"Nostalgia" seems like an odd title for something as structured as this. I would have titled it "Math test nightmare" or "Number Theory - Faint Fever"!
this music seems to be so much more than what appears on the surface. other music is easier to understand; this type of music is just so complex and confusing that it makes me want to listen to it even more. each time i listen to it, i hear something else, i try to understand it a little bit more. it's great.
I think that this recording needs ALOT more dynamic contrast, dissonance with a purpose sounds good, but this just sounds like wrong notes. cool song though
This almost looked like DNA or RNA trying to combine into a different strand... Imagine if cells were like music and the energy they gave was the vibration of sound?
Bet the dude/tte turning the notation pages earned his/her money that day. This was my first contact with this piece and i experienced slight disconfort by the animation(which is cool by the way): I didn't wanted to hear with my "eyes" first. But after absorbed the piece by listen to it 15 times in a row(over few days) the animation was a welcomed complement. Short: cool piece R.B.Smith, superb performance del sol
(sorry pushed send) don't love the song but I can appreciate and like the song due to the talent and skill of the composer and the performers (awesome work Del Sol).
At first when I heard this song I was a little put off,but then I listened a little more to it and became extremely intrigued by very subtle nuances that were juxtaposed in. Then I read the comments and was really for this song afterwards. Some have stated that this is the worst crap they have ever heard and they hate it I personally don
I fell in love with this the second I first heard: the frantic contrary motion runs, the pointy pizzes, the gigantic solo leaps, the extremely brief tonal sections.. At the same time, I totally get why some listeners would be appalled. It's a very personal thing, and as smalin stated, depends on what you're used to. As someone who spent his adolescence listening to (among other things) technical death metal, I find an irresistable intensity to this, similar to drinking really strong coffee.
@b0ttomzone YES!!! someone who agrees! I Got a dark smile and chills down my back the second I heard it. Unfortunately, the more you listen the less intense it gets. But it does have that really strong coffee thing, too. (I actually eat raw coffee beans, if that's disgusting enough for you).
I found this piece a bit shallow and pedantic. I mean, I can respect the fact that the composer stuck to his guns and created an (almost) symmetrical piece, but the end result really isn't that interesting. You can only take so much contrary motion before your mind wanders. Also, the tonal fragments he interjects in the latter third of the piece are ill-advised; a poor attempt at writing "nostalgic reminiscences" into the music.
Pretty sweet... SMalin... your channel is awesome... keep it up. your selections are pretty outstanding too. It's really broadening my horizons and focusing my listening on things I forgot I liked.
I love this piece. To me, it symbolizes the pulse of thought; some thoughts come and go, some stick around, some are sad, some happy, others angry. Very interesting:)
I'm not certain how, and I do not wish to make a trophy of this, but for quite some time I could not appreciate this sort of music. Now, perhaps like an acquired taste, my ear finds this all quite enjoyable to listen to. For whatever reason, thanks for these videos Smalin, and thanks to Ronald Bruce Smith + Del Sol String Quartet.
@ModestDollesin It's a little like eating spicy food. If you've never had a real Sichuan or Thai dish before, you might think that someone is poisoning you when the hot pepper hits your palette. Same analogy with Scotch... However, folks that enjoy those tastes will rave about them and debate the subtleties of their respective beautiful qualities.
I wonder if this was composed with dodecaphonic compositional devices,it sounds like his using full chromatic runs throughout most of the piece.The metric changes are superb and i noticed he uses the pizzicato hits at the highest note of the phrases.The mirrored dual violins are brilliant and thanks to Smalin visual program it facilitates the purpose of the piece (as above so below).I can't stop playing this video,this is thinking man's avant-garde,welcome to contemporary 21th century music!!!
@chiefindisguise thanks for your comments! there are actually no chromatic runs, but the tonality drifts and the opposition motion creates a sense of two tonalities happening at the same time. if ron reads this, perhaps he'll explain his methods... the metric changes were quite a challenge.
@delsolmira Are you a member of the Del Sol Quartet?If the answers yes then my hat off to you,you are a Great musician and your technical command of the instrument is very very high.So it was composed with a polytonal-bitonal approach,very quick modulations???Damn it shocked me to read that there's no chromatic runs,maybe the contrapuntal work on the main violins give that illusion,i don't know,but that's why I find this piece so mind-blowing in thinking how it was made.
@chiefindisguise I'm the violist in the band. Thanks again for your compliments. I agree the construction is brilliant and the effect of the drifting tonality creates a shimmering liquid sense, reflecting back to the impressionists (ravel in particular), hence the 'nostalgia' title. In fact, the running notes are based on patterns from Ravel's quartet (1st movement) with the inversion in the paired line creating a reflection (like looking at an image in the water).
@delsolmira Thanks for the info man,very insightful.Keep up the excellent work and if you guys do some videos playing live (any type of music) Ill appreciate if you send it to me in to this account,God bless!!!
@chiefindisguise there is a vid of us working with dancers where we are choreographed as well on our website (see FAQ above). i just favorited it on my page as well.
@smalin Yeah, I guess you could be right, maybe there are people who really enjoy this (and not only acting as if they did) it's just that it sounds to me like it's cacophonic on purpose
@Staudinka It is what it is on purpose, definitely. But whether it's cacophony depends on how you categorize the order it contains. You have to ask yourself: Smith spent time composing this, the Del Sol Quartet (who are very talented) thought it was worth learning to play (and it's very difficult), and thought the result was good enough to include on one of their CDs. Do you think this would have happened if they didn't see something in it beyond what you do?
