Showing posts with label string quartet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label string quartet. Show all posts

Wednesday 25 November 2020

Reviews: Schizophrenia and the Sublime

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), Symphonies 1 ('Classical'), 2 and 3, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, c. Andrew Litton, published by BIS

The first of the Prokofiev symphonies is short and to the point, a delightful point which is of classical perfection, hence the appended title. The second contains an extreme contrast with no holds barred and in its relationship with the first appears completely schizophrenic, as if pent up rage finds its way out before being contained prior to the next outburst. In the third, the balance between containment and release is achieved and so, as a listening experience, is less alarming. Oft-times you can hear the great force of Russian industry and militarism at play, then come periods of the composer's inner world of reflection, even calm. 

 

Anton Rubinstein (1829-94), String Quartets, Op47, No 1 in E minor and Op. 47, No 3 in D minor, the Reinhold Quartet, published by CPO

These two quartets are more classical than classical can be! If you are in the mood for surprise and stimulation then go for the Russian Prokofiev. If not, turn the late night lights down low, sit back and chill to these delightfully formed and expressive pieces. The Russian Rubinstein's career as a composer was overshadowed by his success as a virtuosic pianist, conductor and educator, particularly as Tschaikovsky's composition tutor, so his name may be familiar but experience of works such as these may be lacking. While Beethoven penetrates deep into the musical psyche, these quartets play with it in perhaps a Mozartian way even though they are clearly post-Beethoven.

The cover artworks on these two CDs are well-chosen expressions of their content, the first a Russian utilitarian graphic expressing power counterbalanced by artful expression, the second a seemingly peaceful idyll brimming with strong emotion.



Friday 16 August 2019

Pendulum Art as Music

The abstract artist, Hannah Ferguson, paints using a pendulum and her artworks have particular significance for my music. An example is the third movement of the 'Momentous Quartet', Strangeness and Charm, with the accompanying video featuring Hannah at work.

It's a simple idea. Attach a sphere with a hole in it to a length of cord and fill it with paint. Let the pendulum sphere swing and uncover the hole so that as it swings lines and drips of paint cover the surface below. The resulting patterns are individual and visually interesting.

The swing of the pendulum is a fundamental physical phenomenon and its repetitive  harmonic motion can be represented graphically by a simple sine wave graph.  The sine wave is also a mathematical representation of a pure sound.

Any complex sound, such as made by a bow sweeping across a violin string, or a hammer hitting a gong, can be represented by a set of these sine waves, each with its own parameters. Any sound made by a musical instrument is not just a random collection of these simple waves, but consists of a fundamental, for example, a tone oscillating at 100 Hz, plus a series of waves having a simple relationship with this fundamental: 200, 300, 400 Hz, etc.  This is called the harmonic series and seems to be a natural phenomenon.

All of this was subject matter for the ancient Greeks, most notably Pythagoras, and our understanding of it has subsequently been refined through history, culminating (for geeks) with the work of Joseph Fourier in the 19th C, which led to the sophistication of modern sound sythesisers. In parallel, discoveries in astronomy revealed that orbiting planets follow the rules of harmonic motion. When it was thought that the planets orbited in circles, their relationship with harmonic motion was easily demonstrated. A corresponding 'music of the spheres' was based on the idea that planetary movement and sound vibrations conformed to harmonic motion.

With the revelation that planetary orbits were elliptical, this still held true but became more complex. If a circular orbit represented a particular harmonic movement, i.e., a particular tone, then an elliptical one meant a change in its harmonic frequency as it orbited, translating not into a continuous tone, but into a glissando.  Heady stuff!

This is tough going without a clear visualisation of what is going on mathematically and treatises have been written explaining the subject, but my point is that harmonic motion is fundamental to the way the universe and everything in it looks (light waves have harmonic motion), moves and sounds. Music and art can be created to demonstrate and represent this, hence my Strangeness and Charm piece.

I know Hannah probably won't view her abstract artworks this way, but I do.

Monday 5 August 2019

Momentous Quartet

The video installation of A Truly Momentous Quartet is running at Newent's Secret Gallery until the end of August. Successful live play through there on Saturday eve. at the annual Art Competition prize giving. Sound-track CD published which includes Alchemy In Music.