Wendy Carlos ‎– "The Shining (Complete Motion Picture Score By Wendy Carlos)" (Overlook Productions ‎– LOOK-CD19802005) 1980/2005

"HEEEEEEERRRRRREEEESSSSS JONNY!"
I was tempted to just post pages and pages of the repeated phrase "All Work And No Play Makes Jonny A Dull Boy", but i can't resist the temptation to write something full of Shiningisms,as this has to be up near the top of my favourite movie list.
Wendy Carlos was no longer Walter, and ,although there's a shed load of  spooky experimental classical music included,likely chosen by Kubrick, She provided a suitably sinister minimal electronic score.
Jack Torrence reminds me of myself, the amount of times the scene when Wendy interrupts Jack at 'work' was repeated in my mountain hideaway makes me shudder with embarassment.
Admitedly I never smashed down a door with an axe, but as David Banner in the Lou Ferringo Hulk used to say..."Don't Make Me Angry, you won't like me when I'm Angry"!
My former partner was no shrinking violet either, think of Clint Eastwood's stalker,Evelyn, from "Play Misty For Me".....she was frightening, sheeech!She threatened to 'kill me and slit my girlfriends throat at one stage......worst thing is I believed her! Later diagnosed with 'Borderline Personality Disorder', whatever that means.So as she's on medication I can sleep soundly without fear of being stabbed up by a nutter. Now, no-one interrupts me when i'm at work except my drummer,but at least he brings beer so that's almost ok.So Jonny's now a dull boy again.
This movie also has the marvellously named Scatman Crothers, more famous as the voice of 'Hong Kong Phooey', as Mr O'Halleron, of which I do a peerless impression.
"How d'You like some Ice  cream doc?"

"That's strange sir, I don't have any recollection of that at all?", said Delbert Grady in that fantastic restroom scene.....That's because a lot of this music wasn't used,or even made for the final movie,which is a shame 'cus its nicely creepy,and a tad disturbing. The "Kill,Kiiiiil" bit in 'Horror Show' was too close to home for comfort;an insight into the malfunctioning brain of my ex-partner!(Shudder).
There's lots of use of dialogue from the film itself, and from other shining related sources underlaying the out-takes/remakes.Sadly,as you may notice, not all of these music cues are from the original soundtrack or film, they are re-creations,this being an unofficial release...well done yes, but if you were hoping for the ORIGINAL score in digital format, this ain't it,but...it's better than the original vinyl so thats what we've got.All the Bartok and Penderecki stuff is worth the price of admission alone.
It's just sad that Jack Nicholson made more movies after this...he really should have stopped there.


Tracklist:

1-1 Opening [Altered Ancient Anthem - Dies Irae Aka Day Of Wrath : 25th Anniversary Version] 3:00
1-2 The Shining Title Music 3:51
1-3 Danny 1:28
1-4 Colorado 1:13
1-5 The Rocky Mountains 1:46
1-6 The Overlook Hotel 3:52
1-7 Visitors 2:17
1-8 Dark Winds And Rustles 1:49
1-9 Greetings Ghosties 2:19
1-10 Horror Show 1:04
1-11 A Haunted Waltz 0:37
1-12 Subliminal Ballroom 1:16
1-13 Paraphrase For Cello 3:23
1-14 Two Polymoog Improvisations 1:47
1-15 A Ghost Piano 1:58
1-16 Paraphrase For Brass 1:34
1-17 Setting With Medea 2:10
1-18 Clockworks - Dies Irae 2:17
1-19 Heartbeats And Worrying 2:10
1-20 Psychic Shout - Room 237 1:14
1-21 Danny Bells Ascending 1:19
1-22 Psychic Scream 1:25
1-23 Thought Clusters 0:55
1-24 Fanfare And Drunkenness - Dies Irae 1:33
1-25 Day Of Wrath 1:04
1-26 Where Is Jack? 5:21
1-27 Bumps In The Night 3:02
1-28 Chase Music 1:11
1-29 Postlude 1:09
1-30 Title Music - Dies Irae 3:42
1-31 Clockworks - Bloody Elevators [Trailer Music] 2:18
1-32 Nocturnal Valse Triste [Making The Shining] 1:22
1-33 Main Title [Original Album Version] 3:23
1-34 Rocky Mountains [Original Album Version] 2:53
1-35 Reprise 0:49
1-36 Episode From The Life Of An Artist, Op.14 / Fantastic Symphony, Fifth Movement - Dream Of A Witches Sabbath : Dies Irae 4:55
1-37 Death, Op.44 / First Movement - Sad Waltz: Lento [Valse Triste, Excerpt] 4:18
1-38 Dance Of Death, Op.457 - Dies Irae [Paraphase, Excerpt] 2:48
1-39 Home [When Shadows Fall] 4:31
1-40 Warner Bros. Logo 0:14
2-1 Lontano For Orchestra [As From A Distance, Sustained With Expression Aka Window On Long Submerged Dream Worlds Of Childhood] 11:27
2-2 Music For Strings, Percussion And Celesta [Celebrating The 10th Anniversary Of An Orchestra] - Third Movement : Adagio 7:14
2-3 Music For Strings, Percussion And Celesta - First Movement : Andante Tranquillo [Excerpt] 3:56
2-4 Morning Prayer II - Resurrection : Gospel 2:18
2-5 Morning Prayer II - Resurrection : Passover Canon 2:47
2-6 The Awakening Of Jacob [Aka The Dream Of Jacob] 8:06
2-7 Nature Sonorities I [Aka On The Nature Of Sound I] 7:13
2-8 Nature Sonorities II [Aka On The Nature Of Sound II] 8:55
2-9 Polymorphia For 48 Strings 10:35
2-10 Canon For 52 Strings And Tape Delay 9:31
2-11 Concerto For Cello And Orchestra I [Excerpt] 4:28
2-12 Home [When Shadows Fall] 3:00
2-13 Midnight, The Stars And You 3:24
2-14 It's All Forgotten Now 3:19
2-15 Masquerade 3:14

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Clara Rockmore ‎– "The Art Of The Theremin" (Delos ‎– DEL 25437) 1977

The first electronic instrument was ,of course, the Theremin, as created by Russian inventor,and Stalin Prize winner, Léon Theremin in 1920.Originally he called it by the less egocentric titleage of "The ætherphone", which I kinda like? A musical instrument for the modern era, as it involves no physical contact,and is therefore free of viral transmission drawbacks.It was also the result of Soviet sponsored research into proximity detectors....so electronic music is another thing we have to thank Communism for it seems?
Theremin also invented the drum machine, before he inadvisedly returned to the USSR in 1938.....some say he was kidnapped by the NKVD, which would explain a lot.
Anyhow, he had a glad eye for the ladies, and despite being turned down for marriage several times by the Lithuanian object of his desires, Clara Reisenberg became his Theremin virtuoso prodigy,and proceeded to tour america from coast to coast hulking her clumsy theremin around with her during the 1930's. She married into money,hence the Rockmore name, and continued pumping out a bunch of wobbly creepy classics to the public for fifty years or so,finally getting into a recording studio by 1977....et voila....this album was released.'Haunting' is the adjective frequently used when the Theremin is involved,and by jiminy it certainly is.Interpreting classical works by Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, and Tchaicovsky....in fact anyone russian it seems, in that spooky portamento style that is the trademark of the Etherphone.Clara Rockmore, although not a musical innovator herself as such, was indeed, the First Lady of Electronic music.
Apart from inventing the Drum Machine, Theremin's other talents included a fancy line in espionage and spying equipment,my favourite being 'The Thing',which was a listening device hidden in a replica of the Great Seal of the United States carved in wood. In 1945, Soviet school children presented the concealed bug to the U.S. Ambassador as a "gesture of friendship" to the USSR's World War II ally. It hung in the ambassador’s residential office in Moscow and intercepted confidential conversations there during the first seven years of the Cold War, until it was accidentally discovered in 1952.
Nice one Leon.

