Book Read Free

Listen to This

Page 49

by Alex Ross


  Sousa, John Philip; Stars and Stripes Forever

  Soyer, David

  Spano, Robert

  Sparklehorse

  Spaun, Josef

  Spears, Britney

  Springsteen, Bruce

  Stalin, Joseph

  Stalnaker, Sara

  Stanford University

  Stanley, Ralph

  Steblin, Rita

  Steinberg, Michael

  Steinitz, Richard

  Stella, Frank

  Stent, Mark (Spike)

  Stereo Review

  Stern, Isaac

  Steuermann, Edward

  Stevens, John

  Stevens, Wallace; “Ésthetique du Mal,”

  Stewart, J. O., Jr.

  stile moderno

  Stockhausen, Karlheinz; and the Beatles; and Bjork; and Miles Davis; Stimmung

  Stokowski, Leopold

  “Strange Fruit” (Allan)

  Stratas, Teresa

  Strauss, Richard; Four Last Songs; Ein Heldenleben

  Stravinsky, Igor; The Firebird; in Los Angeles; Oedipus Rex; Orpheus; Requiem Canticles; The Rite of Spring; Symphony in Three Movements; Symphony of Psalms

  Strepponi, Giuseppina

  Strokes

  Strozzi, Barbara: L’Eraclito amoroso

  Strozzi, Giovanni Battista, the Younger

  Stuckenschmidt, Hans Heinz

  Stucky, Steven

  Su, Liane

  Sugarcubes

  Super Girl

  Suzuki, D. T.

  Swafford, Jan

  Swed, Mark

  Sweelinck, Jan Pieterzsoon: Fantasia chromatica

  “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,”

  Symphony Space

  Tabuchi, Shoji

  Tadolini, Eugenia

  Tagaq, Tanya

  Talese, Gay

  Talking Heads; “Radio Head,” ; “Once in a Lifetime,”

  Tallis Scholars

  Tamagno, Francesco

  Tan Dun

  Tang Xianping

  Taruskin, Richard

  Tauber, Richard

  Taubman, Howard

  Taylor, Cecil

  Taylor, Deems

  Tchaikovsky, Piotr; Quartet No. 3, ; Symphony No. 6

  10 (experimental duo)

  Tenney, James

  Thibaud, Jacques

  Thomas Crown Affair, The (Jewison)

  Thomas, Mansel

  Thomas, Rob

  Thomas, Theodore

  Thoreau, Henry David

  Thurber, Jeannette

  Tilson Thomas, Michael

  Timberlake, Justin: “Rock Your Body,”

  Tolkien, J. R. R.: The Lord of the Rings

  Tonight Show, The

  Torre, Manuel

  Torres, Melissa

  Toscanini, Arturo; and NBC; praises Anderson; recordings of

  Tower Records

  Trakl, Georg

  Travis

  Tricky

  Trilling, Lionel

  Tucker, Richard

  Tudor, David

  Turangalîla Symphony (Messiaen)

  Turner, Tina

  Twenty One

  2 Kolegas

  Uchida, Mitsuko; musical tastes of; personality of; philosophy; plays Beethoven; recordings of; rehearsals of; routine at Marlboro; and Salonen

  University of Alaska

  University of California, Berkeley

  University of California, Los Angeles

  University of Colorado at Boulder

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  University of Southern California

  University of Texas

  Upshaw, Dawn

  U2

  Valgeir Sigurðsson

  Vandré, Philipp

  Vanilla Ice

  Vanity Fair

  Vänskä, Osmo

  Van Vechten, Carl

  Varèse, Edgard; Poème électronique

  Vargyas, Lajos

  Vaughan, Sarah

  Veloso, Caetano

  Velvet Underground; “Heroin,”

  Verbier Festival

  Verdi, Giuseppe, background of; centenary of; early style of; late style of; marries Strepponi; middle period of; modern performances of; modern productions of; older styles of singing; personality of; politics of; recordings of; views on audience; works of: Aida; Attila; Un ballo in maschera; La battaglia di Legnano; Don Carlos; “La donna è mobile,” Ernani; Falstaff; La forza del destino; Un giorno di regno; Giovanna d’Arco; I lombardi; Luisa Miller, Macbeth; Nabucco; Oberto; Otello; Requiem; Rigoletto; Simon Boccanegra; Stiffelio; String Quartet; “Tacea la notte placida,” ; La traviata; Il trovatore; “Va pensiero,” ; Les Vêpres siciliennes

  Verrett, Shirley

  vibrato, violin

  Vick, Graham

  Victoria (queen of England)

  Victor Talking Machine Company

  Viðar, Jórunn: “Vökuró,”

  Vienna: Brahms in; Mozart in; Schubert in; Serkin in; Uchida in

  Vienna Boys’ Choir

  Vienna Philharmonic

  Vienna State Opera

  Vigdís Finnbogadóttir

  Village Voice

  Viola, Bill

  Vivaldi, Antonio: Concerto in G Minor for two cellos; Four Seasons

  Von Houser, Judith

  Voznesensky, Andrei

  Waart, Edo de

  Wagner, Cosima

  Wagner, Richard; Brahms and; dislike of “classical” music; productions of; Verdi and; works of: Götterdämmerung; Parsifal; Das Rheingold; The Ring of the Nibelung; Tannhäuser; Tristan und Isolde; Die Walküre

  Wagner, Wieland

  Waldoff, Jessica

  Wallenstein, Alfred

  Walt Disney Concert Hall, see Disney Hall

  Walter, Bruno

  Wanli (emperor of China)

  Warp Records

  Warren, Leonard

  Weber, William

  Weberman, A. J.

