Skip to main content

Philip Glass’s “Part 10 of Music in Twelve Parts” (1990)

 

Listening to this piece again, this time not in class but on YouTube, I notice a comment someone wrote underneath this record: “To me this has always sounded like a complex mathematical equation gradually working itself out audibly.” Strangely, this really describes a suiting imagery for this piece. However, my imagination draws a connection to nature. For me, this piece sounds more so like the later stage of a dandelion. A gust of wind blows all those little pieces into the universe. Each of their own flies in another direction and later settles down where it can create a new flower. The additional background music starting at ca. 03:00 minutes draws, at least for me, the picture of a green flower meadow in the middle of a forest alley. Glass’ piece is not at all to fast in rhythm for the imagery of a forest ecosystem. I picture all those single tones as symbols for living beings, which all together are signs of life. Additionally, as a listener I am able to concentrate on one single note or even on a group of tones, which for me really illustrates how I would be able to tune out other sounds in order to listen to the singing of a bird in the forest. The sounds are overall light and similar in a way that helps to endure the fast rhythmic pattern. Also, particularly this piece of art by Glass plays with those patters: to be exact with one large main pattern and several smaller sub patterns. An almost mathematical pattern and repetition is also something we can find in nature, to be more precise in for instance flowers. Thus, the commentary of this other listener can be connected to my association. 

Glass’ “Part 10 of Music in Twelve Parts” is from those listened to in class from this composer, the one that captivates me he most. Therefore, I will definitely be looking into those other parts of this series as I can honestly image that I would listen to this one in my free time.

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

Pierre Schaeffer - Étude pathétique

  Pierre Schaefer begins the piece with sounds produced by drums and similar percussion instruments. One hears the sound of an object spinning and then coming to a stop. I assume it is a circular object, like a cymbal or hi-hat of a drum kit, that spins until it comes to a stop. Sounds of a locomotive follow, continuing with a mixture of drums and spinning objects as well as voices. There are slight parallels here with another piece by Schaeffer, "etude aux chemins de fer," in which he has the musical piece consist of sounds of trains and locomotives. I also recognize an accordion and a violin playing rapidly, accompanied by human sounds that are not really decipherable. By combining all these background sounds and using human voices, Schaeffer creates an exciting atmosphere while listening to the piece, and the listener's auditory senses are constantly challenged to decipher all the details of the sounds. At times one could be reminded of a scene from a scary movie, at l...
Post a Comment
Read more