Tracklist:

1.Vocalise 3:46
2.Song Of Grusia 4:16
3.The Swan 2:56
4.Pantomime 3:45
5.Hebrew Melody 5:23
6.Romance 4:47
7.Berceuse 3:08
8.Habanera 2:42
9.Berceuse 4:14
10.Valse Sentimentale 2:06
11.Sérénade Mélancolique 7:39
12.Chant Du Ménestrel 3:58

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Portsmouth Sinfonia ‎– "Hallelujah - The Portsmouth Sinfonia at the Royal Albert Hall" (Transatlantic Records ‎– TRA 285) 1974

 "Without the arts and sciences,and without music especially,life would be a dreadful mistake.Music begets happiness,and music begets peace;and its through peace that we arrive at the truth and goodness which makes life meaningful and unveils its highest values." (Michael Bond 1974)

I couldn't have put it better myself, maybe missing a few expletives, but essentially, therein, lies the meaning of life.
I've mentioned the sheer Joy this music can invoke in even the most miserable of old sods,and thats some kind of inexplicable magick, is it not?(Check out the first audience-less album Here!)
I have sat through an hour or so of  some unremembered classical renditions surrounded by a sparse audience of the self-elected elite,in their best bib and tucker, frowning at the musicians,while i was stifling yawns. For one it wasn't fucking loud enough,and as far as i could see they were just playing the notes,which is only 10% of any music.No Magick.......(yeah I know....there are classical musicians who do have the 'magick',but not where i live there ain't!)
The main theme of this project was to make this music 'inclusive' rather than exclusive,for everyone rather than just the 'Elite'.A more popularist,less uptight, version of assasinated avant-garde composer Cornelius Cardew's  'Scratch Constitution', for musicians and non-musicians alike, which was basically a recipe for controlled anarchy, written by Cardew and published in the Musical Times in June 1969. Its aim was to bring music out of the ivory tower and to involve large numbers of untrained people in making music.Very similar to the Sinfonia and the effect Punk Rock had on Rock and Pop music.
When Wagner's Ring is being performed, there's never enough laughter from the audience.Lets be honest, most of Wagners work is as patently ridiculous as any comedy music,however deadpan it is.If there were laughter or sniggering of any sort, the perp's would be first the victim of agressive 'Shushing", (there's even an audible 'Shhhhhhh!' from an audience member on this recording?), and futher inflagrations would result in their expulsion on the end of a door operatives shiny jackboot.
Never forget there were classical orchestra's at all the Operation Reinhard camps and in every Ghetto under arch-wagner uberfans, the Nazi's.If there was a Treblinka Sinfonia, I have mass grave doubts they would have been allowed to finish the first section of 'Ride of the Valkyries' before they were bundled into the nearest poison gas facility......theoretically anyway,as the jury is now officially out as to whether there were any gas chambers at all,or even a camp at Treblinka......but,if there was,please let there have been an equivalent to the Portsmouth Sinfonia sheparding the victims joyfully to meet the choir invisible;and may the Choir Invisible be somewhere near approaching the skill levels of the Portsmouth Sinfonia Choir doing Handel's Messiah. What a way to enter heaven!? Maybe the prospect of eternal paradise isn't so boring after all?
I'd love to hear The Portsmouth Sinfonia do a version of "The Sinking Of The Titanic" by the man who started all this madness, Mr Gavin Bryars. I can just imagine the doomed proles in steerage being consumed by the icy black waters, laughing hysterically as the Titanic Sinfonia played an atonal version of 'Nearer my Lord to Thee' as they joyfully gulped down their last breath.
Apparently Drowning causes a feeling of euphoria as your brain shuts down.We just need something for that transition period when one is inhaling the brine.......we now have the answer.

Music is Joy,and Joy is life and life, can be, forever?
The eternal NOW!

