Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks" came out at the end of 1968. Nothing had ever been done like it. Not close. Rock n' roll changed with that album, and from what you're telling me, this is where prog rock started. I'm posting a short cut from the album so that you'll know what I'm talking about.
Let's talk music, no genre boundaries
This is an offshoot of the jazz thread. I and others found that we could not talk about jazz without discussing other musical genres, as well as the philosophy of music. So, this is a thread in which people can suggest good music of all genres, and spout off your feelings about music itself.
Showing 20 responses by audio-b-dog
And yet Wordsworth was a great poet. The Beethoven of English poetry, in that he began the Romantic era for poetry. It's amazing the way the arts correspond with similar changes around the same time. Late in the 19th century we have Impressionistic music and art. Maybe in writing too, if we count Rimbaud. |
I don't think I'll ever buy a CD again. I have over 1,000 CDs which I play using my streamer's D/A converter. Although, many CDs I own are on Qobuz as much richer files. A CD samples 44.1 thousand times a second with a 16-bit word length. Often the same album is offered on Qobuz with up to 192K sampling and a 24-bit word length. All the math doesn't really matter. It sounds much better. I had the same resistance as @stuartk. I dismissed streaming, thinking I had enough music with 1,000 vinyl records and over 1,000 CDs. Being on this forum and the jazz forum has really got me using my streamer a lot. It's part of my ethos to try to keep up with new things. I don't want to be an old man who is totally out of it. I want to keep surprising my granddaughters. Also, when @stuartk introduced me to Wayne Shorter, I probably would have bought an album or two until I heard how rich his albums sounded on Qobuz. I don't need to go out and buy them on vinyl. I feel like I own the albums of his that I like. Just plug in Wayne Shorter's name and there is nearly all the albums he ever recorded. |
Good question. Although, I do know that there is still a lot of "pure" science research going on. The Cern collider costs many billions of dollars to look for the Higgs particle. Now that they've found it, they have no idea what to do with it. I used it in my book to make a time leap. That was worth billions. |
On the AI issue, I think it will also be used in science. I watched a series last night called "Mind in the Universe." It talked about science. One episode was about a scientist trying to create simple life forms made made of something other than carbon and water. He assumes that life around the universe uses varied chemical structures. AI was instrumental in his endeavor. |
The idea of physics through a feminine lens and problems with entropy are mine. The idea that there must be a creative force is mine. I got these ideas from reading books like "The Tao of Physics" and "Gaia" and many others. Chatgbt did not lead me along, I led it along. I have long wondered about space and why it has been so overlooked, until recently, by physics. The book "Gaia" gave me ideas about a creative force in the universe. If you could see the very long process I spent with chatgbt, you would know that chatgbt was not feeding me nonsense just to please me. Many times I tried to lead it in a direction and it opposed me. It is a fact that women have had little to do with the writing of physics. That is why I thought that physics overlooks the creative force. The concept of entropy has long seemed problematic to me. How is it measured that the creation of a human or any life form creates more entropy than the value of the form? How does one count the quality or quantity of a human being versus entropy? Anyway, these are my ideas and I was helped by chatgbt to organize them and bring them into line with modern physics ideas. I can show you blogs I wrote twenty years ago about books on string theory. These thoughts are not new to me. I've been thinking about them a very long time. |
I am reassured by what you say, not insulted. But we need to find a way to take this discussion out of this forum. Would you try direct messaging me. Once when @stuartk did it, I received an email I could respond to. My Audiogon screen is screwed up and doesn't allow me to send out DMs. |