@Staudinka Humm... what if this kind of music expresses the animus of the contemporary man? Vigorous rhythm, perfect technical domain, chaotic result... Maybe that could explain how you felt about it.
@Staudinka Its a bit like music of another culture.if you listen to traditional japanese music for example it may sound shit to you but it does not for japanese people. And drinking muddy water can make you sick. This music can not make you sick so easily.For people who are not into european music at all (and there are people on this world who are not) even beethoven may sound like senseless shit.If you just like to be cacophonic you would not do it on such a complicated and well structured way.
@GrauenausderTiefe: I'm pretty sure I would get sick if I listened to this kind of music for some hours, on the other hand I never got sick of drinking muddy water (Kids, don't try this at home!). But seriously, I agree with most of what you said but the thing about it not being cacophonic on purpose. Of course it would also be possible, and a lot easier too, to create cacophonic pieces of music without having good structure and so on but then NOBODY would consider it music.
the composer and musicians are obviously very talented and it may just be that Im not very used to complex or odd-metered or chromatic(?) stuff like this but its very unpleasant to me
I have given it 5 or 6 listens as smalins visualizations are mesmerizing and I kind of wanted to like it but I guess I just don't get it
@msfattytroll I appreciate that you gave it a chance. It definitely takes the right kind of preparation. People who say "if you had an open mind, you could appreciate it" are dead wrong. Most of our appreciation of music comes from having expectations (understanding) based on experience. If this is nothing like anything you've heard before, you won't enjoy it until you've gotten more familiar with it, either by listening to it a lot or listening to other things that work in similar ways.
You're as always correct, but I still hate this piece to the last bitter guts. It's bad, objectively, subjectively, whateverly horrendous; it sounds like a blackboard is being scratched while some guy passionately tunes his cello. This supposed music, to quote the classic, makes me want to get sick into my own scorn.
@smalin Firstly, there is strong cultural pressure to like this sort of 'art', and quite some people might get the recognition they otherwise wouldn't, seeming modern and open for liking it. A lot of modern classical is amazing, great and famous composers like Shoenberg and Scelsi rightfully deserve the adoration, but this isn't it. Why does anyone like THIS is a mystery to me. This frantic and seemingly deep scribble is dead and conveys nothing. Rely just on your ears and you hear nothing.
Well should it? Don't you think that you and the very few others are simply giving it too much credit? Doesn't the absence of at least a remotely pleasant harmony (or A harmony for that matter) or structure suffice as a pointer of it simply being bad? Isn't it sometimes best to finally admit that a certain musical revolt is a dead end and nothing more - to admit that this legless horse is old, blind and wounded and it would be best just to let it go with the last shreds of dignity?
@PiEndsWith0 My taste in music isn't dictated by fashion or reputation; there are pieces by Bach (who I admire above all other composers) and by modern composers with reputations much greater than Ronald Bruce Smith's that I don't like. Many times I've disliked a piece of music at first but gradually come to love it, so I know it's possible for me to fail to appreciate something of value due to not understanding it. Don't you think that might be possible for you, too?
@smalin I know I might change my mind, potentially etc., but this possibility AS SUCH cannot make me reconsider what I now find adorable or in this case horrid. Disbanding my own beliefs because I MIGHT change them isn't a good position. Music that fails to convey any sort of emotion, save for annoyance, within app. 3 minutes is just bad. It is possible to fall in love with this piece the same way you fall in love with the sound of your computer humming. You find this piece of music fascinating?
@PiEndsWith0 Music in every sense is an acquired taste and appeals to different people for different reasons. You're being awfully belligerent and abrasive for someone who's supposed to be taking a position of educated appreciation for music.
@PiEndsWith0, I will never understand why, when some people don't like something, they must insist others really don't like it either. Why do you feel the need to do that? I read your comment after listening to this music with my jaw hanging open in honest fascination and involvement. In that mood, your assertion that I couldn't possibly enjoy it except as a pose struck me as repulsively offensive.
What a coincidence, I find most jaw-dropping and staggering that every neoclassical pseudo-art piece, which is dissonant and utterly repulsive, has a flock of 'intellectuals' defending it to the last bitter droplet of condescending blood. Back in the days when classical music was music-related amazing melodies and harmonies were created that withstood centuries and will always be remembered as masterpieces. Do you honestly find 'this' up to par?
@PiEndsWith0 By introducing the subjects of music history and harmony, you're the one who has attempted to "intellectualize" this conversation. I really don't listen to music the way you're suggesting. If you're enjoying the company of a friend, are you thinking about all the friends you've had in your life and comparing your friend to them? Or are you simply enjoying the company of your friend? If the former, I pity you.
@PiEndsWith0 I am at peace with the fact that you hate this music. What I don't understand is why you feel the need to impugn the motives of people who like it, to suggest we're poseurs, pretentious intellectuals. I enjoy this piece. I am not wondering why or attempting to justify it with pseudo-intellectual theories about harmony and music history. I like it. Why don't you take that at face value without insulting me and others who like it?
Well, firstly, If you really didn't care in your special condescending way, you wouldn't have, by your own initiative, addressed me in the first place. I was only talking with smalin. (Who I know is mannered and quite eloquent, in contrast to your hate-speech. / I'm only insulting the dreadful music and its sorry composer. [Not the flock, flock's just misguided]) I've taken the role of a barbarian to call 'BULLSHIT' on this pretentious noise as loud as possible. Because this is BAD.
