this dream, strange and moving
May. 6th, 2025 06:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yamamanama"This is how the zombie apocalypse starts," he says upon arriving at Quincy Center. "The lights go out."
Mia and Maria are sort-of-artists. Mia has rings with large glass gems in the bezels and a dragonfly pendant while Maria has a necklace with red gems and a bracelet of beads. Lily had no noticeable jewelry.
These being world premieres and an other contemporary work (I suppose that 30 years ago is still ‘contemporary’), I can’t exactly go on Youtube and listen to a recording so that I can write a better description but thankfully the program made a pretty thorough description.
So yeah. These are not works by Paul Emil Levasseur. Please do not attempt to create a facsimile using AI. They'll get recorded eventually.
Christopher Theofandis - This dream, strange and moving
The booklet describes it as like when you wake from a dream only to discover that you’re still dreaming. That’s me at 4:30 AM discovering that no, I did not in fact do my morning routine. Anyways, it’s sort of inspired by Symphonie fantastique. It ends with bells.
Han Lash - Zero Turning Radius
Gravely - Not grave from the Latin gravis meaning heavy and by extension serious or grave from Old English words meaning to dig or carve, but from the Gravely company, a manufacturer of lawnmowers. It’s just the guy’s name. It might come from a word meaning dig or carve, I have no idea.
Anyways.
The tempo is in fact presto and asymmetrical 5/4, played on violins, marimba, and drum kit, and the low strings the horns, the woodwinds all burst in. It becomes polyrhythmic and polytonal.
Slow Movement with Weeds (Rhizome) features tolling of tubular bells alternating with clarinets and bassoons. A muted trumpet plays a solo and the violins play pizzicato with the harp.
Around the Rocks on the Slope: Slow with Risks Involves: a stately passage that calls back to Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, though the rhythms would sound strange in those days.
Interlude edging: It takes the Ligeti-esque micropolyphonic mode of the end of the previous movement and runs with it, and occasionally interrupts it with a slapstick.
Laugh-Ride: The booklet describes it as a watery-polka. It kind of switches between minimalism and proggy-Gravely-mower grooviness and undulating marimba and harp and oompah-brass. It ends with one last outburst from the marimba.
Jeremy Gill - Four Legends from the Silmarillion
Forgive me, I haven't read the Silmarillion since high school.
Ainulindalë
(meaning Music of the Ainur)
It begins with primordial sounds as Ilúvatar creates the Ainur. Ulmo, ainu of water, is represented by a 7/8 rhythm on low strings, gong, tam-tam, and a wheel that the percussionist turns the crank on to make rain sounds and trombones that evoke whale songs, that begins tempestual and settles into placidity. Manwë, ainu of air, is represented by 2/4 and 6/8 rhythms, and because he’s a warrior deity, he gets fanfares from the brass. Aulë, ainu of earth and stone and metal, is represented by a 5/4 rhythm, mostly recapitulations of Ilúvatar and Ulmo’s music. They all settle into a frozen stasis only to be interrupted by Melkor, ainu of fire, mightiest among the Ainur, who fancies himself on the level of Ilúvatar himself. He replaces Ilúvatar’s song with his own and turns the others’ themes into caricature. It becomes louder and louder until Ilúvatar intervenes with a chord deeper than the abyss and higher than the firmament.
Forgive me, it’s been since high school since I’ve read the Silmarillion.
Ainulindale premiered a few years ago in Harrisburg and now I’m picturing them wearing irregular coats and there’s a recording on his website.
Narsilion
The Ainur of Valmar of Many Bells, represented by bells obviously, are gathered on a hilltop to hear Yavanna Kementári, who lends her name to one of the Zida’ya Nine Cities in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and is represented by the flute, playing only on white notes. The tree with golden fruits is played with whole-tone and the tree with the silver flowers is played on “major-ish.” Melkor enlists the monstrous spider Ungoliant, represented by non-harmonic octaves and unisons, to devour all the light from the trees. Yavanna is able to salvage one golden fruit and one silver flower and so she places them on vessels and sends them into the firmament as the Sun and the Moon respectively. The bells return. The Ainur raise up mountains to protect Valinor from evil.
