Gyorgy Ligeti (Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philharmonic Orchestra) - Le Grand Macabre
I don’t listen to a lot of classical music (and I guess you could probably classify this as an opera as well). A small part of it is a bit of apathy to the museum-like feel some recordings bring along with them, but the other part is the proverbial opening of the can of worms, that is at this point who needs a new hobby? But occasionally I’ll pull something out and I’ve always been a bit curious about Ligeti and the big bad. Anyway I’m well out of my league in terms of describing this from a musical perspective as this is avantgarde music sprawled across two discs. For the most part it seems to be this ever increasing movement toward the bizarre and evil, starting sparsely and moving towards some tremendous, crazy climaxes. There were times, especially on the second disc where it felt like being in some dark Renaissance-era painting featuring the good and bad angels warring with another, with the latter starting to turn the tide. It’s obvious some incredible vocal talent had to be used here as some of the singing could break windows and the spiralling, almost pagan like chanting really lifts the intensity of the work. Unsurprisingly for its reputation I found myself pretty enthralled by the whole thing, one can only imagine its impact on the music scene if it was written a few hundred years before. File alongside John of Patmos or ergot poisoning.
Django Reinhardt - Quintet of Le Hat Club France, Original Recordings
This features some really old jazz (the 30s I believe), definitely stepping back to a period I’m mostly unfamiliar with and like some old Charlie Parker recordings this isn’t perfect quality, while still having a sense of vitality that gives it some gravitas. It also has the estimable Stephane Grappeli on violin and he tends to lead the melodies, which like a great deal of the period, were upbeat peppy and quite virtuoso. Definitely a style of music well before any of the avantgarde and outside forms of jazz, at least it doesn’t tend to have some of the hokey feel I tend to get from Dixieland and other very early jazz forms. Quite enjoyable.
Paul Motian/The Electric Bebop Band - Play Monk and Powell
Motian works with Dave Holland band players and others in this electric tribute to the named composers. Already such a combination will give the proceedings just a bit of an out feel, an area Motian has always hovered around. I was probably a little more famliar with the Monk stuff like Brilliant Corners than I was the work of Bud Powell and in fact it tended to be the Monk stuff that kept me more engaged. Overall I didn’t lean too much in either direction, certainly a pleasant listen, but there wasn’t an incredible fire either.