German Radio, Baden-Baden











Srimati M.S Subbulakshmi

Amazing...



A. Sri Venkatesa Suprabhatam 20:39 B. Bhavayami 19:52






Takahashi Kuzan

Takahashi Kuzan (1900-1986) was born in Hokkaido and grew up in Yamagata in the Northern part of Japan. Initiated in Jû-jutsu (bare fisted fight), Ken (fencing), Naginata and Yari (lances), Shuriken (projectiles) and Yumi (archery), he traveled throughout Japan on pilgrimage for the secrets of Fuke Shakuhachi. It is mentioned in the document The Temple of Myoan of the Mountain Kyorei by Tsukamoto Kido that "Kuzan was transmitted with the essence of Shakuhachi from Kobayashi Shizan, Okazaki Meidô, Katsuura Shôzan, and mastered the art of the different schools Kinpû-ryû, Kaidô-ryû, and Nin-ryû. It is said that he received the transmission of more than 250 pieces of the traditional repertory. His playing was different from Nyozan and he is the greatest and the most recognized player of the modern age." Kuzan eventually settled in Tokyo where he opened a dojo to teach the three traditional pillars of komuso art, "teki zen ken" - shakuhachi, zazen and martial arts, as well as calligraphy. He became widely renowned as a master of shakuhachi and preserver of the old traditions - pieces which were learned from the last remaining players and preserved in no other lineages, in particular the Honkyoku repertoire of Fusaiji in Ise and repertoire of Shinobu-ryu. He was also known for his science and mastery of the Hitoyogiri, Satsuma Biwa and Hichiriki instruments.

This very rare recording is the only album by Kuzan, and it's one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard.

Take no Hibiki or The Sound of Bamboo

1. Kyorei 4:29
2. Shinseki 3:00
3. Tsuru no Sugomori 10:34
4. Sagariha 1:30
5. Mushi no Ne 3:15
6. Nezasaha Shirabe 4:09
7. Sanya 5:12
8. Gematsu 4:56










Dduukkee Eelllliinnggttoonn

Simultaneously the 1944 & 1946 recordings of Duke Ellington's orchestra at Carnegie Hall playing "The Blues" from Black, Brown and Beige. Marie Ellington sings in the 1944 version, Joya Sherrill the one from '46. Al Sears tenor saxophone on both.

5:35





Oh D minor...


Oh my D-minor loves... Mozart's Requiem superimposed over Coltrane's Impressions live at the Village Vanguard

8:21







The sound of the wall in the apartment next door being destroyed

10:45













Albert Ayler interviews

1964, 1966, 1970





John Coltrane interview
Japan, 1966



11:39







One of the truly random voicemails you can get as a trombonist in New York City. Pretty hilarious I think. No idea who this was, how he got my number...

:34

"Feldman loved to challenge students' assumptions about what ideas were au courant, about which composers were radical and which were conservative. He proclaimed, for example, a love for Sibelius, who had long been derided in progressive circles as a retrograde Romantic. When I visited the small archive of Feldman papers at SUNY Buffalo, I came across an exam paper in which the composer asked his students to analyze Sibelius's Fifth Symphony alongside Webern's Concerto Opus 24" — Alex Ross, New Yorker Magazine

Superimposed...

Sibelius 5 + Webern Op. 24

Sibelius 4 + Feldman Piano Concerto & Cello Concerto








Pablo Casals LP



SIDE 1
SIDE 2




Alternate takes
March 2010

Superimposed...

It dawned on me how on a lot of the old jazz records, alternate takes were often about the same length. Revisiting some of these albums after many years and listening to them with these tracks superimposed offered an exciting new insight into the sound of this music, perspectives on autonomy and indeterminacy very relevant in improvisation, and a joyous expansion on these musicians' sounds and song, multiplying aspects of this aural history into an abstracted afterlife of collage. So simple and so affecting! I am grateful to be able to share this...

