| Subscribe via RSS
From my local supermarket during the evening shop:
“Due to significant increase in demand for Wegmans Brand [the store brand] cereals, our manufacturing partner is working hard to keep up. You may see inconsistent availability on some Wegmans Brand cereals. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
Tags: economic slowdownHave you ever heard of the musical road in Lancaster, CA?
Well that roadspeed-dependent rendition of William Tell is sadly no more. It was disturbing the local residents with it’s repetitive and unbearably out-of-tune musical emissions, according to an article in the local paper. According to our youtube comments on the above video from locals sources:
So the city council meeting was this evening, and demolition of the road started this morning at around 7am. I spoke at the meeting about the road, expressing my concern about how quickly they were to get rid of it, and was told that reason they moved so quickly was because of safety concerns regarding all of the u-turns. When I asked how many car accidents had actually occured on the road as a result of u-turns, i was told by Mayor Paris, “Well, none”
Oh well. There goes another neat — but perhaps poorly executed — piece of creativity. At least we can still drop by the one in Japan…
Tags: lancaster, music, musical road
Prague is getting a new concert hall. As you can see from the rendering above, it will ditch the regular stage backdrop in favor of a huge-ass window behind the performers:
For the first time in musical design a large and elegant rear window behind the musicians will be carved out to allow for spectacular views in to the park behind the building. Each hall is formed of sensual free form curves that manage to combine aesthetic beauty with outstanding acoustic quality that is only enhanced by the ‘eye’ window concept.
But of course it’s frequently going to be dark outside during the performance. Perhaps they will have a laser show. That would definitely please everyone.
Incidentally, does the design remind you of anything?
Here’s a video that someone shared with me ages ago on youtube, but that I unfortunately did not notice until now:
And here’s a non-acappella version of BWV 847 (the soundtrack to the above PSA):
Tags: bach, bwv 847, classical music, youtubeRap should not have a monopoly on being blasted from car stereos. Although classical music isn’t typically well suited to in-car listening — you lose the ability to hear about half of what is happening, and what you can hear is pretty wet and muddy — there are some pieces which shine when the volume is cranked up. This automotive appreciation is not your typical classical listening experience. Gone is the following of themes, the stealthy interplay of instruments; all the delicious subtleties are shot. You have no hope to hear what is really going on with the music when the windows are rolled down and the engine is revving a few feet from your lead foot.
But the pleasure of driving is visceral, and the appropriate soundtrack is feeling, not thinking. Parsing apart a piece is for headphones, for an easy-chair and mug-of-tea; not for rollicking and rolling down the roads. A good classical driving piece is still full of power even when you’ve skinned off the top of the music — when you’ve compressed the hell out of it. It’s probably already pretty fortè. It’s oozing rhythm. It’s got so much drive it’d be out cruising the streets if it wasn’t already in your car.
Here is one of my favorites:
This is a hidden gem. After it’s not well received premiere in 1925, Prokofiev claimed that neither he nor the audience understood anything in it, and promptly started doubting his compositional skills. I think it is a beautiful mechanical beast. It’s fierce, but frequently playful. The “Iron and Steel” moniker is so suitable: it has the aggressive, angry beauty of a blast furnace.
The start of it is a blatant, blaring example of good driving accompaniment:
Especially those obnoxious little initial blasts on the brass. It’s like sixteen steel wheels of Soviet locomotive bearing the hell down on you.
A healthy dose of rhythm from the drums is particularly driving-apropos, like this bit from the end of the first movement:
While the beginning of the next movement (theme and variations, YES) might start off a little quiet for the road:
It builds and riles and roils and gets violent again in fairly short order:
And you have to hold on tight to your steering wheel through the climax just to avoid running people off the road in exhilaration:
If your appetite got all whetted up by that, you can download it from Deutsche Grammophon for a hair under $8 here, or go the luddite route and pick it up from Amazon. It might be on iTunes also, but unfortunately I have an Apple allergy.
Tags: classical music, driving, prokofiev