@PiEndsWith0 I responded because I don't like your insulting people who like this music. You weren't having a private conversation, you were having a conversation in a public forum. I don't know what's "condescending" about my objecting to your insulting us. I'm not lecturing you about music history or what "true music" is. And "hate speech"? What are you talking about, please?
@fiandrhi The Del Sol were thrilled that Smalin put up this vid because we believed the music would reach farther than we can from the concert stage, including to folks that would never come to one of our live performances. I appreciate your comments and even enjoy negative ones as well. The debate can only help the arts stay alive. However, if someone thinks that chili peppers are poisonous, you'll have a hard time convincing them that Sichuan, Thai, and Mexican food are good to eat.
@delsolmira, I agree there's no point in trying to convince people to like what you don't like, nor do I try. I don't like being told that I and those like me enjoy certain kinds of music as a "pose". I've heard that all my life, and I'm sick of it.
@fiandrhi I know. I think the ones who actually do adhere to certain genres as a 'pose' are actually those who have absolutely no tolerance for different tastes in music, and belief in self-superiority.
I for one truly wish I simply didn't care and not respond... unfortunately that is a hard feat.
@PiEndsWith0 As to "standing the test of time", music that was called "noise" and "not music" when it was composed HAS withstood the test of time. That has been said about music throughout music history, not just in our times. Much of that music is still played and enjoyed the world over.
@FeralArtist Sorry, but we only have some vids of mixed-media projects along with sound samples on our website. The music we play ranges from beautifully melodic to ones with no discernible pitches and aleatoric structures.
ARGH! After many views this video begins to haunt me.
First thought: symmetry... Vierne, Messiaen, Hindemith....
Some time later... at 1:40 and at 2:20 and 2:24 some microscopic fragments of tonal music challenge me... the first sounds roughly baroque, the last two seem taken from a late romantic french quartet.
Some more time later.. Hey, wo released the centipedes?
Some more time later... Aaargh, the sandworms of Arrakis are going to eat me!
this and many other music can make pictures :) like on one moment in this video they made a phoniex or whatever like shape and arrows and other images
This song is chaos however there is a defining degree of knowledge behind the placement of each note its not something that has just been slopped on paper
@19ZeldaLover95 Alot of these notes are placed on the 6th and the 4rth which are clashy notes obviously this piece was meant to be depressing and evil to a extent take some music theory classes and you will understand
That is simply incorrect. Up until around the early to mid 19th century, music as a whole had been improving, as composers and theorists added to the achievements of previous composers. But, around the late classical and early transition period, music reached a high point in terms of complexity and aesthetics. This is becuase composers did not have the ability to improve upon Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. So for the most part, istead of thinking in terms of "better," they though "different."
@Johannes999999999 Do you really think of Mozart as an "improvement" upon Bach, and Brahms as an "improvement" upon Mozart? I certainly don't. I don't think Bach has been surpassed in the things he did best --- and I feel the same way about all great composers. Of course, every composer would like to do better, but they're thinking "If I can do as well as [previous-great-composer], but in my own way, I will be happy." And I think that's true all the way up to the present.
@smalin There is no denying that Bach was one of the grestest counterpuntalists and composers of all time. However, peticularly in adagio moments, his music seems rather clumsy and blurry. I am not criticizing Bach, I am criticizing the barque style. The classical composers took what Bach and Handel had achieved and added to it a stress on clarity and fluency, which baroque composers sometimes lacked. But I do no believe Brahms imporved upon Mozart. I believe Mozart was the peak in music.
@Johannes999999999 Okay, if you think Mozart was the peak, that's your opinion. But there are people who like Bach better than Mozart, and there are people who like Beethoven better than Mozart. So you have to accept that it is just an opinion, a matter of taste. I feel that if you can't appreciate the things about post-Mozart composers that are better than Mozart, you're missing something.
I have favorite bands/musicians/songs because they each have a sound that no other band/musician/song can improve. I love each of the great composers for their own different taste and mastery, but I don't love EVERYTHING about them. Some slow songs of Mozart are better than some slow songs of Bach, just like some fast songs of Beethoven are better than some fast songs of Handel.
Its impossible to rate the greats against each other, because they each do something that no other can :P
Whats the name of the quartet by Ravel?
CrossbowManD 3 weeks ago
"Nostalgia" seems like an odd title for something as structured as this. I would have titled it "Math test nightmare" or "Number Theory - Faint Fever"!
terrybeaton 2 months ago
this music seems to be so much more than what appears on the surface. other music is easier to understand; this type of music is just so complex and confusing that it makes me want to listen to it even more. each time i listen to it, i hear something else, i try to understand it a little bit more. it's great.
alecwasawesome 2 months ago in playlist More videos from smalin
Nostalgia was never this epic!
vulpixluv01 2 months ago
This is the music that plays in your mind when you're having a nervous breakdown I believe.
TheJamblaster 3 months ago in playlist More videos from smalin
definitely curious how it would looking going from top to bottom as opposed from side to side
mamanzanares 3 months ago in playlist Favorite videos
@mamanzanares Have you considered turning your monitor on its side (or turning your head)?
smalin 3 months ago
now a have the impression of every words are moving
difero123 3 months ago
Reminds me of the music from Bioshock
Toldry 4 months ago
Everything about that was absolutely incredible.
