Sorabji vs Microwave Background Radiation Hiss

[thalbergmad]

Here is 12 hours of the hiss for free.
It is likely to last another 15 billion years which is about the same as Sorabji.

[brogers70]

I'm not that keen on Sorabji, but that hiss sounds terrible - like loud air handlers on a poorly ventilated ship, just awful.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Without doubt, a modern-day classic. 

[thalbergmad]

Without doubt, a modern-day classic. 

Sorabji or the radiation?
The radiation was not discovered until 1968 so it is somewhat later than Sorabji's Primordial Bollocks.

[ahinton]

Without doubt, a modern-day classic. 

Who, Thal? Why, of course!

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

The thread title appears to imply some kind of perceived competition between the two phenomena, only one of which involves composition, a piano and Jonathan Powell; as such, it seems pretty daft to me, especially since there is no conceivable connection between them.

Ah, well, it takes all sorts, one may suppose.

As for Sorabji's "Primordial Bollocks", I am unqualified to comment, since I have never seen them.

That said, Jonathan Powell's recording of Sequentia Cyclica reached position #2 in the Amazon hot picks list earlier today and has since dropped only to position #5 (see https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/new-releases/music/697386 ), which presumably counts for something; I didn't notice "Microwave Background Radiation Hiss" anywhere on that list, which likewise speaks for itself.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

That said, Jonathan Powell's recording of Sequentia Cyclica reached position #2 in the Amazon hot picks list earlier today and has since dropped only to position #5 (see https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/new-releases/music/697386 ), which presumably counts for something; I didn't notice "Microwave Background Radiation Hiss" anywhere on that list, which likewise speaks for itself.

Best,

Alistair

You wouldnt find it on Amazon as it is free.

Thal

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Almost 81k plays of it as well!

[thalbergmad]

The thread title appears to imply some kind of perceived competition between the two phenomena, only one of which involves composition, a piano and Jonathan Powell; as such, it seems pretty daft to me, especially since there is no conceivable connection between them.

The connection between them is that they both represent an almost endless racket.

[thalbergmad]

Almost 81k plays of it as well!

A bugger site more than Sorabji will get.

[ahinton]

You wouldnt find it on Amazon as it is free.

Thal

But I'm not looking for it! I'm quite happy for Jonathan Powell's recording to proceed and get the accolades that it deserves.

Best,

Alistair

[outin]

That hiss is so addictive...just listen carefully and after a while things start to happen and  it starts communicating to you.

Now I need to get the Sorabji recording for comparison. I'll get back to you!

[perfect_pitch]

This is just *** GOLD!!!

I'm just going to sit back, eat popcorn and watch this thread devolve into a pissing match.

[thalbergmad]

That hiss is so addictive...just listen carefully and after a while things start to happen and  it starts communicating to you.

Now I need to get the Sorabji recording for comparison. I'll get back to you!

Save yourself the torture and just listen to the ending.

Thal

[perfect_pitch]

Save yourself the torture and just listen to the ending.

Yeah, sorry to say it Alistair, but technically there's almost no difference between the above YouTube audio... and a trio of monkeys bashing the sh*t out of a piano.

That was HORRIFYING!!!

[thalbergmad]

It was a waste of ink and paper. 8 hours of meaningless bashing.
Not worth the money.
Thal

[ahinton]

It was a waste of ink and paper. 8 hours of meaningless bashing.
Not worth the money.
Thal

To you, perhaps, but why might you suppose that Jonathan Powell - an artist whom I know you admire and respect - has been prepared to invest so much time and energy in preparing his performances and recording of this work? Just curious...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

That hiss is so addictive...just listen carefully and after a while things start to happen and  it starts communicating to you.

Now I need to get the Sorabji recording for comparison. I'll get back to you!

At least you're preared to acquire it, even if your reason for so doing is questionable...

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Yeah, sorry to say it Alistair, but technically there's almost no difference between the above YouTube audio... and a trio of monkeys bashing the sh*t out of a piano.

That was HORRIFYING!!!

I have to say that I have never encountered any number of monkeys doing anything at a piano; presumably you have, so feel qualified to pronounce upon it.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

It was a waste of ink and paper. 8 hours of meaningless bashing.
Not worth the money.
Thal

Not your ink. Not your paper. Not your practice and preparation. Not your efforts in preparing the score edition or making the recording. Not your problem, then.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

To you, perhaps, but why might you suppose that Jonathan Powell - an artist whom I know you admire and respect - has been prepared to invest so much time and energy in preparing his performances and recording of this work? Just curious...