Stellar Regions (2 takes)
Sun Star (2)





All tracks simultaneously (8)





All tracks simultaneously (6)





Nature Boy (2 takes)





Check Out Time (2)





Broad Way Blues (2)





All tracks simultaneously (6)





Exotica (2)





Like Sonny (2)
I'll Wait and Pray (2)





Body and Soul (2)





Giant Steps (11)
Naima (4)
Cousin Mary (2)
Countdown (2)





Tunji (4)
Impressions (2)





Africa (2)
Greensleeves (2)





Leap Frog (3)
Relaxin with Lee (3)
An Oscar for Treadwell (2)
Mohawk (2)
My Melancholy Baby (2)
Laura (2)
I'm in the Mood for Love (2)
I'll Remember April (2)
Au Privave (2)
She Wrote (2)
Why Do I Love You (3)
Swedish Schnapps (2)
Bach Home Blues (2)
La Cucaracha (2)
Estrellita (3)
Kim (2)
Cosmic Rays (2)
In the Still of the Night (4)
Old Folks (3)
Chi Chi (4)
I Get a Kick Out of You (4)
Love For Sale (2)
I Love Paris (2)





I Remember You (3)
You Don't Know What Love Is (2)
Foolin' Myself (2)
It's You Or No One (2)
Out of Nowhere (2)





There's Danger in Your Eyes (2)





Cherokee (2)
Carvin' the Rock (2)
Wail Bait (2)





Verdandi (2)
Dalarna (2)





Gypsy Without A Song (2)





Yokada, Yokada (2)





Ode to Von (2)
Smokestack (2)





Pumpkin (2)





Black (2)











The hunting horns of Royale Foret Saint-Hubert!

1. La Saint Hubert 0'52
2. Le Nouveau Depart 0'49
3. Le Clocher de Dampierre 1'10
4. La Royale 0'39




The sound of...


24 pianos
All 24 Opus 87 Preludes by Shostakovich begun simultaneously,
directly followed by all the Fugues, in the same fashion.
1. 11:28


Seven sublime recordings of different "Nocturno Responsorium" by Gesualdo played simultaneously
1. 4:45






Zabaleta x 3


17:57

Three LPs of harpist Nicanor Zabaleta begun simultaneously, conducted with the volume knobs.
Left: Record 2, Side 1 - 18th century: CPE Bach and Beethoven's Variations on a Swiss Theme
Center: Record 3, Side 2 - Modern French and Spanish: Caplet, Pittaluga, Tournier, Haiffter
Right: Record 1, Side 1 - 16th century: Anonymous, Mudarra, Narvaez, Cabezon, Milan, Palero







Pauline Kael And Stan Brakhage (1964?)

”Legendary film critic Pauline Kael is captured here in conversation with filmmaker Stan Brakhage. While the tape is incomplete, we do hear Brakhage defend his practice, his epic film DOG STAR MAN, his influences, his search for ‘ a happening in structure’… Brakhage proudly declares: ‘I'm an amateur filmmaker, I make home movies.’” —Ubu.com, Rare Audio from Anthology Film Archives
________________________________


Stan Brakhage... nothing could stop him, His Life was his Art... But Pauline Kael?? Never made a film in her entire life, and became an esthetic snob who found a sense of "prestige" for herself by trying to get in between artists and their work and its audience rather than make her own... in other words, attempting to almost take away credit from the artist and use it to build her own sense of "notoriety" or "achievement"...








The Seven Themes


Playing simultaneously all seven of "The Theme"s from the Plugged Nickel recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet

The Themes 10:22



Szeryng, Milstein, Heifetz


Three LPs combined of them each playing Bach's G minor violin sonata

Szeryng-Milstein-Heifetz 16:42



Gurdjieff


A beautiful record of G.I. Gurdjieff's piano music. The only information on it is "played by Thomas de Hartmann." There is no date or label.

Side 1, Side 2



Beethreeven


Three LPs mixed together of three different string quartets (the Budapest, Amadeus and Yale) each playing the adagio from Beethoven's A-minor opus 132

1. Molto adagio - Andante - Molto adagio 17:15







Baby Records
Two beat-up copies of the same old favorite baby record playing from two portable suitcase turntables simultaneously



Sides 1

Sides 2






Kol Nidre in Moscow
September 15, 1956





side 1 23:39 side 2 22:05 side 3 21:52 side 4 23:21








March 14, 2008

The sound of all Bach's Goldberg Variations playing simultaneously - Glenn Gould, 1981.