BaBaBaBaBirdman 4 months ago
2:19 - 2:21 is freaky! where did that come from?!
Egghed545 4 months ago
@Egghed545 That (and a few other places following) are quotes from a quartet by Ravel (I think that's what the "Nostalgia" in the title refers to).
smalin 4 months ago
@smalin Yeah, thats definitely from Ravel's quartet. The quotations are so short I didnt recognize them at first.
foodiste 2 months ago
@smalin I was wondering what the blatant tonality was doing in this piece.
BlindSoothsayer 3 weeks ago
Had the composer been aware of the MAM before writing this piece?
b43xoit 4 months ago
@b43xoit Not as far as I know.
smalin 4 months ago
I think that this recording needs ALOT more dynamic contrast, dissonance with a purpose sounds good, but this just sounds like wrong notes. cool song though
NickRobo1994 4 months ago
If I'm ever being chased through a collapsing hallway by a huge, unseen beast, I hope that this accompanies it.
mysterioso2006 4 months ago
Then the sperm finnaly reached its destination
Captainofpancakes 4 months ago
@pro7794 I never would've heard it without the score
F1R1NMAHLAZAH 6 months ago
Hooray for high-concept composition
s0ttov0ce 7 months ago
sounds awesome high
JrodMcKenzy 7 months ago
Sounds like 2-3 people were high and started playing random notes.
CreepypastaMLP 7 months ago
@CreepypastaMLP 4 ppl
punkposer 7 months ago
@CreepypastaMLP exactly!
gunbold89 4 months ago
Bad picture. too many visual distractions. The video is being unfair towards its music.
With your Beethoven:9th symphony, opus 133,Mozart: Figaro overture, or Brahms: piano quartet opus 60 I can actually concentrate on the music.
2:20 - Ravel ?
asaf071286 7 months ago
oh my gosh!!! This can be videoart!!! I could watch it 100000000000000 times!
perrito87 7 months ago
This symmetry is amazing.
pro7794 7 months ago
i need to stop smoken the good stuff XD
yourdrunkendad41 7 months ago
This Video have a bad quality of sound, i don't like it. But i hear the original song on the page of Ronald Bruce Smith and it sound great :)
maurodarken 8 months ago
What shape :D
Forseliz 8 months ago
Very cool
Blackheartedhethan 8 months ago
As for me though, I simply don't like this piece. :P
LinguistTroubadour 8 months ago
espejoooooo :D !!
KyougetsuYoru 8 months ago
la wea mala hasta 3:03 :S
mit5oner 8 months ago
This sounds like my three year old cousin when I let her "play" my violin :P
mdmf117 8 months ago
@mdmf117 You should have her avoid caffeine, and possibly candy.
metsoforte 8 months ago
@mdmf117 she must be a very good violinist
3nc0d3df0x 8 months ago
Wow this shoutld be in 3D or something
PublicLibraryx 8 months ago
@PublicLibraryx Hmm... isn't it? XD
Phacias 8 months ago
Imagine trying to make a piece of music explaining the GATC on a strand of DNA..
alikahl 8 months ago
This almost looked like DNA or RNA trying to combine into a different strand... Imagine if cells were like music and the energy they gave was the vibration of sound?
alikahl 8 months ago
Bet the dude/tte turning the notation pages earned his/her money that day. This was my first contact with this piece and i experienced slight disconfort by the animation(which is cool by the way): I didn't wanted to hear with my "eyes" first. But after absorbed the piece by listen to it 15 times in a row(over few days) the animation was a welcomed complement. Short: cool piece R.B.Smith, superb performance del sol
MrDzigerica 8 months ago
FUCKIN TRIPPYYY!!!! Duuude that was off the chain that was like fricking orgasmic 8O
nlindor87 9 months ago
(sorry pushed send) don't love the song but I can appreciate and like the song due to the talent and skill of the composer and the performers (awesome work Del Sol).
ninjasamari 9 months ago
At first when I heard this song I was a little put off,but then I listened a little more to it and became extremely intrigued by very subtle nuances that were juxtaposed in. Then I read the comments and was really for this song afterwards. Some have stated that this is the worst crap they have ever heard and they hate it I personally don
ninjasamari 9 months ago
I'm pretty sure if I was on a bad trip, this is what I would see.
eddimull 10 months ago
very visually dynamic... and such an abrupt ending o.o
geo9m 10 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
i feel like i am running from a killer listening to this!!! love the mood
C00ligdeSoBased 10 months ago
i feel like i am running from a killer listening to this!!! love the mood
C00ligdeSoBased 10 months ago
Suspence!!!!! is every where
C00ligdeSoBased 10 months ago
the suspense...... it's unbearable!!!!! >_<
ix3chocopanda 10 months ago
So much conjunct motion!
BandForLife4 10 months ago
The last 2 notes are....
littleasshole26 10 months ago
@littleasshole26 ????
C00ligdeSoBased 10 months ago
@C00ligdeSoBased Abstratic
littleasshole26 10 months ago
sounds like shit
conkee1 11 months ago
I am always scared of the big Bubbles lol
noxsilver 11 months ago
I fell in love with this the second I first heard: the frantic contrary motion runs, the pointy pizzes, the gigantic solo leaps, the extremely brief tonal sections.. At the same time, I totally get why some listeners would be appalled. It's a very personal thing, and as smalin stated, depends on what you're used to. As someone who spent his adolescence listening to (among other things) technical death metal, I find an irresistable intensity to this, similar to drinking really strong coffee.
b0ttomzone 11 months ago
@b0ttomzone Lol, i feel exactly the same way, especially the the technical death metal part =D
3nc0d3df0x 11 months ago
@b0ttomzone YES!!! someone who agrees! I Got a dark smile and chills down my back the second I heard it. Unfortunately, the more you listen the less intense it gets. But it does have that really strong coffee thing, too. (I actually eat raw coffee beans, if that's disgusting enough for you).
