Extremes

Got a little bit of focused listening done today, given the space opened up by the weekend. Thoroughly enjoyed Van Der Graaf's Present, the double CD set they recorded when they got back together around 2005, with Jaxon on board. Much as I admire the CDs recorded as a trio since he left, it was refreshing to hear how the newer older version of VDGG sounded with the saxes and flute enmeshed in their sound world. I particularly enjoyed the disk of improvisations, finding it more immediately accessible than the trio's improvisational Alt CD. Somehow having Jaxon blaring/wailing away sounds more like what one expects from an improv. Present was one of my purchases from Auckland's Real Groovy, an incredible bargain at around six bucks second hand. If you're ever in the shop and wondering can the second hand stuff be trusted, the answer is an emphatic yes: I haven't had a single problem with anything from there, with everything looking and, more important, sounding brand new.

After putting the VDGG boys to one side it was time for a bit of Brahms. I deliberately didn't listen to anything whilst reading Swafford's magisterial account of the great man's life as I felt I needed to build up to some intelligent listening (not that I was entirely sure of delivering the necessary intelligence, I hasten to add.) And so now it was time to re-hear the first symphony, with Swafford's comments at hand.

Was it an enlightening experience? Well, it wasn't revelatory. I realised I was a lot more familiar with the symphony than I thought I was. I generally knew what was coming next and it sounded like it always had. (Obviously, duh!) But there was a richness about the listening experience I don't think I'd felt previously and I had a strong sense that when I listened again lots of things would click into place.

It occurs to me now that the distance between the kinds of music I've been listening to today is vast. From the calculated and crafted to the freely spontaneous. But both require a sympathetic listener with ears and mind open. Hope I did each some kind of justice.