I changed my iPod setup. All mp3s and AACs now removed and I'm starting again with Apple Lossless to see how it feels (I had a very disappointing musical experience recently listening to some mp3s on my pod, in a state of heightened sensitivity) This is currently my favorite iPod listening setup. Ray Samuels Hornet and Ultimate Ears Triple Fi Pro
Anyway, listening to Rachmaninov' s Second Piano Concerto (Ashkenazy/Haitink) I started to puzzle about how music can mean anything as I listen relaxed and focused in the now. Because my experience of rhythm and repetition requires memory and anticipation. And yet somehow his wave of sound sweeping through time means something, and is something beautiful. (although I found the recording a little too ambient - artificial?- and full of extraneous noises...)
Moving on to Miles Davis "A Kind of Blue" I was struck by the fact that I couldn't really tell if the musicians are stopping time, and inviting us to step outside of psychological time, or are they dividing up psychological time as precisely as a clock. Or are they actually doing both at the same time. Whatever they are doing it is beautiful magic. (And a lovely recording with the artificial ambience nicely chained down in mono)
Rhythm in the Now. How is that possible?
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