I reckon the music for Kubrick's 2001, A Space Odyssey provoked a lot of my generation into an exploration of 'far out' sounds that, in a few cases, led to an open-eared, appreciative exploration of atonal heroes like Gyorgy Ligeti. I was reminded today of when I first heard his wonderful piece Atmospheres at the back end of the movie (or bits of it, that is) and thought That's so far out and groovy man, or words to that effect. The reminder came in the form of my discovery today of a video of Simon Rattle and the BPO giving it what for in a glorious rendition of the piece which I managed to listen to twice in between what I was really supposed to be doing.
The funny thing is that the visuals provided by Sir Simon and his jolly men (and women) proved more illuminating in terms of what the music is actually up to than all Kubrick's visions. It reinforced something I've come to understand about the way I hear music: seeing how music is made helps me make sense of whatever sound world I am accessing. Deny me that and my ears lose something somehow.
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