1. Goldberg Variations Variation 6:03











February 24, 2008

Olivier Messiaen's Livre d'Orgue, which I recorded organist Gail Archer performing in a free concert given at Rutgers Presbyterian Church on w. 73rd St.

1. Reprises par Interversion 7:47
2. Piece en Trio 2:05
3. Les Mains de l'Abime 6:24
4. Chants d'Oiseaux 9:54
5. Piece en Trio 10:19
6. Les Yeux Dans les Roues 2:15
7. Soixante Quatre Durees 11:37







Mirra Alfassa



Also known as The Mother, I recently came across Mirra Alfassa for the first time in the sixth episode of Louis Malle's Phantom India (1969), at the ashram of Pondicherry. Alfassa was the spiritual guru to that area. Cameramen were not allowed to film her, only record her voice. What she said, the sound of her voice - I was so struck by it... This is a beautiful book...

The Mother speaks 1:36

Translation: It never happens the same way twice. Generally, it happens when we least expect it. And it’s usually when we’ve surrendered our so-called knowledge, our convictions, and abandoned all hope that we enter a state where we’re able to receive it. Revelation is always present. It’s always here. We’re the ones who don’t let it in. Knowledge is always present. Enlightenment is always present, floating above everything, ready to be received. It’s only because we’re so completely blinded by everything we think we know and want to do that we can’t receive it. But at the moment we surrender, for whatever reason, it makes us a bit passive and open, and that’s when we receive it.
...





"Phantom India"



Hours of beautiful footage documented by filmmaker Louis Malle in the early 1960s. This has just recently been made available on dvd, and I couldn't more highly recommend something to see, or hear. So for that matter, here are the sound environments of it all which I recorded and spliced out the French commentary from

episode 1 - the impossible camera 15:27
episode 2 - things seen in madras 17:34
episode 3 - the indians and the sacred 17:00
episode 4 - dream and reality 19:47
episode 5 - a look at castes 25:26
episode 6 - on the fringes of indian society 10:44
episode 7 - bombay 28:10







Turkish ney solo



Manipulated with the fast-forward and rewind buttons on a cd player.
November 17, 2007

1. Track 1 8:30








music for MORT


Musical excerpts from the play MORT, which I arranged and performed music for in its first two and only performances on August 3 and 4, 2006. These particular collage pieces consist of sound only from music by Morton Feldman. They were assembled collaboratively with tenor saxophonist/composer Sam Hillmer

#24
Broken Music
Himalayas
Jigsaw
Luft






Impressions x 10



July 7, 2007

The sound of ten different recordings of John Coltrane playing "Impressions" going simulatenously. Rather difficult to listen to, but interesting I think...

1. "Impressions x 10" 20:54









FRACTAL



March 4, 2006

The sound of a bell I sampled and explored, from an old episode of Police Squad (the joke was a suspect's name, Eddie Cassalas, "rang a bell," so a bell kept going off).

"FRACTAL"






RACHMANINOFF OFF



Rachmaninoff-off 3:37








SOUND COLLAGE
July 2005

Various musical excerpts affected and blended together with the computer.


Collage



BEATSHELL 1.4
April 18, 2005

In collaboration with drummer, composer and long-time friend Doug Hirlinger, Beatshell 1.4 was assembled over the course of many weeks, sending a sound file back and forth to each other through e-mail. An initial sample from an electronic piece by composer Charles Wuornen got us going, from which point sounds were set from sources such as Fellini's Satyricon (Ilhan Mimaroglu), Kieslowski's Dekalog, Morton Feldman, Mario Davidovsky, Olivier Messiaen, Bela Bartok, Alban Berg, John Cage, Harrison Birtwistle, George Crumb... many old things going back to the days of mini disc recorders and the Manhattan School of Music library.

Beatshell 1.4



CHINATOWN RECORDINGS, LOOPS



1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16