Chronological Survey of the Opening Chords of Eroica

An interesting youtube find- chronologically assembled opening chords of Beethoven's Eroica (Symphony No. 3). Differences are likely largely due to qualities of recording equipment but are interesting regardless.

Wish there were more of these.

Bird & Schneller's Sonic Arboretum 22-12-11

If someone were to ask me to describe ideal pneumonia-inducing weather, I would probably draw upon last Thursday's in Chicago as the prime example. Luckily, I only had to endure a good half-hour while waiting in a rather disorganized and disgruntled line in front of the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. Even if I am to potentially die from exposure, my experience one indoors was worth every bit of lung I may or may not cough up.

What I'd been standing in line for was a long awaited Andrew Bird show. I had attended one last year at the Fourth Presbyterian Church, which was quite good, but I hadn't gotten the Bird fix I needed. This year's show, which took full advantage of the Museum, was far more of a happy combination of both art and music.

As much signature to Andrew Bird as carefree head-shaking and performing barefoot, the Sonic Arboretum, as the installation is know, focused on Bird's idiosyncratic gramophone-like horn speakers (made by Ian Schneller), and how arrangement of sound can come to affect surroundings.

The show itself was quite good. Bird announced preemptively that he was a tad sick (I'd guess on account of the weather), and apologized if he had to turn to instrumental pieces only. Somehow, with the help of copious glasses of water, he pulled through, dishing out favorites like Skin Is My, Plasticities, Tables and Chairs, Lazy Projector, It's Not Easy Being Green, and something I deeply regret not to have recorded- Effigy. The open floor provided plenty of room to move around and, of course, to creep closer and closer to the stage. The horn speakers did their work as well, occasionally bursting with sound and surrounding the audience with Bird's crooning and layered instrumentals. It was a relatively short performance, but a great one. And Bird definitely deserved a full bottle of Nyquil for being able to squeeze out an encore.

The installation was rightfully stunning even long after the show had ended. As intended, the gallery of the MCA  was open to wander through as recordings of Bird playing vague instrumental tunes and harmonizing (recorded earlier by Bird in the same museum) seemed to both lead and accompany visitors through every room, while still retaining their own presence. A very particular effect was achieved. Bird himself puts it best:

"As a composer, I am interested in how one's environment and the scale of a landscape affect one's musical imagination; how seeing a storm approach, pass overhead and continue eastward can calibrate the mind to hear music beyond the 8 bar phrase. How the surrounding walls of sand stone at Zion National Park provoke their own frequencies, or the wind strumming through a field of prairie grass has its own phrasing. A steamy mossy forest in the northwest has a certain grain and texture." (Event Pamphlet)

This really did give a walk through the gallery far more dimension than one in silence, and seemed to seamlessly tie the installation in with the regular works. Schneller's speakers were a work of art on their own, serving both a stellar aesthetic and auditory purpose. If anything, the Sonic Arboretum was a sensory wonder.

(As a side-note, I strongly suggest a listen to a recording of Bird's live show at the Rio Theater earlier this year.)

Music: Beirut's The Rip Tide

A tad belated but necessary regardless, I must speak volumes on Beirut’s new album, so hold on and prepare for word vomit. Zach Condon of Beirut (it’s always tricky with largely one-man bands like these- are the band and the leader synonymous or not?) released The Rip Tide August 30^th of this year, to relatively good critical review, and good god was the wait worthwhile.

When Call to Arms began to play on a road trip through Eastern Europe four or five years ago, Beirut wormed itself into my heart instantly. With Hispanic, Balkan, and a myriad of other rhythms from all far corners of the earth, yet a simultaneous ability to retain painfully beautiful melodies, Beirut was nothing short of perfection.

However, the gap between The Flying Club Cup, released in 2008, and the new album was, to put plainly, a tad excessive. I went into Beirut withdrawal. I came to a point where I might as well have been thrashing frantically in a padded cell in anticipation for something new. The trouble is, The Rip Tide has nine new tracks. Nine. Hardly enough, right?

Wrong, at least somewhat. These nine tracks, whether individually or as a collective unit, are a fair reward for such a lengthy wait. Undoubtedly, as with The Flying Club Cup and Gulag Orkestar before it, The Rip Tide documents Zach Condon’s slow transition from pure, slightly musically abrasive folk, to more melodic, pop-driven tunes. Condon, however, does not completely relinquish the accordion, trumpet, and ukulele. He inserts it tactfully, mixing it with lyrics which are, as per usual, ingenious. Tracks like Payne’s Bay are strongly reminiscent of much of Gulag Orkestar, for example. Santa Fe, however, a likely homage to Condon’s hometown (I have never tried to track down another human being quite to such an extent as to when I visited that city), might as well be a modern pop ballad.

I can’t deny that I do pine for some good Balkan-inspired cacophony of countless instruments and Condon’s idiosyncratic tone, but I’m not disappointed by Beirut’s newer sound. Though it is more of a widely appreciated style, it remains uniquely Beirut’s.

I’m crossing my fingers for an EP sometime soon, since having to make it through another three years replaying my entire Beirut library is an extremely painful prospect.

Here are a few tracks from The Rip Tide worth noting:

East Harlem

Santa Fe


Port of Call


The Peacock

Tchaikovsky Feature

Tchaikovsky is, without question (albeit a bit of competition from Liszt, Grieg, and Debussy), the pinnacle of classical music to me. I adore the entire Romantic Era (what is modernity how does it work), but Tchaikovsky is exceptional, so here are some of my preferred pieces.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on the 7th of May, 1940, in Votkinsk, in the Russian Empire. Composing music from the age of 14, Tchaikovsky went on to study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and, at the age of 26, began to teach at the Moscow Conservatory. Come the early 1870's, Tchaikovsky was becoming internationally noted for his moving, dramatic melodies. With aid by a hefty commission by Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky continued to compose such works as Eugene Onegin, The Nutcracker, and Swan Lake, among a myriad of other pieces.

Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. 19, No. 4 (1873)

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23, 1st Mvt. (1875)


Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, Op. 24 (1878)


Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48 - I. Pezzo in forma di sonatina: Andante non troppo - Allegro moderato (1880)


1812 Overture, Op. 49 (1880)


Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 - II. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza (1888)


The Nutcracker, Op. 71 - Act II, Pas De Deux: Variation II: Dance Of The Sugar-Plum Fairy (1892)