Best,

Alistair

Perhaps because he likes playing to half empty halls and low CD sales.
Perhaps that is why he was publicly talking about finding another job.
He needs to play more late romantics and less of this inane note spinning.
Thal

[outin]

At least you're preared to acquire it, even if your reason for so doing is questionable...

Best,

Alistair

I actually like most of the Sorabji works I have heard so it would not take much to convince me to get it. I simply think Thal has chosen to not open his mind to sounds and music that do not fit his perception of meaningful. That includes the hiss.

Of course that is perfectly ok, I feel the same way about Mozart and Beethoven...to me most of their works are waste of airspace...

[thalbergmad]

I actually like most of the Sorabji works I have heard so it would not take much to convince me to get it. I simply think Thal has chosen to not open his mind to sounds and music that do not fit his perception of meaningful. That includes the hiss.

Of course that is perfectly ok, I feel the same way about Mozart and Beethoven...to me most of their works are waste of airspace...

I have tried though. I did sit through half a live performance of the OC.
My God I was glad to get out of that hall.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Lmaooooooooooooooo

[ted]

I think the trouble with me is that I am too broadminded and have a problem rejecting anything. I rather liked the above ending and listened to it several times. Yes, I shall consider buying that recording in the new year if I have any money left after Christmas. But then it's only about the cost of half a dozen hamburgers isn't it. I like a lot of old fashioned music too though, and in general feel that "both" is a more satisfying and stimulating aesthetic stance than "either/or" when it comes to art and music. 

[perfect_pitch]

I have to say that I have never encountered any number of monkeys doing anything at a piano; presumably you have, so feel qualified to pronounce upon it.

No problem... I am glad I could give some insight into this thread.

[thalbergmad]

The hiss appears to be winning. Rightly so.

Thal

[ahinton]

Perhaps because he likes playing to half empty halls and low CD sales.
Perhaps that is why he was publicly talking about finding another job.
He needs to play more late romantics and less of this inane note spinning.
Thal

He plays plenty of Romantics and late-Romantics; Liszt Sonata and other works, several late Chopin pieces, all the Rachmaninoff Études-tableux and second sonata, Szymanowski, second sonata and B flat minor variations, various works by Medtner and Godowsky, Albéniz's Iberia and Granados' Goyescas, to name but a few.

Sorabji might represent "inane note spinning" to you (fine if that's how you fee about it) but doesn't to others and, if that's all it was, why would Jonathan bother with any of it?

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

I have tried though. I did sit through half a live performance of the OC.
My God I was glad to get out of that hall.

Good for you for giving it a go. But you don't have to like it. Lots of people don't like Bach either.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

The hiss appears to be winning. Rightly so.

Thal

I neither know nor care, frankly.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

I neither know nor care, frankly.

Best,

Alistair

If that were the case, you would not be posting in this thread.

[ahinton]

If that were the case, you would not be posting in this thread.

Why so? I can have an opinion and express it just as can anyone else here or elsewhere. The hiss nonsense is just that - nonsense. If some members here want to have hissy fits they're welcome to do so. I can express my view whether anyone agrees or not, just as can anyone else here - and I have done.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

That is a terrible thing to say about the hiss.
It is far superior to anything written by Snorabji.
You are a hissist Sir.
Thal

[ahinton]

That is a terrible thing to say about the hiss.
It is far superior to anything written by Snorabji.
You are a hissist Sir.
Thal

I did not comment upon the hiss itself; my reference to "nonsense" relates specifically and clearly to the notion of comparing it to any piece of composed music.

Again, what you express about it is your opinion alone (to the extent, if any, that it can be taken seriously and believed as a genuine opinion) and clearly not shared by the artist concerned, or by anyone involved in the recording project Including those who are financing it), Amazon classical hot picks or indeed anyone planning on purchasing copies of the discs.

Nothing wrong with you expressing a personal opinion (as long as that is what it is), provided that you recognise that others take a different one.

I do not know what a "hissist" is but am nevertheless certain that I am not one such.

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

This is just *** GOLD!!!

I'm just going to sit back, eat popcorn and watch this thread devolve into a pissing match.

A hissing match, surely?

