Listening for 1/31

For this assignment we were to do a little listening. Charles Ives: Three Places in New England, and "The Things our Fathers Loved"; Carl Ruggles: Sun-treader; and Charles Griffes: The Fountains of the Acqua Paola. As I was listening, I thought I enjoyed the Ives and the Ruggles, but they were nothing compared with the Griffes. I penciled some thoughts down as I listened, impressions, and kept them here in the same order, but added this intro lastly. First impressions, I believe, dictate a lot about our musical impressionism, and this blog is one that pleasantly surprised me.

Ruggles Sun-treader
This piece was one I could not put down, I kept listening to it. It does get repetitive and he uses the same idea again and again and again, and yet, I am unable to stop and say " I get it." The music in here is sort of hidden, as though I do not understand it's allure. The interesting thing is that I feel why it should be called sun treader, as though the piece is too intense for it's own good. I find myself wanting to hear more of that gritty, irritating, even obnoxious sounds that Ruggles forces upon the listener, like a well-refined crude sort of torture. The intensity of the trumpet is not enough, as though a doubled oboe could bring out the brightness, and the timpani/bass drum strikes could be enhanced with the addition of anvil, tom-tom, or even a deadened cowbell to create an even greater sense of angst. The incredible thing is the readiness with which the piece accepts itself. The confidence it exudes is a tribute to Ruggles' slow, methodical working style.

Ives Three Places in New England-1
The opening of this Ives Symphony, as it conforms to a few structural norms I feel comfortable describing it as such, is disturbing, unsettling, and beautiful. Ives' melody is paradoxical in that it provokes a pause in thought while it continues to evolve. Like a crook contemplating a murder, it is quiet, beautiful, plodding, but so careful to maintain this unspoken line, the listener should know that it will not cross, but continues to question this fact. Thought continues throughout without any action. Not intense, but subversive.

Ives-2
This movement comes out of nowhere! It is jazzy, energetic, even spicy, then slows to a more thoughtful section. Speeding back up with honky-tonk, ragtime beat, in a strangely fulfilling climax. Ives begs the question, what is tonal? His music thus far seems to work tonally, to the ear it is not unpleasent, despite the bold dissonances he uses to not illustrate, but insist upon his motives. At the close of this movement Ives, like Beethoven, relentlessly ushers in a rhythmic motive combined with his own brand of tonality to provide the listener with a totally unique sonic experience.

Ives-3
Wow, simply wow. This evokes Dvorak New World Symphony Movement II. All I can hear is the largo horn duet before the oboe entrance (about mm. 39). However, Ives puts these unsettled strings at a pp underneath. It sounds like forethought of disaster at a time of peace, or being in the eye of a hurricane. This whole movement just makes me nervous, as though it is too peaceful, thanks to the subtext of the strings. This is gorgeous, but so haunting. It climax's boldly, powerfully, and almost painful. The ending though, is strange, after that substantial climax it has an ending that is really just an incomplete 

Griffes The Fountains of the Acqua Paola
This work evokes french impressionism undeniably. It almost sounds like Chopin, or Debussy. It feels joyful, spritely, and effervescent. This ethereal composition is light and airy. It sounds so easy yet emotional, like the heart skipping a beat. Time becomes a bit more strict at the coda, which does wonders for amplifying the mood. I wonder if this is due to it being the second time through, or if the effect would be equal if the first time was more strict and the coda more loose? Simply put, I love this! Like the Ruggles, I find myself unable to stop listening, I must have listened to it 5 times straight without writing a single word about it. I don't understand it yet, except that he plans it as a wispy, character piece. at a basic understanding I see that it is defined by it's lack of structure and time, as a free-floating phantasm. This makes my heart race, skip beats, and flow freely, I may go mad listening to it, repeatedly. As I edited the rest of this post, reviewing my syntax to ensure a little grammatical clarity it was still repeating. At the time of this post the tally was a full 40' of time spent listening, which is at least 12 times straight through.