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And now, Shickly Mix. We're ready for you, Mr. Shickly.

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Okay, here's, I say, here's the theme.

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Hello there, I'm Peter Shickly, and this is Shickly Mix,

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a program dedicated to the proposition that all musics are created equal.

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Or, as Duke Ellington put it, if it sounds good, it is good.

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And it's good to know that our bills are paid by this world-class radio station

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where I'm provided with this state-of-the-county studio space.

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Our program is faithfully distributed to the four corners by PRI,

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Public Radio International.

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Well, the world's going to hell in a handbasket, right?

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Things aren't what they used to be. I mean, kids these days.

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I'm telling you, it's the end of civilization as we've known it.

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A lot of people feel, when they get to be a certain age,

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that they're living in a sort of cultural twilight.

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But, of course, their kids don't feel that way.

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Change is in front of them, not behind them.

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We all know, or should know, that history is a continuum,

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not a series of neat chapters.

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But still, with enough hindsight, certain general divisions seem tenable,

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as long as it's recognized that the edges will always be fuzzy.

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With the 20th century behind us, it remains clear that in Western music,

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if not culture in general, the period right before the First World War

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was truly pivotal, the ending of one era and the beginning of another.

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Two literally epic-making works were premiered in 1912 and 1913,

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Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire...

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Pierrot!

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Mein Lachen hab ich verlernt!

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Das Bild des Glases zerflosst!

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...and Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.

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.

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Those two pieces defined, or illuminated, two different approaches

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that remained major preoccupations throughout the century.

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Now, I'm not talking here about dissonance,

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that old bugbear of so-called modern music.

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Both Pierrot and Sacre are very dissonant by traditional standards.

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I'm talking about repetition.

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Pierrot cultivates a minimal amount of perceivable repetition,

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whereas The Rite of Spring shoves the insistent repetition

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of small, melodic fragments in your face.

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Now, because extremes are easier to compare than close neighbors,

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let's listen to two excerpts,

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one written considerably before those pivotal years

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and one written considerably after.

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They're both easy to listen to.

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Even the modern one has none of that unsoundly halitosis

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of extreme dissonance, but their philosophies are very different.

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The first was written in 1893.

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.

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.

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.

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The first movement of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony,

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Claudio Botto and the London Symphony Orchestra.

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That's the beginning of what is usually called the second theme section,

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and it's the epitome of romanticism.

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Lush, surging, sentimental, no pejoratives intended.

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It's a singable melody.

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It could be, and in fact has been, made into a popular song.

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The dynamics wax and wane like the sighing of a heart,

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and the tempo fluctuates too.

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Nobody with any feeling would play this music to a metronome.

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There's an obvious climax, literally a high point to the melody,

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followed by a relaxation and then a reiteration of the second half.

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The harmonies are completely tonal,

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basically fitting in with the harmonic procedures

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of the previous two centuries.

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Certain chords feel like they have to be followed

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by the chords they're followed by.

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Okay, here's part of a piece that was finished in 1945.

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DRUMS PLAY

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From the first movement of the symphony in three movements

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by Igor Stravinsky with the Columbia Orchestra

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conducted by Uncle Igor himself.

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Although this symphony is not organized at all like Tchaikovsky's,

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the part we heard has the feeling of the beginning of a second theme section

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after a loud opening.

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But Stravinsky's tempo is rock solid,

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the dynamic changes are jagged and punchy instead of graduated,

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and the feeling is cool,

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especially compared to the fervid oven of Tchaikovsky's yearnings.

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But more to the point, the Stravinsky passage doesn't go anywhere.

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It has no climax and it's based on very little musical material.

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Two, eventually three chords in the top part alternating unpredictably

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and a repeated three-note figure in the bass.

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It almost sounds as if it could be the accompaniment to a missing melody

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and as a matter of fact I have to confess that on one edition of this show

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I had the temerity to compose a melody to go with it,

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but that was just a caper.

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I love it the way it is.