Tinúviel
A tale of forbidden romance between human and elf and based vaguely on Edith and JRR’s love story.
Tinúviel, meaning nightingale (sort of the Eurasiafrican equivalent to the catbird although only males sing and they don’t make a “EEHHHHH” sound that, when I was in Maine, made me think something was in pain or at least very hungry), is Beren’s nickname for Lúthien.
He uses variations on Rameau’s Rossignols amoureux and Babbitt’s Philomel.
Lúthien’s father tells Beren that if he steals a Silmaril from the dread power formerly known as Melkor, meaning He Who Arises In Might, who has now been saddled with the name Morgoth, meaning the Dark Enemy, he can have the hand of Lúthien. And so he journeys through the haunted valley of Dungortheb and into Doriath and encounters Lúthien dancing and singing, represented by crotales. He heads to the Falls of Ivrin, where his companions are all killed, but is rescued by Lúthien upon the hound Huan. He sings a song of farewell on harp, and then heads to the fortress of Morgoth. She offers to dance a seductive dance for Morgoth as a distraction while Beren takes the jewel from his crown. Beren is killed during their flight and Lúthien appeals to the ainu Mandos and he takes from her her immortality so that thy can be together once again.
Eärendil
This is kind of a recapitulation of the previous three legends.
Ulmo arises from the waters and speaks to Tuor to seek the hidden city of Gondolin. He shows up to the fanfare of trumpets. Morgoth shows up, destroys the city, but Tuor, Idril, and Eärendil escape to pentatonic music from the low strings.
Earendil meets Elwing, desecendant of Beren and Luthien. They travel past the Enchanted Isles, represented by mouth sirens, and are attacked. Elwing jumps into the sea and Ulmo transforms her into a bird.
Great concert aside from this cricket buzz from some electronic device or dying light bulb. At first, I thought it was my earballs.
Ben was also there as part of a concert-a-thon. The concert hall was maybe half full. Maybe the name Boston Modern Orchestra Project scared people off.
I got on the Commuter Rail at JFK which is good because taking the bus would’ve added at least half an hour to my trip back home.
burning question: what’s ‘taters’?
Mia and Maria are sort-of-artists. Mia has rings with large glass gems in the bezels and a dragonfly pendant while Maria has a necklace with red gems and a bracelet of beads. Lily had no noticeable jewelry.
These being world premieres and an other contemporary work (I suppose that 30 years ago is still ‘contemporary’), I can’t exactly go on Youtube and listen to a recording so that I can write a better description but thankfully the program made a pretty thorough description.
So yeah. These are not works by Paul Emil Levasseur. Please do not attempt to create a facsimile using AI. They'll get recorded eventually.
Christopher Theofandis - This dream, strange and moving
The booklet describes it as like when you wake from a dream only to discover that you’re still dreaming. That’s me at 4:30 AM discovering that no, I did not in fact do my morning routine. Anyways, it’s sort of inspired by Symphonie fantastique. It ends with bells.
Han Lash - Zero Turning Radius
Gravely - Not grave from the Latin gravis meaning heavy and by extension serious or grave from Old English words meaning to dig or carve, but from the Gravely company, a manufacturer of lawnmowers. It’s just the guy’s name. It might come from a word meaning dig or carve, I have no idea.
Anyways.
The tempo is in fact presto and asymmetrical 5/4, played on violins, marimba, and drum kit, and the low strings the horns, the woodwinds all burst in. It becomes polyrhythmic and polytonal.
Slow Movement with Weeds (Rhizome) features tolling of tubular bells alternating with clarinets and bassoons. A muted trumpet plays a solo and the violins play pizzicato with the harp.
Around the Rocks on the Slope: Slow with Risks Involves: a stately passage that calls back to Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, though the rhythms would sound strange in those days.
Interlude edging: It takes the Ligeti-esque micropolyphonic mode of the end of the previous movement and runs with it, and occasionally interrupts it with a slapstick.
Laugh-Ride: The booklet describes it as a watery-polka. It kind of switches between minimalism and proggy-Gravely-mower grooviness and undulating marimba and harp and oompah-brass. It ends with one last outburst from the marimba.
