Music and Art - "Transformations" PART TWO (May 2009)

My friends (Michael Schultz and Chad Hudson) and I started doing what we called "Music and Art" day where we pick a theme, listen to music (my mixes), have a few cocktails, and create something on our separate 12" x 12" white canvases...

This was our third session on the theme of "Transformation" and here are our three pieces of art created on May 30, 2009:









Here is a playlist (the second of four) of the music that I put together, edited, and re-mashed for us to listened to, discuss, and be insprired by that day, along with notes and comments about each section (in yellow):

Transformations Mix No. 2
“Beyond Bach/Bach to Fairyland”

(Note on the first section: I had heard that they included a phonograph record on Voyager One, launched in 1977. But I could not imagine how the scientists thought that aliens would figure out what it was or how to play it. I then had the funny thought that what if the alien who found it and read the instructions was as fallible as we are? What if the alien got most of it, but not all of it, right? One the recording, is music, sounds, and images. The music of Bach is presented more than any other. Scientist and author Lewis Thomas once suggested how the people of Earth should communicate with the universe: “I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again. We would be bragging, of course, but it is surely excusable to put the best possible face on at the beginning of such an acquaintance. We can tell the harder truths later.”)

(1)

• From Beyond — Klaus Nomi
• The Voyager Record — (Various programs describing the 1977 recording on board the Voyager mission)
• Nomi Chant — Klaus Nomi
• Space Fantasy (Tomita) — Tomita
• The Sea Named 'Solaris' (Tomita) — Tomita
• Three-part Invention No 2 (J.S. Bach) — Carl Danzig
• “Cum Santo Spiritu” from B Minor Mass (Bach) — Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque, Gardiner
  

(Note on the next section: The great American organist Vigil Fox was an evangelist for the music of Bach. To hear him “preach” in his live concert is truly inspiring. Here, I string together several Bach works together in various instrumentations, culminating in Fox’s performance live to blow the roof off! I also must point out the arrangement by Mr. Arnold “12-tone” Schoenberg in a spectacular show worthy of Disney.)

(2)

• Spoken Introduction from 1973 Heavy Organ Concert at Carnegie Hall — Virgil Fox
• Toccata (Bach) — Gould
• Fugue (Bach) — John Canfield
• Prelude (Bach) — Swingle Singers
• Prelude and Fugue (Bach) — Wendy Carlos
• Toccata (Bach) — Electric Skychurch
• Fugue (Bach, arr Arnold Schoenberg) — LA Philharmonic, Salonen
• Fugue (Bach) — Fox
  

(Note on the next section: My friend Michael had been blown away by Jenny Burton live a few years ago and I can hear why in this recording -- I must admit I did some surgical editing to make it more “spiritual” and less “Jesus” but inspiring all the same.)

(3)

• Free — Jenny Burton Experience

(Note on the next section: Not much to say, except this is a powerful, deep performance. Notice how the beginning of each verse changes from “Where have you been” to “What did you see” all the way to “What’ll you do now.”))

(4)

• A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall (Dylan) — Jason Mraz

(Note on the next section: The story of Beauty and the Beast is ultimately about transformation. Ravel wrote small piano pieces based on many of the “Mother Goose” fairytales and here they underscore the performances by Streep and Andrews. Oh, and the Beast opposite Ms. Poppins? PDQ Bach himself!)

(5)

• Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant “Pavane for Sleeping Beauty” (M. Ravel) — Gena Raps
• A Fairytale Introduction — (unknown)
• The Fairy Garden — Meryl Streep / Sleeping Beauty — Meryl Streep
• Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête “Conversation of Beauty and the Beast” (M. Ravel) — Gena Raps
• Beauty and the Beast — Julie Andrews, Peter Schickele
• Beauty and the Beast — Diamond Rio
  

(Note on the next section: Yes, this section includes Bach and Rap. Flocabulary’s rap on Transformation is such a great breath of fresh air, being about learning and thinking, not hating and killing. The “other” Transformation has been pre-echoed on #1 and will be heard later in #4. It is from the L-Word soundtrack and seems tailor-made for these mixes.)

(6)

• Prelude in C for Solo Cello: solo piano / flute / Bela Fleck / Yo-Yo Ma
• chi 2 ny (Bach Remix) — N Visible Spotlite
• Transformation — Flocabulary
• Transformation — Nona Hendryx, Pam Grier, Betty
  

(Note on the next section: A great song by a great songwriter. The words speak for themselves.)

(7)

• We Are Water (Patty Griffin) — Shayne

My friend, my friend, you are traveling
So many secrets are unraveling
Some other picture's coming into view
I seen the water washing over you
And the water’s speaking now, it speaks your name
I hear it talking to me
Sometimes when it rains
Telling me a story of joy or pain
But I’ve got no regrets baby, I’ve got no shame

’Cause we are water
We flow and flow
I feel you pouring through
Every inch of my soul and I really must tell you this
Baby, before you go
We are water
We flow and flow

I am a river baby,
I’ve got plenty of time
I don't know where I’m going
I’m just following the lines
There’s just no telling where this river will flow
I got no choice in the matter, baby,
I just go where it goes
I’m making my bed tonight
Right under this cloud
Sometimes the lightening’s so frightening
Sometimes the thunder’s so loud
Still, I know this tide is always kissing my heels
Sometimes I think I’m drowning in all these things that I feel

And we are water
We flow and flow
I feel you pouring through
Every inch of my soul and
I really must tell you this
Baby, before you go
We are water
We flow and flow

Out on the beach today, I did not find
One single footstep that we left behind
So I went swimming in the deep blue sea
And I could feel that water all around me

’Cause we are water
We flow and flow
I feel you pouring through
Every inch of my soul and I really must tell you this
Baby, before you go
We are water, we are water
We flow and flow

(Note on the next section: I found these Glenn Gould out-takes, during which he talks about Bach’s Quidlibet, which was a combination of two popular songs during Bach’s time. He then says that he came up with his own: The Star Spangled Banner and God Save the King, which he proceeds to play. I love his comment at the end: “…except for the parallel octaves, it works out perfectly. Need I mention that he starts out playing one of the Goldberg "Variations" -- talk about your set of transformations...)

(8)

• Quidlibet from Goldberg Variations (Bach) — Glenn Gould /
• Out-takes from 1951 recording of Goldberg Variations (Bach) — Glenn Gould
  

(Note on the next section: I reduced this performance by Ms. Price to the first line of each verse to highlight the modulations and get to the over-the-top ending enhance by the end of her Battle Hymn recording. I’ll admit I added the very end of her live performance of “Pace, pace mio Dio” (which thank goodness is also in Bb!) to give it that final push that send the audience into a frenzy.)

(9)

• America the Beautiful (Katharine Lee Bates/Samuel A. Ward) /
• Battle Hymn of the Republic (Julia Ward Howe) — Leontyne Price
  

(10)

• Three-part Invention No 2 (Bach) — Carl Danzig /
  
• The Sea Named ‘Solaris’ (Tomita) — Tomita /
  
• Fugue (Bach) — Fox