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Anyway, in terms of today's show, what interests us

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is the repetition of small melodic fragments

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in a comparatively mechanical way,

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leading to a musical narrative that is more static and less directional,

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more trance-like and less overtly emotional,

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more quantitative and less novelistic

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than that of most classical and romantic pieces.

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The variation form of the 18th and 19th centuries

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is a closed cyclical form based on repetition,

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but what's repeated is usually a harmonic pattern, not a melodic one.

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One of the earliest pieces of written-down Western music,

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Sumer is a Koumenin, has a repeated bass figure throughout,

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but between then and the 20th century,

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the Baroque, the 17th century, is the only period I can think of

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that really favors the technique.

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The repeated melodic pattern is called a ground or a ground bass,

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and although it may have as few as four notes,

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it usually has more, like this one, which has 24 notes.

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Here we go again.

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In the piece you're about to hear,

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those 24 notes are played over and over and over again,

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14 times in all, without any change whatsoever.

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But what happens in the upper parts changes plenty

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and in the most delicious manner.

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Notice all the blooming spring

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Into sacred gardens twine

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To apparow to be destroyed

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A sparrow and a gentle dove

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Sacrifices pitiful love

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Roses sweet and natural bring

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Notice all the blooming spring

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Into sacred gardens twine

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To apparow to be destroyed

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Let the pleasure they possess

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May still increase

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May still increase

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And still refresh

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And by a more, by a more

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Exalted love

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Each happier to come and prove

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Let the pleasure they possess

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May still increase

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May still increase

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And still refresh

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And by a more, by a more

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Exalted love

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Each happier to come and prove

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The Sparrow and the Gentle Dove by Mr. Henry Purcell.

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It was sung by Paul Esswood, countertenor,

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accompanied on the harpsichord by Johann Sonnleitner.

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Okay, now that's a ground bass.

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An ostinato is also a repeated melodic figure,

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but it usually isn't as extensive.

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It doesn't have as many notes.

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Here's one in the string bass with four notes.

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And here's one down in the bassoon

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with only two notes.

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Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale

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and The Rite of Spring, respectively.

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Hey, I suppose you could consider repeated notes

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a one-note ostinato.

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Huh? What do you think?

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Say, okay, here's your ostinato figure

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and here it is repeated.

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Whoo! And a wigwam from book one, I think,

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of John Thompson's Teaching Little Fingers to Play.

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Must be book one. I doubt if I ever got to book two.

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Hey, I learned that in 1943 when I was eight years old,

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and I think you've got to agree that I still play the pants off it.

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Okay, now the next...

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Oh, brother, what now?

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Hello? Well, I know that.

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I can, too.

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Oh, yes, I can.

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Listen, the middle part doesn't fit what I was talking about.

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That's the only reason I didn't play it.

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Oh, yeah?

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I assure you, my left hand is fully up to the task.

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Here, I'll play the whole thing, Mr. Smarty Pants.

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Don't hang up. I'm putting the phone down right by the authentic instrument.

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Okay, here goes.

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You hear that?

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Well, I'd like to see you do better.

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Boy, a little bit of macho braggadocio in the John Thompson book one department there.

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Anyway, ostinato is our game today,

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and we're going to take a very quick tour of the ostinatos from then till now.

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We'll hear ostinatos from the 19-teens to the 1990s.

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But before we do that, I want to provide some perspective here.

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I mentioned earlier that Schoenberg represented a compositional approach

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that minimized perceivable repetition.

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About a decade after writing Piero Luner,

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he codified that approach in what is usually called the 12-tone system.

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Now is not the time to describe that system in detail,

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but its basic premise is that you don't repeat any given pitch,

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which means a note name like C-sharp,

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until you've used all the other 11 pitches.

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This philosophical aversion to discernible repetition

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gradually spread to include other parameters of music,

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such as rhythm, dynamics, and even orchestration.

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So by the 1960s, the Schoenberg line of evolution had led to music like this.

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♫

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♫

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This is an excerpt from Relata I by Milton Babbitt.

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That was Paul Zukosky conducting the Juilliard Orchestra.

