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Showing posts with label Ballet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ballet. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Henk Badings - "Evolutions" Vinyl 10" album (Cacophonic) 1958


Dutch composer Henk Badings score to the ballet "Evolutions" by Yvonne Georgi.  The sound reminds in parts of Portishead and early Kraftwerk.  Th music is moody in a cinematic nature.  A combination of tape and electroacoustic music.   There are traces of musique concrete but also melodies being played as well.   Before buying this recording, I never heard of Badings' music nor his name.    It's great to be turned on to a new composer and finding it by chance  - mostly due to the record cover design.  It's good.
One hears real instruments throughout the six pieces that make "Evolutions."  I can hear accordion, piano, but manipulated by tape editing.  Recorded in 1958, Badings used electronic music not as an experimental practice, but as new ballet music of its time.  As mentioned some melodies play hide and seek with the electronic effects.  A great short ep length album. 


Sunday, August 7, 2016

Maurice Ravel - Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra ‎– Daphnis And Chloe (RCA Victor Red Seal, Vinyl, Mono)


Maurice Ravel's "Daphnis and Chloe" gets the perfect packaging from the year 1955.  Although I have a very odd wrap on the vinyl, which gives the sound an extra dimension of weirdness, this is a superb piece of music by Ravel.   Charles Munch, and The Boston Symphony Orchestra does a brilliant job of stating the Ravel vision.   I found this album at The Last Bookstore in Downtown Los Angeles.  Lately I have been slightly obsessed with Ravel's "Bolero" due to my wife, Lun*na Menoh's recent performance of that piece.  So I had that in mind, but when I looked at the booklet that comes with this specific album, I was totally thrilled that the illustrations are done by a young Andy Warhol.  I, for one, really love Warhol's commercial work from the 1950's - and here you can see the influence of Jean Cocteau (with respect to his drawings) but it still has a strong Warhol feeling as well.  Delicate, and then you have the strong album cover image that was so typical of that era. Without a doubt worth the $14.99 price tag!