Dreamer that Remains

The music starts playing and so I grab my head phones.  Within seconds of hearing the first sounds, I think of the Lavender town song.  It is slow, creepy and only a few notes played as ominously as a stormy night on Friday the 13th.  By 1:45 there is a change in the music.  The first of many to come.  Now I feel slightly relaxed, the music still carries an eerie feeling but no longer so creepy or depressing.  At 3:07 there is another change in the music.  Vocals are now added as a male and female can be heard like a ghost in the background.  They were audible but there was a tinge of unearthlyness about them.  The sudden striking of the violin continues to shock me every time I hear it, the madness only increases as odd sounds are thrown interweaving with one another.  There is a kind of organized madness about this section by 5:50.  And just as suddenly, the music quits and now there are mellow sounds gently beeping on my ear.  And at 7:10 I am listening to a rough voice singing an eery song.  At 8:20 he will sing a verse and will be followed up by contrasting voices.  All this laid upon the xylophone type bed of the music.  Now at 10:10 chaos, then nothing.

If you would like to explore Partch More

BBC Documentary about the Genius Harry Partch
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC6A94D2D7624C9B8

American Public Radio, with links to play some of his inventions!

http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/feature_partch.html

Strange & Cool

The Dream that Remains


I feel very strange but very cool when I heard this sound at the first time. The piece of music brings me this kind of feel--heavy and deep. But I think the style is modern classical, modern and experimental. In my opinion, it would be similar style and rhythm with Indian dance music on the first part of it. And dancers can create excellent dance works if extracting the first half as the background music. It combines narrator, chorus and background music on the second half which gives me strong feel about Italy Opera. There is a constantly performance scene in my mind during listening to it. It's a pity that I cannot confirm all the instruments appearing in this piece of music. I am also working to explore. I also think that the music can be treated as an expression of  performance art. It can be seen as an experimental process and a kind of performance art during this creation entirely. The music demonstrate that purely instrumental music in complex rhythmic layers, showcasing the magical and extensive collection that the instrumentalist had grown to be. In a word, it is an excellent and amazing music. 

Dreamer that Remains

0-.50 Daunting, sounds like a theatrical piece for a horror. 1.00-1.15 starts sounding like a battle or something. Militant. Don't really know what to make of 1.15-2.30. Musical, but dissonant, not really enjoying it. 3.00 starts getting interesting. like the strings. Getting dissonant again, more chanting. 3.30 would sound awesome with some percussion. 4.00 I really just feel as if I'm listening to the soundtrack of a snuff film or a horror or something creepy. Maybe shouldn't be listening at night. 5.00 Reminds me of a bunch of kids let loose in a music store. Nothing seems calculated or timed but it is. 5.40 shows that. Playing this on my monitors, roommate just walked in asking if I was watching some sort of psychological trippy movie. "Do not loiter", broke the illusion, can't help but laugh at this part. Almost seems like a joke. 8.00 is getting strange. What is he trying to say in this song. Maybe it's the dissonant music in the background, but he sound crazy. 9.50 really lets loose. Finally the end of the song. Wouldn't be hurt if I never had to listen again. I guess I can see the musical quality to it, and I understand how it can produce certain feelings. Still, not very pleasurable to listen to.

Harmonic Scale (to 17)

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Fortissimo!

Harry Partch's "The Dreamer that remain" is an extremely loud and complex piece of music. I can not say that I was a big fan, but I respect the work and the complexity of the arrangement. The first three to four minutes were extremely stressful and I found myself almost sweating from the intensity. Due to my musical heritage, the second half brought to mind the works of an early Jim Morrison, an off beat Disney movie, and the sinking of Hy-Brazil from Erik the Viking...all mixed together for what I assume would be a really bad trip. The emotion pulled out during this arrangement is obviously meant to be intense and I must say if that was Mr Partch's intention, he hit that objective dead on.

But on bright side, we all can loiter!

Oh, let us loiter

So... the dreamer that remains...

Plain and simply, it started off making me feel like I should be walking the plank.  I closed my eyes and saw myself plunge into the water, shortly to be circled by sharks.  That was when it got weird… or stopped, rather, because I realized I was trying to make a story out of what I had seen, and remembered that I was simply supposed to feel the music.  It did, at one point, make me feel a bit tired.  About five minutes in, it made me feel nostalgic of my childhood, in that, for some reason, it reminded me of Aladin.  It later made me think about some of the songs and poems I have written in an attempt to make something that makes no sense.  It also made me think a little bit about Monty Python when the singing of loitering ensued.  All in all, it wasn't the type of piece I'd normally listen to, but it was the cause of some serious random thought.