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This is music of constant change, music that zealously avoids the expected,

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the very opposite of static, and certainly no place for ostinatos.

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Now the interesting thing about the evolutionary tree,

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branches never grow completely straight,

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is that towards the end of his long life,

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he felt himself more and more drawn to the 12-tone school.

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But by then, his earlier music had cast a shadow

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that was to extend over the whole century.

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Here's that passage from the symphony in three movements again,

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with the ostinato in the bass and the irregular repetition on top,

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followed by part of a piece written four decades later

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by a composer associated with minimalism.

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♫

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♫

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♫

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♫

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An excerpt from the Chairman Dances, a foxtrot for orchestra by John Adams.

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Unfortunately, I had to cut it off there when I got to the great syrupy ballad.

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Terrific piece.

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Well, I think that the next...

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Oh, come on.

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Hello? Oh, hi, Mrs. Mudridge.

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For me? How big a package?

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Oh, OK. Well, I'll run down and get it during the next, you know, music I play.

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OK, thanks.

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The receptionist says there's a little package for me.

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I'll get it during this great little morsel I've got for today's tidbit time.

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This is part of a late Beethoven string quartet,

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and the three bottom instruments are playing an ostinato.

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♫

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It's a five-note ostinato that's so fast it almost sounds like an embellishment.

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And then on top of it, the first violin is playing a riff

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that I swear could have been written by Stravinsky.

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I mean, it's just noodling around, but brilliant noodling around,

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on a few of the notes of the A major scale.

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That sort of repetition but off-kilter repetition that Stravinsky did.

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You know, like those jazzy chords in the Symphony in Three Movements

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or the end of Pulcinella.

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♫

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Well, anyway, put it all together, and, well, as far as I'm concerned,

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this is the birth of minimalism.

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♫

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Okay, here comes the Philip Glass part.

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♫

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That bit of out-there downtownism was the trio section of the Scherzo

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from Beethoven's last quartet, Op. 135,

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performed with terrific energy by the Emerson Quartet.

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What fantastic music.

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You know, my tongue may have been inclined slightly towards my cheek

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when I talked about the birth of minimalism,

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but that is truly a very, very far-out passage.

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I don't think you'll find anything like it

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not only among Beethoven's contemporaries,

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but anywhere before Stravinsky a century later.

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Well, I guess I'm ranting a bit here, but, you know, if you don't mind,

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I'd like to, I guess this is sort of unprofessional,

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but I'd like to listen to this tape cassette.

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It was in that package that came for me.

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Remember I said I was going to run down and get it during the Beethoven,

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00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,000
which is what I did, and it doesn't say who sent it,

253
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,000
so I'm sort of curious.

254
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,000
Let me just slip it in here and check it out.

255
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,000
Oh, great.

256
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,000
Yeah.

257
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,000
Hey, listen, I could play in a wigwam that fast if I wanted to.

258
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,000
Piece of cake.

259
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:57,000
Yeah, this guy is one of those faster-is-better guys, you know,

260
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,000
even if it means completely ignoring

261
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,000
the essential underlying spirit of the composition.

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00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,000
But don't worry, I don't feel threatened.

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00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,000
I'm secure, you know, in my reputation.

264
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:13,000
I know that if people are looking for artistic integrity,

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00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,000
they look to Peter Schickele,

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00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:20,000
the host of Schickele Mix from PRI, Public Radio International.

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Ostinati Obligati is the name of today's show,

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00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:28,000
obligatory ostinatos.

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What I mean by obligatory in this case

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is that if the piece you wrote

271
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:37,000
doesn't have a small, continuously repeating melodic pattern in it,

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I'm probably not going to play it on today's show.

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What we're going to do now is hear three pairs of pieces,

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one from early in the century, one from the middle of the century,

275
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and one fin de siècle pair.

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And all six of these pieces feature ostinatos,

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or ostinati, if you want to be hoity-toity about it.

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Hoity-toity is, of course, the Italian plural of hoits-toits.

