Sonic Revelations, Sonic Revolutions

I must say that I truly enjoyed listening to JLA last weekend. For some reason I found his music incredibly deep and inspiring. In reading about him I learned about the influence his home in Alaska has on him. I could really see the frozen tundra of the north shining through some of his pieces. I saw this especially in “The Light That Fills the World.” The swirling drones of the higher registers combined with the rumbling bass created this very astral effect on me. It was a strange feeling that started in my hands and then kindof shook my body. In listening I could see myself watching something so naturally bazzar (however that’s spelled) as the Aurora Borealis. Which in itself connected with this song. There are all these high colors swirling in lines together creating this great painting in the sky, which is exactly what “The Light That Fills the World” did to me. I could hear all these colors combining and spackling together, as if I could actually see them. The ending of the piece was perfect. There is a slight climax of the deep rumbling of the bass, with the raindrops of the xylophonie instrument and the higher strings, that forced themselves upon each other, and then slowly peeled themselves off one by one as if it hurt a little animal. And that little animal is all that is left, whimpering away until the song ends. That one note sounded so perfect and crisp once it was left alone from all the other things that were piled on top of it.

In critique of the piece I must say it often became repetitive, repeating similar sections over again. Low bass rumbling, with some added higher drones followed by the wobbly jingles then change. Yes they were all slightly different than previous sections, but in terms of format these parts were often repeated one after another. However, it seemed to work out pretty well.

There are some benefits to procrastination. In all honesty, I completed the readings this morning, and I am in no way apologetic, because of the snow.

I’m from Florida. Snow is new and fantastic and cold, and everyone I know is making fun of me for being so thrilled, because apparently it’s not “really snowing.” Listening to John Luther Adams again this morning, I realized: this is really snowy music. I was blown away by how perfectly wintery it was, and then I read the papers about how JLA’s purpose was to compose Alaska. This blew me away even more, because he had so exactly raised that image in my mind even when I had very little background knowledge of the music. You know when you completely adore something so much you can’t put it into words? I’m listening to The Light That Fills My World right now, and I feel exactly like that.  I think I’m going to walk around listening only to John Luther Adams for the rest of the winter. I am amazed, and enthralled, and hearing JLA’s work and staring out the window at the snow made my day. It was spectacular. It sounds so much like watching snow fall. The background stays the same and there is very little variation in the scene (some people walking by) but then the shimmer of the falling ice everywhere, and the patterns of the snowfall changing every second makes it stunning. I was never bored watching the snow fall or listening to John Luther Adams’ music.

The idea of composing places is also such an incredible idea to me. I wish I was more musical so I could try to compose Miami Beach, or Oberlin, or my aunt’s backyard. In the meantime, I’ll have to settle for listening to Alaska over and over again.

I listened to The Light That Fills The World a bunch the other day. That composition is truly a masterpiece in my eyes. It is one thing to write a pretty sounding piece of music, but JLAmakes those thirteen minutes perfect.The texture rises and falls with such grace. Its slow but steady undulating is truly organic and doesnot seem forced. In the past, I have had to force myself to truly picture a mental image when listening to a piece of music. THis piece truly took me to another place with ease.  His use of seemingly contrasting  or seldom combined instruments (marimba and strings) did not seem  self serving  or “out there” . Somehow the timbres fit just  right and made the piece unique yes easily accesible. Although there wereno fast runs or melodic development, the emotions thiw piece inspirede in me were porfound and deep. I felt a true longing for my weyoming home, for the sunrises over the mountains. I wanted to be there nd watch the light fill that world. The title was perfect. It embodied the true feel of the piece and the physical scene it set. JLA hit a homerun with this one and he did it with grace and beauty.