Building My Music Collection
Submitted by lukeprog on Sat, 04/28/2007 - 04:21
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- Remember when I destroyed my entire music collection of over 5,000 albums? Well, I decided to reboot my collection today, on a much more modest, less time-consuming, more legal scale. This list chronicles my very careful acquisitions (most recent first):
- 04-28-07: Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 (1812), performed by Colombia University Orchestra (2001)
- Free download from the Colombia University Orchestra website: 4 tracks. Another of Beethoven's greatest works. Again, not a great performance of it, but a free one.
- 04-28-07: Jean Sibelius - Symphony No. 5 (1915), conducted by Adrian Leaper (1994)
- Downloaded via a free eMusic trial: 3 tracks. The famous third movement is probably my favorite melody in all musical history!
- 04-28-07: Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 (1808), performed by Fulda Symphonic Orchestra (2000)
- Free download from Wikipedia: 4 tracks. The orchestra of amateurs can't beat the famous performance, except in price. This might be the most relentlessly enjoyable classical symphony I know.
- 04-28-07: Glenn Branca - The Ascension (1981)
- Downloaded via a free eMusic trial: 5 tracks. An astonishing no-wave redefinition of what can be done with an electric guitar, to be followed by all the classic Sonic Youth albums. Sweet Lord this albums if powerful.
- 04-28-07: Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No. 9 (1893), performed by Colombia University Orchestra (2002)
- Free download from the Colombia University Orchestra website: 4 tracks. Sure, it's not the best performance of this work, but I'm not sophisticated enough to notice anyway. Unfortunately, there are a few coughs here and there. Gotta love that famous melody!
- 04-28-07: Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996)
- Downloaded via a free eMusic trial: 6 tracks. A post-rock classic that basically reinvented progressive rock as inspired by Neu! and Steve Reich instead of King Crimson and Colosseum. The epic "Djed" is, of course, the central masterpiece here.
- 04-28-07: Black Tape for a Blue Girl - Remnants of a Deeper Purity (1996)
- Downloaded via a free eMusic trial: 9 tracks. A glorious soundscape of bleak, eternal laments. The vocal concerto "For You Will Burn Your Wings Upon The Sun" is very ambitious, and the sound design of shorter tracks like "Fitful" is impeccable and moving.
- 04-28-07: Neu! - Neu! (1972)
- Downloaded via a free eMusic trial: 6 tracks. Ferocious, iterative, building patterns. A tale told by a genius, full of sound and fury, signifying everything.
- 04-28-07: Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht (1972), 2006 bonus release
- Downloaded via a free eMusic trial: 3 tracks + 1 bonus track. In this work, electronic music finally used the potential of its infinite sound palette to achieve the peak of the grand and unique ambition of music: evocation through abstraction. The electric washes 9:45 into "Satz Ebene" sends chillds up my spine every time.
- 04-28-07: Faust - Faust (1971)
- Downloaded via a free eMusic trial: 3 tracks. A highlight of the late-60s/early-70s wave of rock music that showed the medium was capable of more than dance and pop ditties from Elvis and The Beatles. As brilliant as anything created by the best composers of classical, jazz, and avantgarde music. Revolutionary.
- 04-28-07: Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 (1824), conducted by Osmo Vanska (2006)
- Downloaded via a free eMusic trial while in Venezuela: 4 tracks. Virtually all I've heard for the past four months is Latin American dance music, and listening to serious music for the first time in ages was a godsend. Beethoven's immortal symphony rang in my ears with more immediacy, beauty, and power than ever before. Experts say this is the greatest piece of music ever written and I can't argue with them.
It is great news to me that you are regenerating your music collection. It reminds me of a time about 4-5 yrs ago when my 60 favorite albums all got stolen in a duffle bag I had them in. Of course it hurt to lose them all, but to begin rediscovering them as I gradually purchased each one again did have a certain thrill to it.
Yes. Because I'm acquiring more slowly now, I can give them each the time they deserve.