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Our first pair comes from the teens and 20s, respectively,

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and its two parts couldn't be more different from one another.

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The opening piece has a simple two-note ostinato

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that goes on throughout the piece.

283
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:20,000
Boop-beep, boop-beep, boop-beep, boop-beep.

284
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:25,000
In the second, the composer piles up layer upon layer of ostinatos.

285
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He brings them in one or two at a time.

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This goes on for almost a minute, that's a long time in music,

287
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,000
before the horns play a non-repeating melody.

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00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,000
After a minute and 3 quarters, the ostinatos change,

289
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,000
but the whole piece is mechanistic with a vengeance,

290
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,000
absolutely anti-romantic.

291
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:47,000
It says, hey, you want machines? I'll give you machines.

292
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:52,000
I love machines. Machines are the 20th century.

293
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,000
But the first piece is also anti-romantic

294
00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:00,000
in its absolute cool and lack of emotional detail.

295
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:23,000
PIANO PLAYS

296
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,000
ORGAN PLAYS

297
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:04,000
ORGAN PLAYS

298
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:34,000
ORGAN PLAYS

299
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:04,000
ORGAN PLAYS

300
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:34,000
ORGAN PLAYS

301
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:04,000
ORGAN PLAYS

302
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:34,000
ORGAN PLAYS

303
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,000
ORGAN PLAYS

304
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,000
Phew! You ready for that?

305
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,000
That is one relentless bunch of gear-crunching,

306
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:17,000
air-splitting, blood-roiling musical machinery.

307
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:21,000
It's by Alexander Mosolov, and it's called Zavod,

308
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,000
which means factory, or iron foundry, I guess,

309
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,000
is the preferred title in English.

310
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,000
Hey, it makes the factory in Charlie Chaplin's modern times

311
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:35,000
feel like a picnic, except this is meant to extol life in a factory.

312
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,000
Nice day at the office, dear?

313
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,000
Anyway, that was the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,

314
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,000
and the foreman was Riccardo Chahi.

315
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:48,000
Before that, we heard Alto Ciccolini playing le balançoire,

316
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:53,000
or seesaw, from Eric Satie's Sport et Divertissement,

317
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,000
which is French for sports and divertissements.

318
00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:00,000
Now, our next pair of ostinatia comes from the early 1950s,

319
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,000
and the inspiration comes from very different sources.

320
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:08,000
The first piece was composed by a man who also wrote many rounds,

321
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,000
and when you think about it,

322
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,000
a round is sort of like an ostinato, or ground.

323
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,000
Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream,

324
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,000
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

325
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,000
Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream,

326
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,000
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

327
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,000
Row, row, row... you get the idea.

328
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,000
It repeats throughout the piece,

329
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,000
except that in a round, what goes on around the ground

330
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,000
is identical to the ground.

331
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,000
It's the same thing, just displaced in time.

332
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:41,000
In this case, the composer adds layers of ostinatos,

333
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:44,000
as Masoloff did in the beginning of Iron Foundry.

334
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,000
Now, the reason I mention rounds

335
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,000
is that this layering of ostinatos

336
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,000
results in something that is like a round,

337
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,000
but with the phrases assigned in a different way.

338
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,000
What I mean is, if I sing...

339
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,000
1, 2, 3, 4...

340
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:02,000
Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream,

341
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:05,000
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

342
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,000
And then the 2nd part comes in singing the same thing,

343
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,000
but 4 beats later,

344
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,000
and the 3rd part comes in 8 beats later singing the same thing,

345
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,000
and the 4th part comes in 12 beats later,

346
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,000
then you've got a round.

347
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,000
And you've pretty much all of us, I expect, sung

348
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,000
Row, row, row your boat.

349
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,000
But now, what if I do it as layers of ostinatos?

350
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,000
The 1st voice goes...

351
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:30,000
Row, row, row your boat, row, row, row your boat,

352
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:33,000
Row, row, row your boat, row, row, row your boat.