I will listen tomorrow. I would venture to guess that most people listen to music most of the time for pleasure or entertainment. I think you are unique in mostly listening for spiritual reasons. Although, I'm not sure what you mean by "spiritual." You have posted a number of sacred pieces in the Christian tradition, however, I'm guessing that your definition of spirituality goes beyond Christianity. I am assuming that you grew up in Russia because you say that many Russian artists became part of your youth. I think in the U.S. most people have nostalgia about popular music. I am now listening to Roberta Flack's "First Take." I loved this album the first time I heard it. Flack's musical background is from Black churches. And she sings some spirituals, but mostly she has an esoteric view of popular music and chooses wonderful pieces to sing. Here's the album if you haven't heard it. Over the 50 years I have been assembling a system, thanks to work bonuses and inheritences, I've put together a good system. Nothing at the stratospheric top, but something that sounds very good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDUk9Lsy_yQ&list=PLNPGM2D7aODfCsJa2fNQqXpbkHF_OeOMl |
I just purchased a new phono cartridge I am trying to break in, so I'm not streaming for a while and can't listen to your suggestions. I thank you though for those that have gotten through to me. In a few weeks I'll be able to sample things again. But throw less at me. I can perhaps at most listen to one piece every few days. Thanks |
Quite a 40-year journey. I believe that music defined our species, Homos sapiens, along with other arts. If I remember correctly, @frogman cited a 60-thousand-year-old flute found among the Neanderthals. For now, I guess I will lump Homos sapiens and Neanderthals togeter since most of us have some Neanderthal DNA. I think in the beginning music was as @mahgister said, spiritual, whatever that meant to ancient humanity. Today I think music serves so many purposes. Beauty, nostalgia, sex, perhaps the gamut of human desires. It certainly is a big business, and most of what is purchased won't be around very long. As opposed to Beethoven's Violin Concerto, which I am now listening to, as I test out my new cartridge. Best of luck on your venture. I think it's a fascinating one. |
I just bought a ticket to see Aknhatan at the LA Opera next March because you said it was so good. Thank you. Just keep throwing music out and I'll listen when I can. This is the first cartridge I've bought that I actually have been able to tune using my ear. Too bad all these abilities come so late in life. But at least they come. I listened to a famous Caesar Franck violin sonata. Everytime I hear him I wonder why I've never listened to him more. I like that the birds are teaching you guitar. In the end, music is music. I am reading a book on consciousness written by a philosopher. I think he will prove (or suggest?) that the universe is conscious. And thus music. |
I have finished playing around with my new cartridge for today so I have turned to Tatiana Nikolayeva. I am listening to her play Beethoven sonatas, some of which I know pretty well. I am listening to her play #18, The Hunt. I know this piece quite well. I have an album of Artur Rubinstein playing it on his 90th birthday. He approaches it like childplay and plays it with a kind of childish glee. I have never heard anyone I liked as much playing the piece, but I think Nikolayeva has a style as unique and enjoyable as Rubinstein. I needed to get away from Scriabin, whom I don't know well and understand, to a composer I do know, in order to judge her playing. I am coming to your opinion that she is one of the greats of the 20th century. |
My broad philosophy after all these years on earth is that it is stupid to spend money on something you won't use or enjoy. I don't go out to places where you wear expensive clothes (if they exist anymore--people wear shorts to the LA Phil). I won't wear them. Both my wife and I have old cars. We don't really need new, nice ones. We've had new nice ones and they didn't make any difference in our lives. Now, when it comes to audio, I listen to it every day. I always have it on when I'm writing on this forum. I have never purchased a piece of audio I couldn't afford or appreciate. I had a pair of Apogee Slant Eights (think long ribbons and a woofer) which were demos I bought for half price. When they blew, I found a pair of Goldenear speakers I could afford. I didn't look out of my price range. I came into a large inheritance this year. I sent my daughter and granddaughters to Italy. That was important to me, and it obviously deducted from my audio budget. But I had enough extra left for a nice pair of Sonus Faber speakers and a relatively inexpensive streamer. I had avoided a streamer because I could run an old computer through a D/A converter. I used it, but it was kind of a pain. I am an audiophile. That's where I spend my "hobby" money. When music sounds better, I enjoy it more. I think @frogman