Today I started reading Music After the Fall by Tim Rutherford-Johnson, a book about art music since 1989. I listened to Different Trains by Steve Reich, Piano Sonata No. 6 by Galina Ustvolskaya, Brain Forest by Merzbow, Kits Beach Soundwalk by Hildegard Westerkamp, and H’un (Lacerations): In Memoriam 1966-1976 by Bright Sheng.
It feels good to engage with new music. Last week I saw the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma perform here in Seoul, and I was especially moved by Kojiro Umezaki’s …seasons continue as if none of this had ever happened… and by Wu Tong’s merging of a Chinese folk song, sung and played on the sheng, with Yo-Yo Ma’s rendition of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude. Each piece combines the old and traditional with the modern, but in completely different ways: Umezaki through an ingenious and heartbreaking electronic deconstruction of the sound of the shakuhachi, and Ma and Wu through the juxtaposition of two older pieces, performed in fairly mainstream ways, to create a postmodern overlap.
As the weather turns cooler, it’s nice to know I’ve got a body of listening ahead of me, something to enjoy during the winter months when holing up at home is more appealing than venturing out.
Also published on Medium.