353
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,000
And the 2nd voice waits 4 beats and comes in

354
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,000
Gently down the stream, gently down the stream,

355
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,000
Gently down the stream.

356
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,000
And the 3rd voice waits 8 beats and comes in

357
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,000
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

358
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:47,000
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.

359
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,000
See, it already sounds like Philip Glass.

360
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,000
And then the 4th voice waits 12 beats and comes in

361
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,000
Life is but a dream, life is but a dream,

362
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,000
Life is but a dream.

363
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,000
If all the voices are in the same octave,

364
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,000
you're going to end up with the same music

365
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:05,000
as you did when you sang it as a round.

366
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:09,000
Here's the ineffable Row, row, row your boat done both ways,

367
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:13,000
recorded by the Peter Schickele Contemporary Vocal Ensemble.

368
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,000
What I'm going to do is bring the voices in

369
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:17,000
at different levels of loudness,

370
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:19,000
just to separate them at first.

371
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,000
And then, once all 4 voices are in,

372
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,000
I'll equalize the level.

373
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:28,000
Here we go, round version first, then layered ostinatos.

374
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:32,000
Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream,

375
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,000
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

376
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,000
Life is but a dream.

377
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:39,000
Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream,

378
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:51,000
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

379
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,000
Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream,

380
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:01,000
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

381
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:03,000
Life is but a dream.

382
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:22,480
The music ends up the same, except there are little differences of breathing and stuff

383
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:27,600
because of the different phrasing. The round version is the traditional, down-home way

384
00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:33,000
of building up that sound. The layered ostinatos is the minimalist path.

385
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:38,520
OK, here's our second suitelet. The first piece has layered ostinatos, and the second

386
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:43,240
has a two-part ostinato. You'll hear it right at the beginning in the celesta and piano

387
00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:48,580
or maybe it's a harp, I'm not sure. Anyway, in this case, the inspiration comes from across

388
00:33:48,580 --> 00:33:55,580
the Pacific, specifically the gamelan music of Bali and Java.

389
00:34:18,580 --> 00:34:25,580
Here's our second suitelet.

390
00:34:48,580 --> 00:34:56,580
Here's our third suitelet.

391
00:35:18,580 --> 00:35:26,580
Here's our fourth suitelet.

392
00:35:48,580 --> 00:35:56,580
Here's our fifth suitelet.

393
00:36:18,580 --> 00:36:25,580
Here's our sixth suitelet.

394
00:36:48,580 --> 00:36:56,580
Here's our seventh suitelet.

395
00:37:18,580 --> 00:37:26,580
Here's our eighth suitelet.

396
00:37:48,580 --> 00:37:56,580
Here's our tenth suitelet.

397
00:38:18,580 --> 00:38:25,580
Moondog and Lou Harrison.

398
00:38:25,580 --> 00:38:30,580
You know, in crossword puzzles, you often see a unique person, and the answer is

399
00:38:30,580 --> 00:38:35,580
oner. O-N-E-R. Have you ever heard anybody use that word?

400
00:38:35,580 --> 00:38:38,580
That Fred, he's a real oner.

401
00:38:38,580 --> 00:38:44,580
Be that as it may, Louis Hardin, who calls himself Moondog, is definitely in the oner category.

402
00:38:44,580 --> 00:38:50,580
He used to stand on 6th Avenue at 54th Street in Manhattan, decked out in simple but full

403
00:38:50,580 --> 00:38:56,580
Viking regalia, including helmet and spear, and he'd sell you his poems in little piano pieces

404
00:38:56,580 --> 00:39:01,580
or just chat, and he met a lot of well-known musicians, and eventually somebody made it

405
00:39:01,580 --> 00:39:05,580
possible for him to make a full-blown symphonic recording.

406
00:39:05,580 --> 00:39:12,580
I first heard that theme in the 1950s. I think it was a 10-inch epic LP on which Moondog

407
00:39:12,580 --> 00:39:18,580
played all the parts himself on funky instruments, and I must say, if memory serves, I prefer

408
00:39:18,580 --> 00:39:23,580
that earlier version to the lush arrangement we just heard, but I've never been able to get

409
00:39:23,580 --> 00:39:27,580
my hands on a copy of that old LP, but I love that piece.

