If you have looked at my Blogger profile you may have noticed that one of my interests is "music that most people I know think is weird." We had a big, wonderful serving of it downtown last night in the Old Post Office Plaza..
Terry Riley's In C is the seminal work of minimalism. According to the program notes:
What makes In C especially unique is that the entire score features just one scale - C major - broken out into 53 separate musical sections of varying patterns, with no set duration, and can be played for any number of musicians on any given instrumentation. Individual performers are given loose guidelines on moving from section to section, but much is left to their "in the moment" interpretation, making each performance wholly unique.
You can hear some of the original recording here.
Last night's performance was by the HEARding Cats Collective, led by Richard O'Donnell, the retired principal percussionist of the St. Louis Symphony. There were not only musicians but also interpretive dancers, professional and spontaneous.
More of this on Friday after I edit some video. The Thursday Arch Series returns tomorrow.
belle serie, avec un beau final ;)
ReplyDeleteSt. Louis has a rich musical tradition, with a leading Symphony orchestra, and blues, Dixieland, Chuck Berry and more.
ReplyDeleteLove the images Bob, excellent portraits of the musicians, not quite so sure about the music in C major, think it might be one of those things that you either love or not so much!!
ReplyDeleteOh heck, I had Terry Riley beat at age 7 when the first piano tune I learned was........'The March of the Middle C Twins"!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes Bob, I've been down this long road of rather "weird" (your words not mine) musical tastes of yours. As I recall another unfortunate link made my head explode but I certainly respect your preferences as I'm sure you do mine. Now where is my Barry Manilow 8 track tape..........
And........the portraits are terrific as always. You nailed another set.
V
"Sounds good" to me! Ha ha (couldn't resist!).
ReplyDeleteYes, I know I need to begin showing the desert life again on my blog. I will...soon.
Bob I've only listened to part of the video and will get back to it later but I think the concept is terrific and that it's wonderful to get to listen to that in real life. It's so creative, so different !
ReplyDeleteThe dancer's pose is wonderful.
Interesting music, which I didn't know, and even better reportage.
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