  Webern, Anton; Five Pieces for Orchestra

  Weingartner, Felix

  Weng, Helen

  West, Mae

  White Stripes

  Whitman, Walt

  WHRB

  Widmann, Jörg: Hunt Quartet

  Wilde, Oscar

  Williams, Hank; “I Saw the Light,”

  Williams, Hassan Ralph

  Williams, Paul

  Williams, Peter

  Willis, Ellen

  Wing Ho

  Winstead, William

  Wittgenstein, Ludwig

  Witting, Robin

  Wolpe, Stefan

  Wonder, Stevie

  Woodford, Paul

  Wozencroft, Keith

  Wright, Gordon

  Wu Na

  Wu-Tang Clan

  Wyatt, Robert

  Xenakis, Iannis

  Xi Chuan

  Xiao Youmei

  Yago, Gideon

  Yale University

  Yan Jun

  Yardbirds

  Yeats, William Butler

  Yevtushenko, Yevgeny

  Yo La Tengo

  Yorke, Thom; background of; and Bjork; and fans; lyrics of; musical style of; on music business; personality of; singing of

  Youens, Susan

  Young, Neil

  YouTube

  Ysaye, Eugène

  Yurodivy Quartet

  Zambello, Francesca

  Zantzinger, William

  Zappa, Frank; Freak Out!

  zarabanda

  Zarlino, Gioseffo

  Zaslaw, Neal

  Zeffirelli, Franco

  Zen Buddhism

  Zhang Liangying

  Zhang Shouwang (Jeffray Zhang)

  Zhang Tianye

  Zhang Yimou

  zhonghe shaoyue

  Zhou Long

  Zorn, John

  Zweig, Stefan

  ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

  22 Detail of “Misero Apollo” from Francesco Cavalli’s Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne. Reproduced by kind permis
sion of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice.

  26 A bocet, or Romanian lament, as recorded by Béla Bartók in the village of Mâneru in 1917. Reproduced by kind permission of Peter Bartók and the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

  29 Johannes Ockeghem’s “Fors seulement,” from the late-fifteenth-century Wolfenbütteler Chan-sonnier. Reproduced by kind permission of the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel.

  37 “Misero Apollo” from Francesco Cavalli’s Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne. Reproduced by kind permission of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice.

  38 Hecuba’s lament from Cavalli’s Didone. Reproduced by kind permission of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice.

  41 “When I am laid in earth” from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, in an eighteenth-century copy. Reproduced by kind permission of the Juilliard Manuscript Collection.

  43 The Ciaccona of Bach’s Partita No. 2 for solo violin, in an anonymous copy made in the mid-or late-eighteenth century. Reproduced from volume 44 of the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, published in 1895.

  45 The “Crucifixus” of Bach’s B-Minor Mass, in Bach’s hand. Reproduced from volume 44 of the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe.

  47 From the coda of the first movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, in the working copy prepared for the first publication. Reproduced by kind permission of the Juilliard Manuscript Collection.

  53 The initial bass line of Jake Holmes’s “Dazed and Confused.” Reproduced by kind permission of Jake Holmes.

  PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint excerpts from the following previously published material:

  “Listening in October” from Winter News, copyright © 1966 by John Haines. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.

  “Return to Richardson, Spring 1981” from Of Your Passage, O Summer, copyright © 2004 by John Haines. Reprinted by permission of Limberlost Press.

  “Vökuró” from Kvæði, copyright © 1960 by Jakobína Sigurðardóttir. Reprinted by permission of Màl og menning.

  Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint lyrics from the following:

  BJÖRK

  “Hidden Place,” words and music by Björk Guðmundsdóttir, Guy Sigsworth, and Mark Bell, copyright © 2002 by Universal Music Corp., EMI Virgin Music, Inc., and Warp Music Ltd. All rights for Warp Music Ltd. controlled and administered by EMI Virgin Music, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.

  “The Pleasure Is All Mine,” words and music by Björk Guðmundsdóttir, copyright © 2004 by Universal-Polygram Music Publishing Ltd. All rights in the United States and Canada controlled and administered by Universal-Polygram International Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.

  “Who Is It,” words and music by Björk Guðmundsdóttir, copyright © 2004 by Universal-Polygram Music Publishing Ltd. All rights in the United States and Canada controlled and administered by Universal-Polygram International Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.