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

Another diametric difference between the two is implicit in the thread title; the hiss is and is meant to be in the background whereas the very opposite would have to be be said of Sequentia cyclica.

Moreover, whereas radiation characterises this hiss, there are passage of true radiance in Sequentia cyclica.

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Great, if you can tolerate 8 hours of dross to find them.

[ahinton]

Great, if you can tolerate 8 hours of dross to find them.

"Dross" in your opinion, of course! Might it not have occurred to you that Jonathan of all people would not likely have spent the many hundreds of hours preparing his performances and recording of this piece had it consisted mainly of "dross" with just a handful of radiant passages in there somewhere? You don't have to like the piece - of course you don't! - but do at least try to give Jonathan due credit for his musical judgement as well as his extraordinary playing...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

If he had a greater musical judgement, he wouldn't be playing crap like this to half empty halls.

[ahinton]

If he had a greater musical judgement, he wouldn't be playing crap like this to half empty halls.

The number of people who attend concerts of any music is very much down to the effectiveness or otherwise of the marketing. That said, I assume from what you write that you respect Jonathan's playing but not his judgement as to what he chooses to play; is that the case?

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

For once you are correct.
Had to happen eventually.

[lostinidlewonder]

The number which attend the concerts I think is irrelevant to the pianist. If you look at his interactions with others online (eg: youtube) you will see he doesn't care who knows him or follows his music.

Btw, good luck marketing piano solo music which goes on for hours on end for a concert program, I would think that bit of information would turn off those who would have otherwise unwittingly purchased a ticket (only to walk out before the end).

[ahinton]

The number which attend the concerts I think is irrelevant to the pianist. If you look at his interactions with others online (eg: youtube) you will see he doesn't care who knows him or follows his music.

Btw, good luck marketing piano solo music which goes on for hours on end for a concert program, I would think that bit of information would turn off those who would have otherwise unwittingly purchased a ticket (only to walk out before the end).

Be all of that as it may or may not, the good luck that you mention in terms of marketing might as well be directed towards Piano Classics (a division of Brilliant Classics), the record company that is knowingly about to release a 7-CD boxed set of one Sorabji piano work shortly to be followed by a 2-CD boxed set of another and, some time later this year, a further CD of shorter Sorabji pieces - and, for that matter, also towards the long established Swedish record label BIS, which is soon to issue Vols. VII & VII of Sorabji's 100 Transcendental Studies; Brilliant / Piano Classics are both commercial businesses that, whilst I doubt that they anticipate making fortunes from these recordings, have nevertheless to make commercial decisions as to what they take on and release.

You write
"The number which attend the concerts I think is irrelevant to the pianist"
There are certainly cases where this not merely applies but simply has to apply. I recall an especially egregious example in which I attended a performance of a large-scale Sorabji piano work years ago in a prestigious festival in a hall that holds well over 2,000 and located in a large European city but only 50+ people turned up for it; this was hardly surprising, however, since the festival organisers had done all of the publicity for it using the wrong date for the performance and failed to notice this until it was far too late.

Best,

Alistair

[ranjit]

So it's a tie for now

I rather like the ending. It has a very strong rhythm kind of resembling the end of a Liszt piece to my ear. I find it interesting to have a strong rhythm while having a "crazy" harmony. The opposite is also interesting -- having a good melody which changes key signature every half a second gives a nice destabilizing effect.

The microwave background hiss is just static. There is no sense of development. On the other hand, maybe I'll work the Scriabin ending into one of my improvisations someday.

[thalbergmad]

I rather like the ending too. It's like being in the final 2 minutes of a 30 year prison sentence.
Thal

[ahinton]

I rather like the ending too. It's like being in the final 2 minutes of a 30 year prison sentence.

That begs at least two questions.

1. Would you think to describe it as such if you did not know that it is preceded by around 500 minutes of music?

2. Have you ever experienced a 30 year prison sentence and, if so, are you accordingly able to testify to what its final two minutes feels like?

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

1. No
2. 20 years at the Co-op is pretty close.

[ahinton]

1. No
2. 20 years at the Co-op is pretty close.

1. I'd thought not!
2. Ha ha!

Ha ha happy New Year!

Best,

Alistair

[gep]

I note Sequentia is currently in the lead...

[brogers70]

I note Sequentia is currently in the lead...

Definitely more interesting than white noise.