410
00:39:27,580 --> 00:39:33,580
And I love the second piece, too, the second gamelan from Lou Harrison's Suite for Violin,

411
00:39:33,580 --> 00:39:39,580
Piano, and Small Orchestra, performed here by Lucy Stoltzman, Keith Jarrett, and an ensemble

412
00:39:39,580 --> 00:39:42,580
conducted by Robert Hughes.

413
00:39:42,580 --> 00:39:48,580
Okay, now we're up to the 1980s and 90s, with two ostinato-driven pieces that straddle the

414
00:39:48,580 --> 00:39:55,580
classical pop divide. In the first, the ostinato is played by saxophone, farfisa organ, and

415
00:39:55,580 --> 00:40:01,580
voice. In the second, the ostinato is made up of interlocking and overlapping loops made

416
00:40:01,580 --> 00:40:07,580
from digital samplings of prepared piano notes, creating a rhythm track to which the

417
00:40:07,580 --> 00:40:10,580
quartet plays live.

418
00:40:37,580 --> 00:40:41,580
Good evening.

419
00:40:41,580 --> 00:40:45,580
This is your captain.

420
00:40:45,580 --> 00:40:50,580
We are about to attempt a crash landing.

421
00:40:50,580 --> 00:40:54,580
Please extinguish all cigarettes.

422
00:40:54,580 --> 00:40:59,580
Place your tray tables in their upright locked position.

423
00:40:59,580 --> 00:41:02,580
Your captain says,

424
00:41:02,580 --> 00:41:08,580
put your head on your knees.

425
00:41:08,580 --> 00:41:11,580
Captain says,

426
00:41:11,580 --> 00:41:14,580
put your head in your hands.

427
00:41:14,580 --> 00:41:21,580
Captain says, put your hands on your head. Put your hands on your hips.

428
00:41:21,580 --> 00:41:24,580
This is your captain.

429
00:41:24,580 --> 00:41:27,580
We are going down.

430
00:41:27,580 --> 00:41:30,580
We are all going down

431
00:41:30,580 --> 00:41:33,580
together.

432
00:41:33,580 --> 00:41:36,580
And they said, uh-oh.

433
00:41:36,580 --> 00:41:40,580
This is going to be some way.

434
00:41:40,580 --> 00:41:44,580
Stand on.

435
00:41:44,580 --> 00:41:47,580
This is the time.

436
00:41:47,580 --> 00:41:52,580
And this is the record of the time.

437
00:41:52,580 --> 00:41:55,580
This is the time.

438
00:41:55,580 --> 00:42:00,580
And this is the record of the time.

439
00:42:25,580 --> 00:42:29,580
Uh, this is your captain again.

440
00:42:29,580 --> 00:42:37,580
You know, I've got this funny feeling I've seen this all before.

441
00:42:37,580 --> 00:42:41,580
Why?

442
00:42:41,580 --> 00:42:45,580
Because I'm a caveman.

443
00:42:45,580 --> 00:42:48,580
Why?

444
00:42:48,580 --> 00:42:52,580
Because I've got eyes in the back of my head.

445
00:42:52,580 --> 00:42:55,580
Why?

446
00:42:55,580 --> 00:43:00,580
It's the heat.

447
00:43:00,580 --> 00:43:04,580
Stand on.

448
00:43:04,580 --> 00:43:07,580
This is the time.

449
00:43:07,580 --> 00:43:13,580
And this is the record of the time.

450
00:43:13,580 --> 00:43:17,580
This is the time.

451
00:43:17,580 --> 00:43:29,580
And this is the record of the time.

452
00:43:29,580 --> 00:43:40,580
Put your hands over your eyes.

453
00:43:40,580 --> 00:43:49,580
Jump out of the plane.

454
00:43:49,580 --> 00:43:58,580
There is no pilot.

