tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post7034395668683572649..comments2024-02-12T23:25:09.583-08:00Comments on Overweening Generalist: The Cello Suites, by Eric Siblin (2009)michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-88614013146111148152015-01-07T12:49:11.356-08:002015-01-07T12:49:11.356-08:00Howdy, MIchael. I hope all goes well. I finally re...Howdy, MIchael. I hope all goes well. I finally read the Siblin, and I enjoyed it. i have Maurcie Gendron's version of the first suite playing right now. I also enjoyed rereading your wonderful blog post on the book.Eric Wagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-83246907971992546542013-07-08T14:13:04.275-07:002013-07-08T14:13:04.275-07:00I'll check into it if only to try to grok the ...I'll check into it if only to try to grok the form, and chase down the Vico refs you once mentioned were in there.michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-22217399973043846822013-07-08T13:34:27.857-07:002013-07-08T13:34:27.857-07:00I hope you decided to dive into "A". I ...I hope you decided to dive into "A". I suspect you will find it worthwhile. Last year I read a section of "A" 1 - 23 each day for the first 23 days of December. I may do that again this year.Eric Wagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-5486622299056663842013-07-08T01:03:56.772-07:002013-07-08T01:03:56.772-07:00@Eric: Jeez, will I ever get to Davenport (I like ...@Eric: Jeez, will I ever get to Davenport (I like his writings on Pound especially) on Zukofsky? You make it sound very enticing..._A_, I mean...and then Davenport on it.<br /><br />@Tom Jackson: I recently found Mischa Maisky's version of the Suites (Siblin met him and describes him as a very colorful character) in the public library, and they were the first thing I ever "stole" digitally (that I know of): I downloaded the CD to my iPod. (Yes, I finally got an iPod!)<br /><br />When I hung out with RAW, I wanted to bring him a gift, and I gave him YoYo Ma's Bach cello suites...which didn't seem to impress him at all. The present, that is. I guess he already had it. Later that day he said he'd really love to hear Pound's friend George Antheil's wild recording for the Ballet Mecanique. I should've got him THAT!<br /><br />michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-4440785778399614362013-07-05T08:17:50.348-07:002013-07-05T08:17:50.348-07:00Forgot to point out that at the end of the Robert ...Forgot to point out that at the end of the Robert Anton Wilson and Karl Hess video, the two are asked to name the greatest man who ever lived. RAW picks Bach. Cleveland Okie (Tom Jackson)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07810736442596736041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-19631120359259236982013-07-05T06:43:52.888-07:002013-07-05T06:43:52.888-07:00After I read your post (and the comments) I decide...After I read your post (and the comments) I decided to download the three Bach cello suites available among the Gardner recordings:<br /><br />http://www.gardnermuseum.org/music/listen/music_library?filter=composerCleveland Okie (Tom Jackson)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07810736442596736041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-75522967312826092252013-07-03T13:07:42.498-07:002013-07-03T13:07:42.498-07:00I have found "A" very rewarding. B. H. ...I have found "A" very rewarding. B. H. Fairchild said, "Guy Davenport has written better on Z. than almost anyone." Davenport wrote, "When enough people become familiar with 'A' so that it can be discussed, the first wonder will be how so many subjects got built into such unlikely patterns, and what a harmony they all make." This sounds like your comments on Bach.Eric Wagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-88897438490430114922013-07-02T16:38:24.722-07:002013-07-02T16:38:24.722-07:00@Eric-
I mentioned MJQ when responding to Roman&#...@Eric-<br /><br />I mentioned MJQ when responding to Roman's comment before I read yours. <br /><br />I'd like to get into "A" at some point. Had a look into Kerman's book on Fugues and...it was filled with math-like stuff I could really make use of. Reverse retrograde inversion? Was Bach's brain hotwired into chaos math? His philosophical outlook was almost medieval (in the best sense), but the music stuff seems timeless and sorta futuristic to me.michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-30928742573837132962013-07-02T16:31:44.054-07:002013-07-02T16:31:44.054-07:00@ Roman Tsivkin: you're right: 'tis Singer...@ Roman Tsivkin: you're right: 'tis Singers, not Sisters. Fixed it. Sometimes I type too quickly and edit myself poorly. Thanks for pointing this error out.<br /><br />I just found them on YT doing the "Mission Impossible" theme:<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQbO70Vp6Jc<br /><br />Monk's syncopations combined with Bach's tap-your feet baroque motor-like rhythms would've been really interesting.<br /><br />I always loved that MJQ album, Blues On Bach. They swing the 8ths and groove slowly and elegantly. michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-82421800296506225192013-07-02T15:11:09.757-07:002013-07-02T15:11:09.757-07:00So much to read, so much to listen to. One of the...So much to read, so much to listen to. One of these years I want to read Goedel Escher Bach and reread Kerman's Art of Fugue, paying more attention this time.<br /><br />Bach permeates Zukofsky's "A". I also enjoy the Modern Jazz Quartet's Blues on Bach. From 2000 - 2005 I listened to a ton of MJQ.Eric Wagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-34282194060267943602013-07-02T15:09:10.504-07:002013-07-02T15:09:10.504-07:00My father bought a Swingle Singers (I think you ca...My father bought a Swingle Singers (I think you called them "Sisters") Bach album at some point in the mid-'80s when I was a teen. I listened to it over and over and over; 25 years later, I still "sing" some of their stuff in the shower. The jazzy beat works so well with Bach. Wish Thelonious Monk had recorded a Bach album.<br />Romanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15393840710011408754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-17514720795099475612013-07-02T14:58:39.833-07:002013-07-02T14:58:39.833-07:00Albert Schweitzer said something like "Bach i...Albert Schweitzer said something like "Bach is always composing for some ideal instrument." My musical mind is a plenum with only the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin and the Cello Suites. It's beyond me how someone can sit at a keyboard and play the Art of Fugue, but I still listen to that regularly.<br /><br />Siblin barely touches on how extensive Bach has influenced Western jazz and pop music. I still remember when I first learned scales. I was playing a G major scale up and down, then in little sequences and basic arpeggios...and suddenly I started playing a melody from a pop song I heard as a kid when the radio was on all day on top of the refrigerator. It was "Lover's Concerto" from The Toys...but the melody was from the Little Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach, a Minuet:<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmJ1AqtTuyo<br /><br />There's tons of Bach in metal. And remember Jethro Tull's "Bouree"? <br /><br />Django had a Bach piece, and there's a shredding jazz guitarist named Frank Vignola who absolutely kills swinging on a solo violin piece in B minor.<br /><br />On and on. I always thought Bach would be open to all of this, including this:<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSlcHPdialI<br /><br />One of the most valuable things a guitarist can learn by working out the solo violin and cello pieces is, in my opinion, triads and 7th chords that are open-voiced; far too many rock guitarists stick to the close-voiced versions of common chords. You start working on Bach and immediately you're learning how voice chords like some hot jazz dude. It really opens up your playing.<br /><br />By the way: the idea of a rock guitar virtuoso is obviously in the ears of the beholder. My idea of one would be Eric Johnson, who uses open-voiced triads extensively, esp when he's ascending the neck. Here he is from earlier this year, playing in a small club in Paris:<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0pZd98u-H0michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-38932304810896487442013-07-02T14:25:22.768-07:002013-07-02T14:25:22.768-07:00Great piece. I remember reading Stanley Clarke sa...Great piece. I remember reading Stanley Clarke saying how much he learned from playing the Bach Cello Suites on electric bass. My bass violin teacher Dan Swaim saw those suites as central, and he insisted I see Janos Starker play them in 1979 or 1980.Eric Wagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.com