music that transfixes you

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 5:48 pm

Slow movement of Beethoven's quartet in Eb, Op. 127. Give yourself time.

Steve

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 10:28 pm

'Far Away' by Bernardo Rubaja on his New Land cd. Part of the tune is lead by bass guitar- the rhythm, the sound quality, oh man...

Jerry O'Sullivan playing O'Carolan's 'Farewell to Music' on whistle w/ harp accompaniment. Now, that's magic.
Tony

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 10:19 am

Transfixed is a bit strong for my experiences, but I would say that everyonce in a while you hear something very different and beautiful which defies a category or the limits of whatever style its coming from.

I know that many Irish make fun of him and he is somewhat of a character, but Brian Kennedy has a tune on one of the Eist compilations that is a "drop everything and get goosebumps" kind of tunes. It's a duo with a female singer, has a basic melody that starts off like an old Baroque aria but reaches into my heart like few other tunes. It's in Irish so I have no idea what he is singing about but it's very powerful nonetheless to me. When I have played it for others, they have also appreciated it...

There is also a strange little instrumental in Donal Lunny's Millenium Suite that has a similar effect. Its whistle (or even perhaps re#$der) with harp and its so very beautiful.

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 7:35 pm

Once in a while, I get that exact experience. You just have to stop whatever you are doing and listen, transfixed. Then begins the mad search for the recording, then listen and listen and listen over and over again.

The following spring immediately to mind-

The entire soundtrack to Amadeus

Gaudete from Below the Salt by Steeleye Span

Puccini's Turandot- Nessun Dorma performed by Pavarotti

Theme from Harry's Game by Clannad

Jerry O'Sullivan playing Colonel Fraser

Simon Fraser University Pipe Band at the 2001 World Championships

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 9:22 pm

koyanuscatzi... found out how it is really supposed to be spelled...

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 2:48 am

Happens all the time. That's why I don't listen to music at work. I find myself listening to all the different parts of the music and not concentrating on what else I'm doing.

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:54 am

cowtime wrote: Gaudete from Below the Salt by Steeleye Span

Theme from Harry's Game by Clannad

Ooh! Those choices should make the trad purists here cringe!

Anyone up for some Solas? Fairport Convention? Eileen Ivers? Riverdance? Enya?

I like 'em all!

(I think I just got banned from the ITM forum!)

jbarter · Post by **jbarter** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:06 am

Yann-Fanch Kemener and Didier Squiban performing Enez Eusa. It's just a voice and a piano but I still keep finding new complexities in it.

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:27 am

Hmm...
I tranced out once to Erik Setis (sp?) while listening to the CBC Radio 2 in my car and almost ended up in a ditch...

There are certain things I can not listen to in the car, because I end up paying far more attention to the music than the road...
Goldberg Variations
Enigma
"The Wall" (Pink Floyd, as if you didn't know, if you don't know, shame on you!)

sometimes ceratin Jazz artists will make me zone out in the car too.
If I listen to music in one of the other languages that I speak, I tend to pay more attention to the road...guess my brain works harder or some such thing.
Gypsy Kings, Mana, Super Furry Animals (in Welsh, not that stuff in English).
My wife even thought it would be funny to buy me a Cypress Hill CD in spanish as a gag...for as much as I dislike the genre, I must admit that I was highly entertained.

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:19 am

BrassBlower wrote:
cowtime wrote: Gaudete from Below the Salt by Steeleye Span

Theme from Harry's Game by Clannad
Ooh! Those choices should make the trad purists here cringe!

Anyone up for some Solas? Fairport Convention? Eileen Ivers? Riverdance? Enya? I like 'em all!

(I think I just got banned from the ITM forum!)

While they may not be ITM (actually Gaudete goes way way farther back,so maybe it would be considered

Pre-Trad?), they still can stop me in my tracks after all these years and many listenings.

Hey, but this is the pub, you know, where anything goes...................

djm · Post by **djm** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:54 am

Tyler wrote:Pink Floyd, as if you didn't know, if you don't know, shame on you!

Ha! Try driving while listening to "One of These Days" from the Meddle album and not end up with a speeding ticket!

djm

SteveK · Post by **SteveK** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:32 pm

anniemcu wrote:koyanuscatzi... found out how it is really supposed to be spelled...

I plugged that word into Google and found a bunch of pages in German. Are you talking about the Philip Glass music? The spelling I found was Koyaanisqatsi. I wonder how the music would sound without the movie. I'm not sure I'd like it but it's very effective with the movie. For music by a so-called minimalist composer I like Steve Reich's Tehillim.

Steve

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:08 pm

Whenever you'd hear rockets roaring or volcanos erupting on Mystery Science Theater they'd say "Koyaanisqatsi..." Took me years to figure out what the hell that meant!
The Lever du jour section from Ravel's Daphnis et chloé always sends shivers up my spine, etc. Or Seamus Ennis playing An Leanbh Si.
I was listening this morning to the FARNE website, Billy Pigg playing various tunes, the streaming audio cut out while he was wailing away at the Swallow's Tail, it was like being punched in the stomach!

Sunnywindo · Post by **Sunnywindo** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 2:54 pm

Oh yes! Music has such a power to it, the way it can effect a person on so many levels.

There are way too many songs which have "transfixed me"... and like Cowtime said, you just HAVE to stop and listen, hoping like mad that you will be able to locate your own copy of the recording. The intensity with most though seems to lessen a bit after the first, oh... five dozen listens, but never fully goes away.

The one which seems to stay at the top of the heap with me is Cannon in D by Pachabel (a paticular version in piano that I have and a paticular version in strings/violin that I've never been able to locate which haunts me still.)

Sara

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 3:40 pm

cowtime wrote: While they may not be ITM (actually Gaudete goes way way farther back,so maybe it would be considered Pre-Trad?), they still can stop me in my tracks after all these years and many listenings.

Hey, but this is the pub, you know, where anything goes...................

I would have to say I agree with you completely!

It was stuff like Span, Clannad, and Fairport that got me into British Isles trad (and I've read that Altan would agree).

However, it's their pre-trad, proto-trad, neo-trad and non-trad that gets my attention!