19ZeldaLover95 11 months ago
I found this piece disconcerting, but very intriguing. I will give it some listens in the coming days.
marquito38 11 months ago
Everytime I watch thi I jizz myself..but only a few drops, trying to save some for "Little" Fugue
BriteNiggaShit 1 year ago
This is an incredible work. What piece is being quoted intermittently at 2:20?
nickr753 1 year ago
@nickr753 That quote is from the Ravel String Quartet (1st movement)
delsolmira 1 year ago
I heard this first in a nightmare, and found it a couple days later. Is that weird?
matthewdMUSIC 1 year ago
I';m high and I just shit my brains out of my ears
uber1337shaman 1 year ago
This is the kind of music that should be in a terrifying dream.
martse11 1 year ago
OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS PIECE SO MUCH
KeKeKedhvsc 1 year ago
great composition and awesome visuals! thanks!
YTlsubzero 1 year ago
Thanks for this. I really enjoyed the music and the video. It is good to see this visually for recent works as well as for past composers.
aidanhschofield 1 year ago
I must say, though, this is an incredibly skillfull play. Great technique, even if every note in this piece is dissonant with every other note.
Mhorstable 1 year ago
And here Louis Spohr thought the Great Fugue by Beethoven was "indecipherable horror." Spohr hasn't heard anything yet.
Mhorstable 1 year ago
Sounds like a good song for Evangelion or perhaps Sybil.
TAfTfilms 1 year ago
now where's my hundred dollars for listening to that whole thing?
haddtyl 1 year ago
I found this piece a bit shallow and pedantic. I mean, I can respect the fact that the composer stuck to his guns and created an (almost) symmetrical piece, but the end result really isn't that interesting. You can only take so much contrary motion before your mind wanders. Also, the tonal fragments he interjects in the latter third of the piece are ill-advised; a poor attempt at writing "nostalgic reminiscences" into the music.
coolcat555555 1 year ago
Pretty sweet... SMalin... your channel is awesome... keep it up. your selections are pretty outstanding too. It's really broadening my horizons and focusing my listening on things I forgot I liked.
Keep truckin' man.
drzanzibar 1 year ago
boblasouris 1 year ago
@boblasouris And symetric, which is half of the awesomness...
boblasouris 1 year ago
This sounds extremely difficult o.O
Chroposnos 1 year ago
I love this piece. To me, it symbolizes the pulse of thought; some thoughts come and go, some stick around, some are sad, some happy, others angry. Very interesting:)
MelismaticVirtuoso 1 year ago
What an odd piece indeed, werry dramatic(in my ears)
thanks for uploading.
dannes22 1 year ago
I'm not certain how, and I do not wish to make a trophy of this, but for quite some time I could not appreciate this sort of music. Now, perhaps like an acquired taste, my ear finds this all quite enjoyable to listen to. For whatever reason, thanks for these videos Smalin, and thanks to Ronald Bruce Smith + Del Sol String Quartet.
ModestDollesin 1 year ago
@ModestDollesin It's a little like eating spicy food. If you've never had a real Sichuan or Thai dish before, you might think that someone is poisoning you when the hot pepper hits your palette. Same analogy with Scotch... However, folks that enjoy those tastes will rave about them and debate the subtleties of their respective beautiful qualities.
delsolmira 1 year ago
This is more metal than metal.
Fehr 1 year ago
Maybe my synapses idea isn't that crazy.
segrum 1 year ago
I wonder if this was composed with dodecaphonic compositional devices,it sounds like his using full chromatic runs throughout most of the piece.The metric changes are superb and i noticed he uses the pizzicato hits at the highest note of the phrases.The mirrored dual violins are brilliant and thanks to Smalin visual program it facilitates the purpose of the piece (as above so below).I can't stop playing this video,this is thinking man's avant-garde,welcome to contemporary 21th century music!!!
chiefindisguise 1 year ago
@chiefindisguise thanks for your comments! there are actually no chromatic runs, but the tonality drifts and the opposition motion creates a sense of two tonalities happening at the same time. if ron reads this, perhaps he'll explain his methods... the metric changes were quite a challenge.
delsolmira 1 year ago
@delsolmira Are you a member of the Del Sol Quartet?If the answers yes then my hat off to you,you are a Great musician and your technical command of the instrument is very very high.So it was composed with a polytonal-bitonal approach,very quick modulations???Damn it shocked me to read that there's no chromatic runs,maybe the contrapuntal work on the main violins give that illusion,i don't know,but that's why I find this piece so mind-blowing in thinking how it was made.
chiefindisguise 1 year ago
@chiefindisguise I'm the violist in the band. Thanks again for your compliments. I agree the construction is brilliant and the effect of the drifting tonality creates a shimmering liquid sense, reflecting back to the impressionists (ravel in particular), hence the 'nostalgia' title. In fact, the running notes are based on patterns from Ravel's quartet (1st movement) with the inversion in the paired line creating a reflection (like looking at an image in the water).
delsolmira 1 year ago
@delsolmira Thanks for the info man,very insightful.Keep up the excellent work and if you guys do some videos playing live (any type of music) Ill appreciate if you send it to me in to this account,God bless!!!
chiefindisguise 1 year ago
@chiefindisguise there is a vid of us working with dancers where we are choreographed as well on our website (see FAQ above). i just favorited it on my page as well.
delsolmira 1 year ago
Wonderful animation to this catastrophic piece!
