Actually, I'm a global trotter, and it's not always sunny in California. Also the weather doesn't dictate what music I will listen to on a given day.

I agree with what Philip Glass said about Minimal Piano Works, Volume II (2002).
http://www.philipglass.com/music/recordings/minimal_piano_works_2.php

"Some of the works are are specified as music from the category 'minimal music', and other have some characteristics from this music. In minimal music I got a sense of looking at a beautiful sculpture from 3 different angles, the sculpture is still the same, but the interpretation is different. In the minimal music, or the minimalistic related works, repetition (notes, figures, systems) is the base of composition. The tension in this CD is what a composer can create with many notes as in Ten Holt and with hardly any notes as in P�rt.

"The playing direction for F�r Alina is marked "calm, exalted, listening to one's inner self." This tender solo piano work, written in 1976, is regarded as P�rt's first piece in his new tintinnabula style and we hear his characteristic low drones with triadic harmonies floating in the high register in free time. The piece was written originally as a gift for a young Estonian girl who was on her own in London. With F�r Alina, P�rt has often said since, he began to find his voice as a composer: "This was the first piece that was on a new plateau. It was here that I discovered the triad series, which I made my simple little guiding rule." Abandoned, with this new beginning, were the experiments with serialism that had marked his work of the 1960s. Composition, for P�rt, had become a process of self-discovery, and his first requirement was clarity. Arv�; P�rt says about his music: " I could compare my music to white light which contains all colors. Only a prism can divide the colors and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener".

"Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka, written in 1980 by Arv�; P�rt is a beautiful piece, very solitude and simple from structure. The main theme in a minor is slowly climbing diatonic one octave higher and then descending to the notes in which the piece started. P�rt is using only quaver and semi-quavers, by which he creates an almost religious atmosphere. In the Variations he uses several techniques from the minimalists such as: moving patterns, hardly moving (almost no development) and is rather easy to follow. For some listeners P�rts music is more religious than minimal music. One of the most interesting trends in new music since the 1940s is the use of silence. From the Zen inspired prepared piano work of John Cage we started to value silence and space as an integral part of a musical composition. Much like blank space in a Chinese landscape painting it offers a space for us to enter. This trend has continued as composers including Arv�; P�rt find ways to merge Western linearity with the cyclic and static states of much Asian music. The success of P�rt validates the notion that the aural beauty of acoustic instruments, silence, simplicity and a strong personal style are highly valued in the world of new music."

Have a wonderful holiday season. smile

Last edited by Consumer; 2011-11-23 13:23.