Thursday, August 15, 2013

Musical Find of the Week: Paul Hindemith

There is so much good music out there that I don’t even know about yet. The last century was a particularly rich one for music, with a lot of experimentation going on. Markets don’t have the room for this sort of innovation, anymore.

This music, it feels like being a child again, and looking into unfamiliar rooms. Going through a long-forgotten attic. Encountering ancient family artefacts for the first time. Turning them over, rubbing off the dust, puzzling at the function. What is this old tool? Who did this belong to? A grandfather, great-aunt, distant family friend? What images does this antique camera contain? To what would you attach these brittle rubber hoses? It might have been a horror or a salve. It might be trying to forget its stories.

It’s been a long while since I’ve had the patience to just listen to music for it's own sake. Hindemith has broken me out of that funk. There are new harmonies that are unsettling as they are brilliant. Meditative spaces.

Use good headphones.

2 comments:

  1. Very appealing and interesting music. Thanks for sharing. I was reading about Hindemith while listening.

    Oddly, the ad I got on the YouTube video screamed, "ALERT!!!! YOUR ARREST RECORD IS ONLINE!" Makes aesthetic detachment a little challenging.

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  2. The Youtube really isn't meant for introspection, is it? When I find myself impatiently skipping through 30 second videos, I have to ask what's become of my brain.

    Unfortunately, it's the best way I've found to share a discovery, and as a starting-point I suppose it's not so bad.

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