media consumption

Not Necessarily Naive or Sentimental

I've had the first four of these cds lying around for a while now and haven't given any of them enough listening time yet. The last two on the list are there to get me geared up for the jazz festival.

John Adams - Naive and Sentimental Music

John Adams- Road Movies

I've been a John Adams fan for a while, but I can't seem to get into the Naive and Sentimental Music. It may be that I just like his shorter works--his chamber music and such--more than his longer, orchestral works. Because speaking of which, what I've heard of Road Movies so far, I find fascinating. In the liner notes, Adams calls this "travel music, music that is comfortably settled in a pulse groove and passes through harmonic and textural regions as one would pass through a landscape on a car trip." Well, we'll see how well it plays in my car's cd changer.

Arvo Pärt- Alina

Among the many things I overheard while travelling recently was a conversation between two cellists on their way to some symposium or retreat or something. One was describing a recent performance of Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel. Their conversation stirred my curiosity about this piece, which is featured (twice) on this recording. At first, the intertwining piano and violin lines seem too dry and simple to be of much interest, but they build upon each other to produce a work of stark beauty.

Steve Reich - Triple Quartet, Music for a Large Ensemble, Electric Guitar Phase

The short pieces on this cd seem to echo other, more developed and perhaps more interesting Reich works, specifically Electric Counterpoint and Music for Eighteen Musicians, but I haven't given this one much of a chance yet. We'll see if it holds up to closer scrutiny.

Thelonius Monk - Misterioso

I love Monk, what can I say. He is to the jazz piano what Miles Davis is to the trumpet or Billy Holiday is to voice. Meaning, his own personality, singularly identifiable, shines through every beautiful note.

Chris Potter - Lift

To my great shame I missed Chris Potter's performance at last year's jazz festival. His saxophone has a bold, powerful sound (yet somehow still sweet and nuanced) that just cuts right through you.

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