Somehow I missed this post when it originally appeared, and only now got to hear this piece for the first time. (Actually a dozen times by now.) A truly remarkable performance – it communicates the large scale continuity of the piece while keeping the mind constantly interested in the diversity of individual sections.
I have no idea about BH’s formal design of this composition, but my guess is that there was an initial choice of intervals which assures that distant sections, while different in pitch progressions, dynamics, orchestration, etc., are still related at a more general level by their harmonic “feel”.
I must admit that I felt as if the music was an abstract homage to Mussorgsky’s “Pictures”. There is even a recurring short semi-tone based ‘motif’ (repeated several times in different nstrumentations) which brought to mind Mussorgsky’s recurring “promenade” theme.
Many thanks for making this recording available. The sound quality is superb. (I wonder if Sky Digital UK broadcasts have the same high bitrate as BBC Radio 3, which is 320 kbs AAC.)
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Somehow I missed this post when it originally appeared, and only now got to hear this piece for the first time. (Actually a dozen times by now.) A truly remarkable performance – it communicates the large scale continuity of the piece while keeping the mind constantly interested in the diversity of individual sections.
I have no idea about BH’s formal design of this composition, but my guess is that there was an initial choice of intervals which assures that distant sections, while different in pitch progressions, dynamics, orchestration, etc., are still related at a more general level by their harmonic “feel”.
I must admit that I felt as if the music was an abstract homage to Mussorgsky’s “Pictures”. There is even a recurring short semi-tone based ‘motif’ (repeated several times in different nstrumentations) which brought to mind Mussorgsky’s recurring “promenade” theme.
Many thanks for making this recording available. The sound quality is superb. (I wonder if Sky Digital UK broadcasts have the same high bitrate as BBC Radio 3, which is 320 kbs AAC.)
With best wishes,
Boom