  BOB DYLAN

  “As I Went Out One Morning,” copyright © 1968, renewed © 1996 by Dwarf Music

  “Ballad of a Thin Man,” copyright © 1965, renewed © 1993 by Special Rider Music

  “Blind Willie McTell,” copyright © 1983 by Special Rider Music

  “The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar,” copyright © 1981 by Special Rider Music

  “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” copyright © 1963, renewed © 1991 by Special Rider Music

  “Highway 61 Revisited,” copyright © 1965, renewed © 1993 by Special Rider Music

  “Idiot Wind,” copyright © 1974 by Ram’s Horn Music

  “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” copyright © 1973 by Ram’s Horn Music

  “Like a Rolling Stone,” copyright © 1965, renewed © 1993 by Special Rider Music

  “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” copyright 1964, renewed © 1992 by Special Rider Music

  “Mama, You Been on My Mind,” copyright © 1964, renewed © 1992 by Special Rider Music

  “Meet Me in the Morning,” copyright © 1974 by Ram’s Horn Music

  “Million Miles,” copyright © 1997 by Special Rider Music

  “Not Dark Yet,” copyright © 1997 by Special Rider Music

  “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,” copyright © 1966, renewed © 1994 by Dwarf Music

  “Simple Twist of Fate,” copyright © 1974 by Ram’s Horn Music

  “Tangled Up in Blue,” copyright © 1974 by Ram’s Horn Music

  “Trying to Get to Heaven,” copyright © 1997 by Special Rider Music

  “Visions of Johanna,” copyright © 1966, renewed © 1994 by Dwarf Music

  NIRVANA

  “All Apologies,” words and music by Kurt Cobain, copyright © 1993 by The End of Music and Primary Wave Tunes. All rights controlled and administered by EMI Virgin Songs, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.

  RADIOHEAD

  “Airbag,” words and music by Edward O’Brien, Philip Selway, Jonathan Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, and Thomas Yorke, copyright © 1997 by Warner Chappell Music, Ltd.

  “Creep,” words and music by Thomas Yorke, Jonathan Greenwood, Philip Selway, Colin Greenwood, Edward O’Brien, Albert Hammond, and Mike Hazelwood, copyright © 1992 by EMI April Music, Inc. and WB Music Corp. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission. Contains elements of “The Air That I Breathe” by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood, copyright © 1972 by EMI April Music, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Alfred Music Publishing and Hal Leonard Corporation.

  “Pyramid Song,” words and music by Thomas Edward Yorke, Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood, Edward John O’Brien, Philip James Selway, and Colin Charles Greenwood, copyright © 2001 by Warner Chappell Music, Ltd.

  LISTEN TO THIS. Copyright © 2010, 2011 by Alex Ross.

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  The following essays were originally published, in slightly different form, in The New Yorker: “Listen to This” (February 16, 2004); “Infernal Machines,” which incorporates portions of two New Yorker articles, “The Record Effect” (June 6, 2005) and “The Well-Tempered Web” (October 22, 2007); “The Storm of Style” (July 24, 2006); “Orbiting” (August 20, 2001), originally as “The Searchers”; “The Anti-Maestro” (April 30, 2007); “Great Soul” (February 3, 1997); “Emotional Landscapes” (August 23, 2004), originally as “Björk’s Saga”; “Symphony of Millions” (July 7, 2008); “Song of the Earth” (May 12, 2008); “Verdi’s Grip” (September 24, 2001); “Almost Famous” (May 21, 2001); “Edges of Pop,” which incorporates four New Yorker articles, “Grand Illusions” (May 19, 2003), “The Art of Noise” (July 13, 1998), “Eighty-two Very Good Years” (May 25, 1998), and “Generation Exit” (April 25, 1994); “Learning the Score” (September 4, 2006); “Voice of the Century” (April 13, 2009); “The Music Mountain” (July 29, 2009); “The End of Silence” (October 4, 2010), originally as “Searching for Silence”; “I Saw the Light” (May 10, 1999), originally as “The Wanderer”; and “Fervor” (September 25, 2006).

  Portions of “Blessed Are the Sad” originally appeared in The New Republic as “Why Is Light Given” (March 23, 1998).

  Owing to limitations of space, all illustration credits and acknowledgments for permission
to reprint lyrics can be found on pages 379—380.

  First published in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

  Designed by Jonathan D. Lippincott

  eISBN 9781429977616

  First eBook Edition : January 2012

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the Farrar, Straus and Giroux edition as follows:

  Ross, Alex, 1968-

  Listen to this / Alex Ross.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-0-374-18774-3

  1. Musical criticism. 2. Popular music and art music. 3. Music—History and criticism. 1. Title.

  ML3785 .R67 2010

  780—dc22

  2010010283

  Picador ISBN 978-0-312-61068-5

  First Picador Edition: November 2011

 

 

 


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