The Earworm Thread

[Ein Heldenleben]

Turns out to be part of one of the Beethoven funeral marches being played by military bands during the processions.

The Funeral March No 1 apparently by Beethoven is almost certainly not by him but by Johann Walch. I think it was a tad overplayed on the day.
The other Funeral marches played throughout the day were the Marcia Funebre from the A flat Op 26 Sonata which is definitely by Beethoven and the Marcia Funebre from the Chopin BFlat minor Piano Sonata.The latter, in my view the greatest Funeral March of them all , just doesn’t work at the marching pace of 75 beats per minute. It has the merit of being the only movement of the sonata playable by a reasonably competent pianist and makes a tremendous effect if you observe the dynamics and don’t milk the rubato in the D flat section.

[Joseph K]

On Tuesday I made pasta, during which we listened to Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, and this song found its way into my head if not straight after that point, then at some point since then -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4npQSb7dDk&list=OLAK5uy_l84jSeZ18j9y6x23gTPCeW3yLwaqU4XpE

[Jonathan]

Today's tune is the main theme from Rzewski's "The People United can never defeated" which has been a topic of discussion on a music listening group I am in on FaceBook.

[Bryn]

Today's tune is the main theme from Rzewski's "The People United can never defeated" which has been a topic of discussion on a music listening group I am in on FaceBook.

I take it that you are familiar with Christian Wolff's analytical notes on the work: https://www.cedillerecords.org/album...r-be-defeated/

[teamsaint]

On Tuesday I made pasta, during which we listened to Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, and this song found its way into my head if not straight after that point, then at some point since then -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4np...CeW3yLwaqU4XpE

Where will it end eh?

[Joseph K]

Where will it end eh?

Indeed.

[Joseph K]

Scriabin's 9th piano sonata, though easily slips into bits of the eighth, it's mostly the ninth.

No complaints here.

[Serial_Apologist]

Scriabin's 9th piano sonata, though easily slips into bits of the eighth, it's mostly the ninth.

No complaints here.

And that's just the chords!

[Joseph K]

Having been practising Tarrega's Lagrima recently, it has morphed into The Beatles' 'Blackbird' in my head, owing to both pieces featuring prominent use of parallel ascending tenths.

[gradus]

The last of the Valses Nobles just before the Sentimentales bit.

[cloughie]

This morning I had an earworm called Hellesveor - a local carol we sang at yesterday’s choir Christmas Concert.

[Alison]

Today's tune is the main theme from Rzewski's "The People United can never defeated" which has been a topic of discussion on a music listening group I am in on FaceBook.

Good one! Have you learnt it to play?

[Bryn]

Good one! Have you learnt it to play?

I have very fond memories of the first time I heard the work. It was at the 1983 Almeida Festival. Rzewski had programmes a new song cycle to be performed with Roswitha Trexler but she was refused a visa so he quickly substituted Yuji Takahashi's "Kwangju May i980" and Fred's own Variations on The People United Will Never be Defeated", the latter having been composed for his good friend Ursula Oppens to play as a contribution to the bicentennial of the American Revolution. Rzewski agreed to my request to be permitted to record the performances on my Tandberg reel-to-reel recorder. Edited to C120 cassette, those recordings accompanied many a walk. It is something of a Marmite work for friends associated with the English experimental music scene, though I sometimes wonder whether its detectors might be influenced more by Rzewski's cuttingly irascible personality than the composition.

I feel the other work Rzewski performed that night deserves more exposure. Composed in response to the American helicopter gunship-assisted violent suppression of a student-led protest movement in Kwangju (Gwangju) in 980. Here's a performance recorded in the same year as the Almeida performance but by a rather different pianist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHsPIi84MRE

[Jonathan]

Hi Alison, I did screenshot a picture from you-tube of several of the pages with the intention of playing it but I've not got very far yet!

[MickyD]

I have noticed that I almost always wake up in the morning with a tune in my head and more often than not it is from a Haydn symphony. He really is the King of the Earworms for me!