And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!

Monday 6 July 2009

Three quotes from Harry Halbreich’s sleeve notes for the album Iannis Xenakis: Chamber Music 1955-1990:

Kottos for cello (1977)
Later, the music returns to extremely high registers, the toccata proceeds with double stops, but after a short recall of the opening sounds, the piece unexpectedly ends by dissolving into gossamer glissandi in the highest register.

Embellie for viola (1981)
And the work ends in the same manner, slipping away to the extreme high glissando harmonics on the edge of audibility.

Tetras for string quartet (1983)
The eighth section, a metrically complex tutti, leads to the ninth, which serves as a coda and which, after a display of strength in tremolos, dies away in a surprising manner with pianissimo glissandi.

Filed under: Journalism, Music by Ben.H

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The Boring Like A Drill Mailbag

Sunday 5 July 2009

A mere two weeks after that friendly missive from Suzanne Somers, I’ve received another email from an admirer:

X-Mailer: YahooMailWebService/0.7.289.1
From: Stave Scout
Reply-To: stavescout@yahoo.com
Subject: ORDER
To: drills2001@aol.com
Dear sir/madam

My name is stave scout and urgenly need some DRILLS to order from your company.please email with the types of DRILLS you have in stock for sale now.and the price and i will like to know what type of credit card do you accept. I will be looking forward to hear from you soon.

Thanks
Regards,
stave

Always willing to assist, I immediately sent a reply.

Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your enquiry about DRILLS. I have a wide selection of reconditioned DRILLS and DRILLBITS for sale – from the most delicate surgical equipment to heavy machinery for vast construction projects (laparoscopy, shipping canals). Please inform me of what type of DRILLS you need and I’m sure I can arrange prompt delivery. I accept Mastercard.
Kind regards,
Ben.

I’ll let you know when I receive a reply. I’m sure it won’t take long.

Filed under: Stupidity by Ben.H

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Please Mister Please

Friday 3 July 2009

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, “Pour Piano” (1973). Carol Morgan, piano.
(5’17”, 7.25 MB, mp3)

Filed under: Please Mister Please by Ben.H

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AudioMulch 2.0 Released

Wednesday 1 July 2009

AudioMulch, a program I’ve used in a number of my compositions, live gigs, and installations, has now been upgraded to version 2. I’m pretty excited about this, particularly because the revisions to the interface and work flow are expected to make future upgrades and additional features quicker and easier. The program is intended for novices as well as specialists. Info and 60-day demo here.

Filed under: Music by Ben.H

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Housekeeping in The Listening Room

Wednesday 1 July 2009

As mentioned before, all 12 pieces from Real Characters and False Analogues can now be heard in The Listening Room. However, I’ve been having trouble with some of the mp3s: Redundens 4 and all of the Stained Melodies come out distorted when I try to play them.

I’m figuring out how to fix this, but in the meantime if you have the same trouble then try the player on my NetNewMusic page.

Filed under: Music, Self-promotion by Ben.H

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