Three CDs

I received three CDs for Christmas this year. They nicely surmise my musical tastes, which are fairly broad. Compare and contrast...

Euphoria - A Decade Of Trance Anthems

Has it really been a decade? That's a long time, I am so old.

Euphoria's first TV advert changed the make-up of how compilations could be presented. In a pioneering  move it featured just one track. Faithless' "Insomnia" reaching the climax of its breakdown just as vertical lines on the screen slowly became the letters spelling out its title.

Apparently that was autumn of 1999 and I can remember it. I guess I was 19. Back in the day I glimpsed how this music should be done: big rooms, sweeping coloured lasers and groups of people being brought together in an overriding sense of elation. But music has changed since then, those days are gone. Instead of mostly European DJs playing the sort of music that made people happy and brought them together, we get mostly American DJs and rappers telling everybody how cool they are. For a while I thought I could go out and experience those times again, that the only thing stopping me was that I didn't go clubbing so often. I assumed that when I did go clubbing I was just missing the good clubs, playing the sort of music I wanted. But I now realise that that music is in the past.

Bach - the Art of Fugue & Musical Offering

Recently I have started re-reading GEB, which inspired me to ask for this CD. The book makes innumerable references to Bach, and these works in particular. They are exemplars of Bach's fugal writing, a style which didn't stay in fashion much after his death. Unlike the other CDs I got, I didn't know any of the tracks on this one before I got it (apart from the snippets discussed in GEB) and I wouldn't exactly describe them as catchy. Having read a little about these pieces before I listen to them I know the sort of techniques Bach uses to construct these pieces from their subjects. Having played several Bach fugues I know in general terms how they are put together, but I also know that these have extra special tricks in them, like inversion, augmentation and all that gubbinry. This music is the sort of music where I want to set time aside to listen to it - I don't want to be multitasking trying to do something else at the time. It deserves my full attention so I can try and pick out all the subject entries and the clever things Bach is doing (surely a difficult task). That is not to say that I don't put it on and do something else - I am listening to it now as I write this, but out of all the CDs, this one has the most to reveal under close scrutiny.

Ludovico Einaudi - Nightbook

This was the only music I got that had a title - the others simply have descriptions of the contents. (You could argue "Euphoria" is a title - but it is billed that "Euphoria" is the artist (being an ongoing range of compilation CDs) and "A decade of Trance Anthems" is the title of this one.) Nightbook is also the most "poppy" CD I received. Even though it is "classical" is style (I heard about it on Classic FM) I feel it reaches to the broadest audience and comes in nice bite-size pieces each 3-5 minutes long - convenient for the modern busy listener.

Jean-Luc Picard loves his Shakespeare, and introduced me to the concept of Method acting when he discusses Data's performance of Henry V. As I understand it, in regular acting the actor simulates the emotions their character is supposed to be feeling by changing their voice and waving their arms around and stuff (see emoting). Whereas in Method acting the actor feels the emotions first and then uses this in their portrayal of the character. They do this by drawing on their own past experiences. So we have a choice between which comes first, the emotions or the portrayal, and we can also consider which makes the better acting. But that is not a question for me to tackle - I don't really get acting. I much prefer films with a car chase and gratuitous nudity.

One can ask if there is a parallel situation with music. Do I listen to chill-out music when I am already chilled or to relax me? Do I listen to my banging rave anthems when I want to do something frantic (e.g. Starcraft!) or when relaxing too much would be dangerous (motorway driving)? In my case, I reckon I listen to my dance music when I want to be alert and on the ball, but I don't listen to chilled music to relax. I reckon when I get chance to relax I am going to chill out whatever I am listening to. I don't think I listen to happy music to make my happy, and I certainly don't think anybody would listen to "sad" music with the intention of getting depressed. I reckon that the reason bands like the Manics and Radiohead are associated with depression and suicide and whatnot, is because people are depressed anyway and choose music that might strike a chord with what they are feeling. And it is a special thing to experience an emotional connection with someone through music.