Jeremy Gill - Four Legends from the Silmarillion
Forgive me, I haven't read the Silmarillion since high school.
Ainulindalë
(meaning Music of the Ainur)
It begins with primordial sounds as Ilúvatar creates the Ainur. Ulmo, ainu of water, is represented by a 7/8 rhythm on low strings, gong, tam-tam, and a wheel that the percussionist turns the crank on to make rain sounds and trombones that evoke whale songs, that begins tempestual and settles into placidity. Manwë, ainu of air, is represented by 2/4 and 6/8 rhythms, and because he’s a warrior deity, he gets fanfares from the brass. Aulë, ainu of earth and stone and metal, is represented by a 5/4 rhythm, mostly recapitulations of Ilúvatar and Ulmo’s music. They all settle into a frozen stasis only to be interrupted by Melkor, ainu of fire, mightiest among the Ainur, who fancies himself on the level of Ilúvatar himself. He replaces Ilúvatar’s song with his own and turns the others’ themes into caricature. It becomes louder and louder until Ilúvatar intervenes with a chord deeper than the abyss and higher than the firmament.
Forgive me, it’s been since high school since I’ve read the Silmarillion.
Ainulindale premiered a few years ago in Harrisburg and now I’m picturing them wearing irregular coats and there’s a recording on his website.
Narsilion
The Ainur of Valmar of Many Bells, represented by bells obviously, are gathered on a hilltop to hear Yavanna Kementári, who lends her name to one of the Zida’ya Nine Cities in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and is represented by the flute, playing only on white notes. The tree with golden fruits is played with whole-tone and the tree with the silver flowers is played on “major-ish.” Melkor enlists the monstrous spider Ungoliant, represented by non-harmonic octaves and unisons, to devour all the light from the trees. Yavanna is able to salvage one golden fruit and one silver flower and so she places them on vessels and sends them into the firmament as the Sun and the Moon respectively. The bells return. The Ainur raise up mountains to protect Valinor from evil.
Tinúviel
A tale of forbidden romance between human and elf and based vaguely on Edith and JRR’s love story.
Tinúviel, meaning nightingale (sort of the Eurasiafrican equivalent to the catbird although only males sing and they don’t make a “EEHHHHH” sound that, when I was in Maine, made me think something was in pain or at least very hungry), is Beren’s nickname for Lúthien.
He uses variations on Rameau’s Rossignols amoureux and Babbitt’s Philomel.
Lúthien’s father tells Beren that if he steals a Silmaril from the dread power formerly known as Melkor, meaning He Who Arises In Might, who has now been saddled with the name Morgoth, meaning the Dark Enemy, he can have the hand of Lúthien. And so he journeys through the haunted valley of Dungortheb and into Doriath and encounters Lúthien dancing and singing, represented by crotales. He heads to the Falls of Ivrin, where his companions are all killed, but is rescued by Lúthien upon the hound Huan. He sings a song of farewell on harp, and then heads to the fortress of Morgoth. She offers to dance a seductive dance for Morgoth as a distraction while Beren takes the jewel from his crown. Beren is killed during their flight and Lúthien appeals to the ainu Mandos and he takes from her her immortality so that thy can be together once again.
Eärendil
This is kind of a recapitulation of the previous three legends.
Ulmo arises from the waters and speaks to Tuor to seek the hidden city of Gondolin. He shows up to the fanfare of trumpets. Morgoth shows up, destroys the city, but Tuor, Idril, and Eärendil escape to pentatonic music from the low strings.
Earendil meets Elwing, desecendant of Beren and Luthien. They travel past the Enchanted Isles, represented by mouth sirens, and are attacked. Elwing jumps into the sea and Ulmo transforms her into a bird.
Great concert aside from this cricket buzz from some electronic device or dying light bulb. At first, I thought it was my earballs.
Ben was also there as part of a concert-a-thon. The concert hall was maybe half full. Maybe the name Boston Modern Orchestra Project scared people off.
I got on the Commuter Rail at JFK which is good because taking the bus would’ve added at least half an hour to my trip back home.
burning question: what’s ‘taters’?
no subject
Date: 2025-05-07 05:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-07 07:36 pm (UTC)