I'm not a violinist, but I liked the way you showed the 'arco' notes of the violin as bubbles.
Blostma 1 year ago
So cool that it's totally symmetrical!
lennic95 1 year ago
This is awesome. I love all of the little nuances.
alexneszmer 1 year ago
its madness! i love it though
orangebhuddy29 1 year ago
<3 this song its like epicly crazy in away yet a masterpiece in another way its veryy veryy special:)
toepicker7 1 year ago
I....don't get it. But it looks cool
LucyTook 1 year ago
How does this sound bad? I'm confused. I think it's amazing.
SLYCoopaEatsChicken 1 year ago
It's... visually interesting to say the least.
MidoriFan10 1 year ago
Wow, doesn't anyone else think this sounds like shit?
Staudinka 1 year ago
@Staudinka Only the people who aren't used to listening to this kind of thing.
smalin 1 year ago
@smalin Just like the people who aren't used to drinking muddy water think it tastes horrible?
Staudinka 1 year ago
@Staudinka No, like people who haven't learned to speak a language, thinking it makes no sense.
smalin 1 year ago
@smalin Yeah, I guess you could be right, maybe there are people who really enjoy this (and not only acting as if they did) it's just that it sounds to me like it's cacophonic on purpose
Staudinka 1 year ago
@Staudinka It is what it is on purpose, definitely. But whether it's cacophony depends on how you categorize the order it contains. You have to ask yourself: Smith spent time composing this, the Del Sol Quartet (who are very talented) thought it was worth learning to play (and it's very difficult), and thought the result was good enough to include on one of their CDs. Do you think this would have happened if they didn't see something in it beyond what you do?
smalin 1 year ago
@smalin I already admitted that there may be people who actually enjoy this piece and when I look at the other comments it seems like there are.
Staudinka 1 year ago
@smalin it's named Nostalgia... why?
ShadowUMP 1 year ago
@ShadowUMP This is only the first movement (out of 4). please look two comments below your question. the entire piece has references to older pieces.
delsolmira 1 year ago
@Staudinka Humm... what if this kind of music expresses the animus of the contemporary man? Vigorous rhythm, perfect technical domain, chaotic result... Maybe that could explain how you felt about it.
feanando 1 year ago
@Staudinka I really enjoy listening to this. I listen to it whenever I feel down and it lifts my spirits.
FeralArtist 1 year ago
@Staudinka Its a bit like music of another culture.if you listen to traditional japanese music for example it may sound shit to you but it does not for japanese people. And drinking muddy water can make you sick. This music can not make you sick so easily.For people who are not into european music at all (and there are people on this world who are not) even beethoven may sound like senseless shit.If you just like to be cacophonic you would not do it on such a complicated and well structured way.
GrauenausderTiefe 1 year ago
@GrauenausderTiefe: I'm pretty sure I would get sick if I listened to this kind of music for some hours, on the other hand I never got sick of drinking muddy water (Kids, don't try this at home!). But seriously, I agree with most of what you said but the thing about it not being cacophonic on purpose. Of course it would also be possible, and a lot easier too, to create cacophonic pieces of music without having good structure and so on but then NOBODY would consider it music.
Staudinka 1 year ago
@Staudinka [comment got too long] [...] And you can't tell me he created this piece thinking it would sound beautiful
Staudinka 1 year ago
@Staudinka
I wouldnt go so far as to call it shit
the composer and musicians are obviously very talented and it may just be that Im not very used to complex or odd-metered or chromatic(?) stuff like this but its very unpleasant to me
I have given it 5 or 6 listens as smalins visualizations are mesmerizing and I kind of wanted to like it but I guess I just don't get it
msfattytroll 1 year ago
@msfattytroll I appreciate that you gave it a chance. It definitely takes the right kind of preparation. People who say "if you had an open mind, you could appreciate it" are dead wrong. Most of our appreciation of music comes from having expectations (understanding) based on experience. If this is nothing like anything you've heard before, you won't enjoy it until you've gotten more familiar with it, either by listening to it a lot or listening to other things that work in similar ways.
smalin 1 year ago
@smalin
You're as always correct, but I still hate this piece to the last bitter guts. It's bad, objectively, subjectively, whateverly horrendous; it sounds like a blackboard is being scratched while some guy passionately tunes his cello. This supposed music, to quote the classic, makes me want to get sick into my own scorn.
PiEndsWith0 1 year ago
@PiEndsWith0 How do you account for the fact that some people like it?
smalin 1 year ago
@smalin Firstly, there is strong cultural pressure to like this sort of 'art', and quite some people might get the recognition they otherwise wouldn't, seeming modern and open for liking it. A lot of modern classical is amazing, great and famous composers like Shoenberg and Scelsi rightfully deserve the adoration, but this isn't it. Why does anyone like THIS is a mystery to me. This frantic and seemingly deep scribble is dead and conveys nothing. Rely just on your ears and you hear nothing.
