Slow Music
CDs are as dead to me as Yangtze river dolphins. They are functionally extinct, but still pop their head up for air occasionally. Plus they have fins and eat fish.
This state of extinction has been stealthily advancing for the last half-year or so. I became aware of it’s extent after getting recommended that CD of Vasks the other day, and seriously debating if I could stomach buying music on a physical format. Electrons can kick polycarbonate’s arse any day. There’s still life in the old format yet: I ended up buying the CD.
The biggest disadvantage of ordering a CD is the waiting. The urge to purchase is almost always there because you’ve suddenly gotten excited about a new recording, or piece, or performer. When that happens you want hear it now, not later. It’s ain’t fun to have to wait for a week. Perhaps you could argue that like slow food, the anticipation is a benefit. You savor it more. But… if you had to wait for your food for a whole week, you’d probably feel more like the navarin d’agneau than the gaeng keow wan (check it out, I’m an elitist) by the time it arrived.
Another big difference between downloading and CDs is something I’ve frequently harped on about: liner notes. This time around I don’t want to call the lack of liner notes a bad thing because it is making me experience something interesting — I have absolutely no clue what the pundits think about the pieces I am listening to. It’s a little bit scary.
For example, the other day I said that I wasn’t getting hot for the shorter pieces — Viatore and Musica Dolorosa — on the Vasks CD, because they sounded musically cheaper than more hefty pieces. Shortly afterward, Zoltan commented that there is a very sad story behind Musica Dolorosa, which then made me start worrying that I had been prematurely dismissive. It’s fascinating how the non-musical aspects of a piece affect the way you listen to it. That one comment immediately made me more receptive to the music.
I still haven’t tried working out what the sad story behind Musica Dolorosa is yet — I want to listen in ignorance a bit more first.
Tags: CDs, classical music, vasks