Naah, not Woodduck! He's got a new argument started with eugeneonagain. I think I really offended him when I criticized atheists.

This was a crucial release, and I have heard Frank Zappa mention it also. It was a vinyl LP:


And now is available on CD. The liner notes, by Robert Craft, are very good. This is one of the reasons I am not excited by digital file downloads: no liner notes.

I can see why many listeners are flummoxed, but don't get in a kerfluffle about them. There are some basic "givens" you need to know in order to listen intelligently to serial works. But even so, the music is accessible on a very basic level, without any forethought. I think what is necessary is for the listener to "clear his mind" of habits and preconceptions about music. Not an easy task, even if you love music of all kinds.

The one word which I would use to best describe most serial music is: Sensuousness


Just like Renaissance music and late romantic impressionism, it's got that serene, almost sexual, exotic flavor that should be very apparent by the second listening of a piece.

It differs from composer to composer obviously (as for instance, Babbitt sounds nothing like Stockhausen or Boulez, who sound nothing like Wuorinen) but it is a common shared aesthetic thread.

Structure and form isn't hard to follow too (unless you want to break it down in the same way as Bach), contrast is the crux of all music, it should be no surprise that element gets exploited in serial music.


The thing that pissed me off all the time, whether it's online or at lectures; is how controversial Schoenberg is treated. He WAS and always will be a romantic composer, who happened to invent the 12 tone system and apply to his romantic music.

Schoenberg for instance, is elevator music compared to Stockhausen's (sometimes) polarizing, ambitious, extreme soundworlds 

My favorite bands are "the three B's": The Beatles, The Byrds, and The Beach Boys. Been listening to "Pet Sounds" lately.
Other core favorites: Spirit, King Crimson (coming in October to Austin), Forever More (very obscure), Jeff Beck, Cream, Hendrix, Allman Brothers, Donovan, Led Zep, Yardbirds, John Mayall, Rolling Stones, Soft Machine, Henry Cow, Eno, Talking Heads, The Fugs, Zappa, Gentle Giant, Humble Pie, Peter Frampton, The Faces, The Small Faces, The Who, The Nice, ELP, Jethro Tull, Procol Harum, Quatermass (another obscurity), and more.

The first Penderecki I heard, back in 1972, and "imprinted" on like a baby goose, was this recording, still available as a CD-R.