455
00:43:58,580 --> 00:44:06,580
You are not alone.

456
00:44:06,580 --> 00:44:10,580
Stand on.

457
00:44:10,580 --> 00:44:13,580
This is the time.

458
00:44:13,580 --> 00:44:19,580
And this is the record of the time.

459
00:44:19,580 --> 00:44:23,580
This is the time.

460
00:44:23,580 --> 00:44:43,580
And this is the record of the time.

461
00:44:43,580 --> 00:44:54,580
This is the time.

462
00:44:54,580 --> 00:45:03,580
And this is the record of the time.

463
00:45:03,580 --> 00:45:14,580
This is the time.

464
00:45:14,580 --> 00:45:34,580
And this is the record of the time.

465
00:45:34,580 --> 00:45:54,580
And this is the record of the time.

466
00:45:54,580 --> 00:46:14,580
And this is the record of the time.

467
00:46:14,580 --> 00:46:34,580
And this is the record of the time.

468
00:46:34,580 --> 00:46:54,580
And this is the record of the time.

469
00:46:54,580 --> 00:47:14,580
And this is the record of the time.

470
00:47:14,580 --> 00:47:17,580
I want to ride. I want to ride.

471
00:47:17,580 --> 00:47:21,580
John Adams calls that a piece of vehicular music.

472
00:47:21,580 --> 00:47:24,580
It's called Judah to Ocean.

473
00:47:24,580 --> 00:47:30,580
Which refers to a San Francisco streetcar that Adams used to live near the end of the line of.

474
00:47:30,580 --> 00:47:33,580
That's from John's book of alleged dances.

475
00:47:33,580 --> 00:47:36,580
And was performed by the Cronus Quartet.

476
00:47:36,580 --> 00:47:38,580
Before that we heard Laurie Anderson.

477
00:47:38,580 --> 00:47:39,580
From the air.

478
00:47:39,580 --> 00:47:41,580
From the big science album.

479
00:47:41,580 --> 00:47:42,580
It's great.

480
00:47:42,580 --> 00:47:47,580
The contrast between the aggressiveness of the ostinato in the Laurie Anderson thing.

481
00:47:47,580 --> 00:47:51,580
And the calm silkiness of her spoken voice.

482
00:47:51,580 --> 00:47:54,580
And you know, that Adams piece is really infectious.

483
00:47:54,580 --> 00:47:57,580
I can't get it out of my head.

484
00:47:57,580 --> 00:48:01,580
I am, I am Peter Shickley.

485
00:48:01,580 --> 00:48:04,580
Peter Shickley, Shickley.

486
00:48:04,580 --> 00:48:09,580
And the program is Shickley Mix.

487
00:48:09,580 --> 00:48:18,580
From PRI, Public Radio International.

488
00:48:18,580 --> 00:48:20,580
Ostinati Obligati.

489
00:48:20,580 --> 00:48:24,580
Maybe our show's title doesn't mean obligatory ostinati.

490
00:48:24,580 --> 00:48:27,580
Maybe it means accompanying ostinati.

491
00:48:27,580 --> 00:48:30,580
Short repeated figures that accompany melodies.

492
00:48:30,580 --> 00:48:35,580
With the recording technology that developed in the last 40 years of the 20th century.

493
00:48:35,580 --> 00:48:43,580
It became really easy to repeat things for a really long time.

494
00:48:43,580 --> 00:48:51,580
When you put that together with the high regard that came to be accorded to certain trance-like states during the 60s.

495
00:48:51,580 --> 00:48:57,580
What you get is a lot of pieces that are too long for us to play in their entirety.

496
00:48:57,580 --> 00:49:01,580
The electronic keyboard became a magician's wand.

497
00:49:01,580 --> 00:49:05,580
And ostinatos could go on for hours.

498
00:49:31,580 --> 00:49:56,580
Terry Riley from A Rainbow in Curved Air.

499
00:49:56,580 --> 00:50:01,580
Quintessential late 60s, and that's just fine with me.