PiEndsWith0 1 year ago
@PiEndsWith0 Doesn't the fact that some people like it make you suspect that you might be missing something?
smalin 1 year ago
@smalin
Well should it? Don't you think that you and the very few others are simply giving it too much credit? Doesn't the absence of at least a remotely pleasant harmony (or A harmony for that matter) or structure suffice as a pointer of it simply being bad? Isn't it sometimes best to finally admit that a certain musical revolt is a dead end and nothing more - to admit that this legless horse is old, blind and wounded and it would be best just to let it go with the last shreds of dignity?
PiEndsWith0 1 year ago
@PiEndsWith0 My taste in music isn't dictated by fashion or reputation; there are pieces by Bach (who I admire above all other composers) and by modern composers with reputations much greater than Ronald Bruce Smith's that I don't like. Many times I've disliked a piece of music at first but gradually come to love it, so I know it's possible for me to fail to appreciate something of value due to not understanding it. Don't you think that might be possible for you, too?
smalin 1 year ago
@smalin I know I might change my mind, potentially etc., but this possibility AS SUCH cannot make me reconsider what I now find adorable or in this case horrid. Disbanding my own beliefs because I MIGHT change them isn't a good position. Music that fails to convey any sort of emotion, save for annoyance, within app. 3 minutes is just bad. It is possible to fall in love with this piece the same way you fall in love with the sound of your computer humming. You find this piece of music fascinating?
PiEndsWith0 1 year ago
@PiEndsWith0 Music in every sense is an acquired taste and appeals to different people for different reasons. You're being awfully belligerent and abrasive for someone who's supposed to be taking a position of educated appreciation for music.
Tourquilian 11 months ago
@PiEndsWith0, I will never understand why, when some people don't like something, they must insist others really don't like it either. Why do you feel the need to do that? I read your comment after listening to this music with my jaw hanging open in honest fascination and involvement. In that mood, your assertion that I couldn't possibly enjoy it except as a pose struck me as repulsively offensive.
fiandrhi 10 months ago
@fiandrhi
What a coincidence, I find most jaw-dropping and staggering that every neoclassical pseudo-art piece, which is dissonant and utterly repulsive, has a flock of 'intellectuals' defending it to the last bitter droplet of condescending blood. Back in the days when classical music was music-related amazing melodies and harmonies were created that withstood centuries and will always be remembered as masterpieces. Do you honestly find 'this' up to par?
PiEndsWith0 10 months ago
@PiEndsWith0 By introducing the subjects of music history and harmony, you're the one who has attempted to "intellectualize" this conversation. I really don't listen to music the way you're suggesting. If you're enjoying the company of a friend, are you thinking about all the friends you've had in your life and comparing your friend to them? Or are you simply enjoying the company of your friend? If the former, I pity you.
fiandrhi 10 months ago
@PiEndsWith0 I am at peace with the fact that you hate this music. What I don't understand is why you feel the need to impugn the motives of people who like it, to suggest we're poseurs, pretentious intellectuals. I enjoy this piece. I am not wondering why or attempting to justify it with pseudo-intellectual theories about harmony and music history. I like it. Why don't you take that at face value without insulting me and others who like it?
fiandrhi 10 months ago
@fiandrhi
Well, firstly, If you really didn't care in your special condescending way, you wouldn't have, by your own initiative, addressed me in the first place. I was only talking with smalin. (Who I know is mannered and quite eloquent, in contrast to your hate-speech. / I'm only insulting the dreadful music and its sorry composer. [Not the flock, flock's just misguided]) I've taken the role of a barbarian to call 'BULLSHIT' on this pretentious noise as loud as possible. Because this is BAD.
PiEndsWith0 10 months ago
@PiEndsWith0 I responded because I don't like your insulting people who like this music. You weren't having a private conversation, you were having a conversation in a public forum. I don't know what's "condescending" about my objecting to your insulting us. I'm not lecturing you about music history or what "true music" is. And "hate speech"? What are you talking about, please?
fiandrhi 10 months ago
@fiandrhi The Del Sol were thrilled that Smalin put up this vid because we believed the music would reach farther than we can from the concert stage, including to folks that would never come to one of our live performances. I appreciate your comments and even enjoy negative ones as well. The debate can only help the arts stay alive. However, if someone thinks that chili peppers are poisonous, you'll have a hard time convincing them that Sichuan, Thai, and Mexican food are good to eat.
delsolmira 9 months ago
@delsolmira, I agree there's no point in trying to convince people to like what you don't like, nor do I try. I don't like being told that I and those like me enjoy certain kinds of music as a "pose". I've heard that all my life, and I'm sick of it.
fiandrhi 9 months ago
@fiandrhi I know. I think the ones who actually do adhere to certain genres as a 'pose' are actually those who have absolutely no tolerance for different tastes in music, and belief in self-superiority.
I for one truly wish I simply didn't care and not respond... unfortunately that is a hard feat.
LinguistTroubadour 8 months ago
@PiEndsWith0 As to "standing the test of time", music that was called "noise" and "not music" when it was composed HAS withstood the test of time. That has been said about music throughout music history, not just in our times. Much of that music is still played and enjoyed the world over.
fiandrhi 10 months ago
@msfattytroll Yeah, I guess I was a little extreme in my choice of words, actually my thoughts are quite similar to yours.
Staudinka 1 year ago
mad stuff
someonelseable 1 year ago
The art of inversion!
frankiemovie 1 year ago
Are you kidding me?! This exists on paper?! This is more impressive than anything Ligeti could ever produce.