Tracklist:

1.Mr. Michael Bond's Address 1:05
2.From The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a - March 1:57
3.From The Karelia Suite, Op.11 - Intermezzo 3:54
4.Marche Militaire In D Major 5:33
5.Piano Concerto No. 1 In B♭ Minor, Op. 23 10:38
6.Overture 1812 10:28
7.William Tell Overture 2:21
8.From The Messiah, Pt. 2 - Hallelujah Chorus 6:02

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Portsmouth Sinfonia ‎– "Portsmouth Sinfonia Plays The Popular Classics" (Transatlantic Records ‎– TRA 275) 1973

Most of the Obscure Records mob could be found on this album by
the self-proclaimed "world's worst orchestra",there were in fact many much worse,or few better,The Portsmouth Sinfonia.Which was founded by Gavin Bryars of "Jesus' Blood" fame, in 1970, when he was lecturing at the Portsmouth School of Art....hence the Portsmouth bit.
Bryars wanted to engage the masses,thats 'us' by the way, with classical music,largely thought previously to be fucking boring by the target audience, and sought a way to liberate the form from the pomposity of its largely stuck-up Toff heavy audience. His idea was to form an orchestra of the 'people'....er that's still us by the way,.....I don't feel patronised, do you?.... Anyone could join, regardless of skill,even you!?
The orchestra comprised of known musicians,which included most of the UK avant-garde crew,as well as Brian Eno (clarinet), playing instruments they had no previous knowledge of. Virtuoso players and ordinary-ish folk who had never played an instrument in their lives,played side by side.The music would be played by ear so no sight-reading skills were therefore required. The virtuoso players kept everything vaguely within the realms of what might be called a tune, with the other players reaching for (and missing) notes nearby. The result was a fascinating atonal mess, a noise which was considered profound by several of Bryars classical contemporaries.

They sound not unlike a school orchestra,hiting that mysterious tone that compells one to laugh uncontrollably no matter how many times you hear it. I was once a witness to my nephew's school orchestra,he was one of the violinists,and as soon as the first few notes rebounded off the walls like Freddie Kruger's fingers sliding down a blackboard, me and my Girlfriend had unstoppable hysterics.The proud parents that surrounded us displayed a mixture of disgust,awkward acceptance,and slight annoyance....i just couldn't stop! Amid the giggling i managed to explain the joy i was feeling as tears streamed down my face,and that it was nothing to do with the awfulness of the playing.It was the sheer charm and innocence of it all.....it was JOY that we were expressing.....JOY...understand?

Although this project had an interesting central concept,it quickly caught the public's attention as strictly a comedy turn.

As the personel included most of The Scratch Orchestra,and AMM,as well as Eno and Steve Beresford among others, this certainly had plenty of serious experimental musicians involved.

Somehow, I can't imagine the equivalent happening in the contemporary classical/minimalist scene in the United States.In the UK one cannot be seen,or heard, to be taking oneself too seriously,and always have the obligation to make fun of ourselves.....even the Avant-Garde ones.

The Bonus track, "Classical Muddley" is a parody of those 'Hooked on Classics' records which also tried to introduce 'the Classics', to the great unwashed proletariat by placing a disco beat behind a mix of popular classical works. Us factory fodder types were obviously too thick to appreciate the finer things in life without a bit of dumbing down.

The results of this experiment led to the Portsmouth Sinfonia's records being pitched at the comedy market which earned them a cult following, enough for them to be selling out the Royal Albert Hall by 1974!?

Tracklist:

1.From Peer Gynt Suite No. 1:"Morning" 3:23
2.From Peer Gynt Suite No. 1:"In The Hall Of The Mountain King" 3:00
3.From The Nutcracker Suite:"Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" 2:18

4.From The Nutcracker Suite:"Waltz Of The Flowers" 4:05
5.Fifth Symphony In C Minor, Op. 67 6:18
6.William Tell Overture 2:00
7."Also Sprach Zarathustra" Op. 31 (Excerpt) 2:06
8.Blue Danube Waltz Op. 314 4:36
9."Air" From Suite No. 3 In D Major 4:37
10."Farandole" From L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2 4:05
11."Jupiter" From The Planets, Op. 32 (Excerpt) 4:28

Bonus Track:

12. "Classical Muddley" 3:19

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