Luc Ferrari's Tete et queue du dragon

I liked the title of this (head and tail of the dragon) because the song definitely has a very animalistic sound to me. The computer sounds are sometimes like an elephant trumpeting or stomping dragon feet (that low rumble off in the distance). In general it imitated a lot of animal sounds, or just had abrupt sounds that reminded me of an angry beast. Some sounds that caught my eye were these oriental sounding strings (think zither) which was immediately followed by an electronic sound that was strangely gutteral, like a snorting beast. There was a lot of juxtaposition of high sharp sounds against low boomy sounds, and made me think of noises the dragon might make over top of it stomping around angrily. Then there were different sounds in each ear. In one ear there was this keening sort of sound made by strings, and in the other there were those high, fast disjunct electronic sounds. It made me think of one of those Chronicles of Narnia books (I'm not sure which one, maybe The Dawn Treader) where the little boy sneaks into the dragon's cave and sifts through its treasure. Imagine what would happen if you were in the cave looking at all of the jewels and you could hear the dragon noisily stomping its way back in. It's kind of scary, but it's not scary like the Bayle piece. It doesn't disturb me, it's just kind of a nervous feeling.

Francois Bayle's L'oiseau-chanteur

The song title translates literally to "the bird singer," which makes sense considering all of the fluttery bird like sounds and whistles that are in the song. It also incorporates some brass, maybe a trumpet and something lower, what sounds to me like an oboe, and maybe a flute (I'm really quite terrible at guessing that type of thing) I also hear some bells and maybe a vibraphone, and something that could even be a harpsichord at some point. So the music uses a wide range of instruments.

I wasn't sure whether to think this was cute or to be disturbed. It's an odd mix of strange verging on downright creepy and sweet. Some of the bird-like trills and the oboe(?) lines are kind of playful and sweet, but there's the strange brass sliding that is kind of abrupt and off-putting. What's really awful is the laughter(actually another bird sound) that sounds more like an evil, demonic cackle. Creepy! and then some of the bird trills get a little shrill and rushed like they're startled and scared, and I start getting images in my head of some creepy guy attacking poor innocent songbirds. Again, creepy! But then there are long held-out brass notes that make it sound less menacing. Then there's some low droning something that sounds a little like an organ. That interplay between the clarinet(?) trills and the creepy laughter is seriously disturbing.

It's really beautifully written. The musical elements are so pretty, and when spliced together with the electronic sounds they create a definite storyline with a general tone of disturbance. This is another one that's not an easy listen.

Michel Philippot's Etude

This was kind of difficult to listen to because the distorted sounds were really jarring in some places, but it was definitely an interesting listen. It was way more musical than most of the musique concrete that I've listened to so far, which is definitely a nice change. It used some pretty familiar instruments in combination with some not so familiar sounds. It used a piano sound frequently, especially with bass sounds, and used all kinds of effects on it, changing the pitch part of the way through the sound, or reversing it, and some strings that were heavily distorted and became almost painful. There was also a gong used both forwards and backwards. The electronic pitched sound used was kind of squeaky, almost, it's really difficult to describe. And on top of so many of the sounds was this awful grating mechanical disrupting sound that I can't even begin to classify. All I know is that it was really overpowering and uncomfortable when it came in. I really did like the booming low piano lines though. I'm not really sure how exactly they were edited, but the slow movement up in pitch sounded really wild. I also really liked when something would be played in one speaker and then repeated in the other in this disorienting stereo canon.

This piece is definitely very musical, but it's also a very uncomfortable listen. I think that's part of the point.

Mache's Terre de feu, 2nd version

This is more musique concrete. It's different, however, because it uses completely unpitched sounds. They're difficult to place, but I'm going to try with at least some of them. The first rumbling could easily be a motor slowed down. Then there are some backwards sounds that I can't really figure out, and something that sounds like metal rattling, and something that sounds like a zipper. The rattling metal sounds a little like a cow bell and/or the little chimes on christmas ornaments, something that makes lots of noise but no real pitch. I also hear something that could be water tricking or bubbling, and maybe some water drops (this is about half way through) At about four minutes in I hear things that sound like something plucking metal, then some more moving water, which quickly turns into something kind of high pitched and shrill. It made me think of bats a little, of that shrill squeaking kind of sound. There's still no sense of tonality.

I think La terre de feu or the land of fire is not quite appropriate for the song. The song makes me think of water and rain or falling rocks (those tinkling bell sounds) like in an earthquake, but not of fire. I think I would need to hear really dramatic sounds like something reminscent of an explosion or lava or something to think of fire. And I still think part of it sounds like bats flying startled out of a cave. A cave! That's what these sounds are like! A dark, wet cave.

Pierre Schaeffer (something with a title that's messed up)

This is musique concrete (obviously, since he invented it) in it's purest form. It uses a bunch of non-musical sounds to make music, using only the basic taperecorder of the time. Outside of the record noise, the piece has a lot of really interesting sounds. There's a sound somewhere in the middle that reminds me very distinctly of a motorcycle driving past, but I also hear something that sounds like a jet engine, and they could easily be the same sound with the speed changed or altered in some other way. I also hear some high pitched electronic sounds that could easily be sine waves because of how piercing they are. Also there are things that sound like bells. I'm not sure if this is right, but I hear sounds panning between the two speakers in kind of a sweep that makes it sound like the sound is moving in front of your face from one side to the other. I could almost visualize it moving.

It was a curious little piece, but I couldn't really gather any sort of mood from it. Again, it seemed more experimental than musical.

Alice Shields' The Transformation of Ani

When I was reading about this one, I was convinced it would be interesting, because it was the first piece playing mostly with the voice, and also because it was text from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. It was intriguing. It begins with percussion, which for the most part sounds unedited except for some clicks and added electronic sounds that become more prominent later. It also uses what must be a vibraphone. After listening through the whole song I was very confused. I thought there was supposed to be voice??? The CD insert said that there was voice against percussion and musical electronic phrases. I got the latter, but no voice. It was certainly other-worldy, like it was supposed to be, but I'm still confused as to why there is no voice reciting anything. Did they mean the voice was being replaced by the the percussion and electronic sound? If so, it's much less exctiting. It's still interesting, sure. The vibraphone notes played quickly and the rapid percussion runs (trills? What do you call one drum played rapidly?) were pretty pleasing to the ear, and certainly interesting, but where's the voice?!

Mario Davidovsky's Synchronisms no. 5

I like that I'm finally getting to listen to something with a real melodic line again. This is kind of great for a lot of reasons. First, I absolutely love the transitions between booming bass and higher lines in the beginning. Second, the occasional switch back and forth between speakers is definitely an attention grabber. I also love how the song changes themes but they all seem to be coherent and there aren't huge gaps between them, meaning it moves enough not to hear me. They're real themes too. The first one, of course is that back and forth between the high and low, then there's the back and forth between the speakers, and then back to high and low, and then there's this urgent wee-ooh sound. After another low section comes the high fast section, and then a low fast section which ends it. The ending that kind of dies off like that makes me want to hear more. Why was that so much cooler than some of the other stuff, and why was it so short?