has made that point a few times. That is not to say I don't enjoy it when it comes through a less expensive system. I didn't really start upgrading my system until I was in my forties, and then only modestly. And I have listened to and enjoyed music with a $500 system, as I have told you before. If I had nothing else, I'd listen on the iPhone. I just got an opportunity to buy a ticket to see Aknhatan by Phillip Glass at the LA opera. Would @mahgister tell me not to do that? Would he say, I can listen on youtube. I'll answer for him. Hell no! He'd say snap that ticket up. There is a difference between life and recorded music, and there is a difference between youtube over a phone or computer and a nice streamer. My advice is at least look into streamers. If you have dealers around, listen to a few. I don't know if you buy used equipment, but I thought my streamer was a deal at $4K, and you can buy it used for $1500. If that's too much, then you can stream over your computer. Unless you plan on dying in the next year or two, streaming is the way music will be delivered in the future. If you can't afford a streamer, then you can listen to youtube on your computer over an inexpensive D/A converter on headphones. For somebody who loves music, it makes absolutely no sense to me not to do it. Although, I must admit, I was like you for many years. I would have nothing to do with streamers. I had my CDa and records. And, to be honsest, I was old, and stubborn, and dumb. |
I really don't know much about headphones. I have one pair for listening to TV and a better pair for listening to music, in case I want it loud and my wife is around. I didn't do a lot of research, but I'm pretty happy with what I have. I'm spending most of my streaming time listening to Tatiana Nikolaeva. It takes me time to understand an artist. Today I listened to her play Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata 29. Also Sonata 28. As I said, on Qobuz I have about 40 albums. I will look for Schubert next and see if she plays him. She seems to concentrate on Shostakovich, Bach, and a lot of Beethoven. She has such a different touch than more modern pianists who concentrate on a kind of smoothness, for lack of a better word. Gliding over the keys, whereas she will leave larger gaps between notes. Lacking a music education, that's the best I can describe it.
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I think I like Helen Schmitt better, but it is a close call with Szeryng. For me, it sounds as if Schmitt is playing somewhere in a cave deep in the earth. Szeryng in a way is more beautiful, but not as souldful. Nicolaeva over Gould. I think for me it will always be Nikolaeva, but I must compare her to Mitsuko Uchida if I can. Uchida has such a subtle touch which I have not heard in any other pianist. She has recorded all of Schubert's piano sonatas and his impromptus. I have both her recording and Schiff. Schiff is perfect but Uchida touches another dimension. You must listen carefully to hear it. She is like a Zen painter. Here is Uchida playing Schubert's Impromptu 899 second movement. What I would like you to listen to his her left hand and how she handles the harmonic theme. How she coaxes it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9YTnoBqGI4 Here is Schiff and again listen to his left hand and how he andles the harmonic theme. |
After streaming a fair amount of Helene Schmitt and Henryk Szeryng, I would go with Schmitt hands down. There is one caveat, however; I am not sure how much of my opinion is due to the recordings. Sceryng's violin seemed edgy. He did not have the deep resonance, especially of the lower strings, that Schmitt has. I will have to listen to something other than Bach partitas to see if this is a quality of his or the recording. |
For Bach's Cello Suites I purchased a recording by Starker. I read that he plays without vibrato (although I probably wouldn't have noticed on my own). He has a strong determined voice, whereas Yo-Yo Ma seems more fluid. I have streamed Alisa Wielerstein but still have not heard enough to have an opinion. |
I have seen all the versions of The Bridge and also like the Swedish one best. (Or is it Danish?) I have also watched Patience and like it. I have not idea where they found such a pretty, telegenic woman on the spectrum to play Patience, but it works.I will try Professor T. I just paid for the PBS lecture series and listened to a bunch on quantum physics. I got to about episode 10 and it was too much work to watch anymore, but I think I got the gist. I am now reading a book about consciousness and I am glad I just learned about quantum physics because I'd got lost without that knowledge. |