response 155 of 156:

Jul 10 16:24 UTC 2003

Grabbed a buncha Naxoses over the weekend.

John Cage, Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano.  I've always 
liked Cage's prepared piano music.  It's the classical counterpart 
of "novelty" music.  Lots of fun, no deep thought required.  I would 
say ignore the liner notes chatter about Zen, only "no deep thought 
required" *is* Zen.

Arnold Bax, Symphony #6, "Into the Twilight" and "Summer Music."  The 
6th symphony is very dramatic, and the two tone poems are really 
lovely.  Bax was a fine orchestrator, but I don't find his music 
awfully memorable.  

Sheila Silver, Piano Concerto (1996) and "Six preludes pour piano, 
d'apres poemes de Baudelaire" (1991).  Silver, whom I'd never heard of, 
is an American composer born in 1946.  The music on this disc is all 
very listenable.  The Piano Concerto is a strange piece of music.  
Silver is apparently going for an eastern European "Jewish" sound in 
places, but it comes out sounding a little like Bartok, a little like 
Prokofiev, a little like Leonard Bernstein.  There are also repeated 
figures that sound slightly minimalist.  Over-all, I liked it very 
much.  The six preludes are the stars of the CD, in my opinion.  Highly 
recommended.