RockandRolRadio3 1 year ago
this is very creepy......
FugitivesOfSorrow 1 year ago
Officially my new favorite song. And I'm a metal head.
FeralArtist 1 year ago
@FeralArtist Cool; glad you enjoyed it!
smalin 1 year ago
@FeralArtist The violist in quartet used to be a metal head as well... thanks for favoriting the song!
delsolmira 1 year ago
@delsolmira Are you in the quartet? If so, can I see a video of you guys performing this?
FeralArtist 1 year ago
@FeralArtist Sorry, but we only have some vids of mixed-media projects along with sound samples on our website. The music we play ranges from beautifully melodic to ones with no discernible pitches and aleatoric structures.
delsolmira 1 year ago
sounds more like notes taken from a crazy man's scrap book, but little better than that toot nipple song >.<
gunbold89 1 year ago
ARGH! After many views this video begins to haunt me.
First thought: symmetry... Vierne, Messiaen, Hindemith....
Some time later... at 1:40 and at 2:20 and 2:24 some microscopic fragments of tonal music challenge me... the first sounds roughly baroque, the last two seem taken from a late romantic french quartet.
Some more time later.. Hey, wo released the centipedes?
Some more time later... Aaargh, the sandworms of Arrakis are going to eat me!
Ok. Now you know I need a rest.
OrbiliusMagister 1 year ago
i like it but the circles look and sound like theyre haunting me :|
backspacesquare 1 year ago
by god....
DRBiblicalMD 1 year ago
@DRBiblicalMD i'm scared.....
FugitivesOfSorrow 1 year ago
This seems really messy and random.. I don't get it..
krabbe88 1 year ago
this and many other music can make pictures :) like on one moment in this video they made a phoniex or whatever like shape and arrows and other images
toepicker7 1 year ago
Wow, my head is spinning after this one. In a good way. That was great!
TopperMIDI 1 year ago
I can hear a lot of Stravinsky's more atonal works in this.
miiwiiplay 1 year ago
2:24 is my favorite part
GershTV 1 year ago
@GershTV
This is the only part that sounds like normal music...
This is the result of people listening to much to beautiful music.
osoialncuiq 1 year ago
This song is chaos however there is a defining degree of knowledge behind the placement of each note its not something that has just been slopped on paper
tclasby1994 1 year ago
@tclasby1994 which is what? what is this knowledge?
19ZeldaLover95 1 year ago
@19ZeldaLover95 Alot of these notes are placed on the 6th and the 4rth which are clashy notes obviously this piece was meant to be depressing and evil to a extent take some music theory classes and you will understand
tclasby1994 1 year ago
@tclasby1994 the fourth and sixth beats of each measure or the fourth and sixth scale tones. or both? I don't consider it evil, btw.
19ZeldaLover95 1 year ago
Just funny... hahahaha
pmchsaini 1 year ago
seems pretty damn pretentious to me
linkman590 1 year ago
Some how, at times, this looks like 3D ART! :DDD
jrvslam 1 year ago
is this atonal? It sounds chaotic enough to be, but its also more pleasing than most atonal compositions ive heard.
19ZeldaLover95 1 year ago
That is simply incorrect. Up until around the early to mid 19th century, music as a whole had been improving, as composers and theorists added to the achievements of previous composers. But, around the late classical and early transition period, music reached a high point in terms of complexity and aesthetics. This is becuase composers did not have the ability to improve upon Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. So for the most part, istead of thinking in terms of "better," they though "different."
Johannes999999999 1 year ago
@Johannes999999999 Do you really think of Mozart as an "improvement" upon Bach, and Brahms as an "improvement" upon Mozart? I certainly don't. I don't think Bach has been surpassed in the things he did best --- and I feel the same way about all great composers. Of course, every composer would like to do better, but they're thinking "If I can do as well as [previous-great-composer], but in my own way, I will be happy." And I think that's true all the way up to the present.
smalin 1 year ago
@smalin There is no denying that Bach was one of the grestest counterpuntalists and composers of all time. However, peticularly in adagio moments, his music seems rather clumsy and blurry. I am not criticizing Bach, I am criticizing the barque style. The classical composers took what Bach and Handel had achieved and added to it a stress on clarity and fluency, which baroque composers sometimes lacked. But I do no believe Brahms imporved upon Mozart. I believe Mozart was the peak in music.
Johannes999999999 1 year ago
@Johannes999999999 Okay, if you think Mozart was the peak, that's your opinion. But there are people who like Bach better than Mozart, and there are people who like Beethoven better than Mozart. So you have to accept that it is just an opinion, a matter of taste. I feel that if you can't appreciate the things about post-Mozart composers that are better than Mozart, you're missing something.
smalin 1 year ago
@smalin
I have favorite bands/musicians/songs because they each have a sound that no other band/musician/song can improve. I love each of the great composers for their own different taste and mastery, but I don't love EVERYTHING about them. Some slow songs of Mozart are better than some slow songs of Bach, just like some fast songs of Beethoven are better than some fast songs of Handel.
Its impossible to rate the greats against each other, because they each do something that no other can :P
Chalmsloff 1 year ago
I don't know musically (I'll try to listen to the whole quartet), but this piece is great for animation pusposes! It was great to watch...
2:20 a Frank Bridge moment...
laiuewgv 1 year ago
fascinating, both the music and the animation
minasgekos 1 year ago
pacman! :P
Webliveconcerts 1 year ago