Skip to main content

Listening Report- Meredith Monk’s “Ascent”

 Always following my basic principle of judgement, that is my instinct and my feelings, I will analyze the song Ascent written by Meredith Monk, a brilliant composer who has dedicated her entire life to musical experimentation and the creation of sophisticated theatrical performances.

This track belongs to the album Songs of Ascension, released in 2011, which contains 21 songs that represent a sort of voyage towards the Ascension. The last song of this album is indeed called “Ascent” and stands for the end of a long journey towards light and a higher spirituality.

This composition, that belongs to the genre of Minimalism, presents itself as really complex and sophisticated in its apparent simplicity: the number of instruments involved is high and what is really interesting is the relationship between the music and the different voice tones, which present a contrast between high and low sounds. This song is tribal, it recalls something primitive and ancient; If I could associate an image with this song, I would associate a group of people dancing around a fire during a religious ritual. In my fantasy, everyone is engaged in this wild, free, Dionysian dance, in which the real essence of human being is set free and let go with the flow of life, trying to reach a higher state of existence, perception, self-awareness and peace. 

What I really love about this piece, which also characterizes Monk’s production, is that it is complete, a real “total work of art”: Meredith Monk is pure genius, because she always put together her ideas without leaving anything out in order to create a product that involves and moves all the senses of the audience, that cannot help but get excited.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure

 Sarah Kumar Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath The Future of (American) Music 06 Mar. 2023 Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure According to John Oswald, “[a] plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something familiar which has already been recorded” (Lecture Slides 18). However, only if the source stays recognizable can it be called plunderphonics. In his album Plexure , several songs are played back and mixed together, thus creating a new sound. This is interesting because while the excerpts of songs that are used are recognizable or at least sound familiar to some degree, played backwards and mashed up as they are in Plexure , they create a new sound. Like on the cover of the album, on which a collage making up a man can be seen, the mixing of different songs played backwards gives a new feeling to something known. The way the songs are mixed makes them unintelligible. The meaning of the words of the original recordings are not able to be compr...
Post a Comment
Read more

William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops III

  The Disintegration Loops is a quartet of albums published in 2002 and 2003 by American avant-garde composer William Basinski. The pieces are made up of tape loop recordings that were played over time, with noise and crackles rising as the tape deteriorated. Basinski noticed this effect when attempting to convert his older recordings to digital format. The completion of the recordings coincided with the September 11, 2001 events, which Basinski witnessed and adds a deeper meaning to the composition. The composition is fascinating in many ways and makes the listener lose track of time. The tape loop recording had a very calming effect on me and put me in a trance-like state when I listened to it in its entirety. The tape loop is really soothing, so much so that I didn't even notice the loss of quality when I first listened to it. It makes you forget about time and allows you to really get into the piece capturing the calmness it exudes. You forget or don't really notice how i...
Post a Comment
Read more

John Cage – Inlets

  This does not sound like music to me. Depending on the interpretation of different players or performers, this piece will always sound different. In this case, it sounds to me like someone is walking through a cave with water at the bottom, dragging their feet through it. Sometimes it sounds like water in a toilet bowl, especially when we hear the water in a bigger shell being swished around. These sounds are relaxing in the background, it is like a gentle stream of water. I just wonder what went through the head of the composer while writing this piece. But I guess he had some experimental ideas that are interesting to try out. Those shells are quite pretty, I have never seen such big ones that are not broken. I was surprised when something else happened towards the end of the piece. That tone which came out of the one shell was so clear, it sounded like a trumpet. I didn’t know that shells can sound like that. It was quite beautiful. It was a nice way to end the piece. I di...
Post a Comment
Read more