500
00:50:01,580 --> 00:50:08,580
You know, when that terrific explosion of musical energy and imagination engulfed the pop world of the 60s.

501
00:50:08,580 --> 00:50:11,580
And classical musicians were listening to the Beatles.

502
00:50:11,580 --> 00:50:14,580
And the Beatles were listening to Stockhausen.

503
00:50:14,580 --> 00:50:19,580
I was hoping that pop and contemporary classical music, which had become so separate.

504
00:50:19,580 --> 00:50:24,580
Would get together and produce a new kind of common practice.

505
00:50:24,580 --> 00:50:26,580
Well, it didn't happen then.

506
00:50:26,580 --> 00:50:29,580
But about 20 years later, it did start to happen.

507
00:50:29,580 --> 00:50:33,580
Largely through the midwifery of minimalism.

508
00:50:33,580 --> 00:50:40,580
Our last piece was created using synthesizers, sequencers, samplers, and probably some other S words as well.

509
00:50:40,580 --> 00:50:42,580
By John Adams.

510
00:50:42,580 --> 00:50:44,580
Here's a classically trained guy.

511
00:50:44,580 --> 00:50:47,580
In fact, he studied with a student of Schoenberg.

512
00:50:47,580 --> 00:50:50,580
Which sort of brings this program around full circle.

513
00:50:50,580 --> 00:50:55,580
But here's this guy, who's written pieces for many of the major symphony orchestras.

514
00:50:55,580 --> 00:51:00,580
Writing a piece that you could imagine maybe hearing on a jukebox someplace.

515
00:51:00,580 --> 00:51:03,580
Some very hip place.

516
00:51:03,580 --> 00:51:06,580
But I don't mean to imply that it's background music.

517
00:51:06,580 --> 00:51:12,580
This is a rich, sophisticated, complex, sensual composition.

518
00:51:12,580 --> 00:51:16,580
That uses a lot of repetition, but is always changing.

519
00:51:16,580 --> 00:51:18,580
Sometimes subliminally.

520
00:51:18,580 --> 00:51:24,580
Morphing ostinatos are used to accompany long, soulful melodies.

521
00:51:24,580 --> 00:51:28,580
There's one in the middle that could almost be Miles Davis playing.

522
00:51:28,580 --> 00:51:48,580
This is Cerulean, from John Adams' album, Who Do Zephyr?

523
00:51:58,580 --> 00:52:26,580
Cerulean.

524
00:52:26,580 --> 00:52:54,580
Cerulean.

525
00:52:54,580 --> 00:53:23,580
Cerulean.

526
00:53:23,580 --> 00:53:52,580
Cerulean.

527
00:53:52,580 --> 00:54:21,580
Cerulean.

528
00:54:21,580 --> 00:54:50,580
Cerulean.

529
00:54:50,580 --> 00:55:19,580
Cerulean.

530
00:55:19,580 --> 00:55:43,580
Cerulean.

531
00:55:43,580 --> 00:56:12,580
Cerulean.

532
00:56:12,580 --> 00:56:41,580
Cerulean.

533
00:56:41,580 --> 00:57:10,580
Cerulean.

534
00:57:10,580 --> 00:57:12,580
It's a long way back, isn't it?

535
00:57:12,580 --> 00:57:17,580
From John Adams' Cerulean to Wolfgang Mozart's 24th Symphony.

536
00:57:17,580 --> 00:57:20,580
Well, that's Sickly Mix for this week.

537
00:57:20,580 --> 00:57:25,580
Our program is made possible with funds provided by this radio station and its members.

538
00:57:25,580 --> 00:57:30,580
Our program is distributed by PRI, Public Radio International.

539
00:57:30,580 --> 00:57:35,580
We'll tell you in a moment how you can get an official playlist of all the music on today's program

540
00:57:35,580 --> 00:57:37,580
with album numbers and everything.

541
00:57:37,580 --> 00:57:42,580
Just refer to the program number. This is program number 165.

542
00:57:42,580 --> 00:57:49,580
And this is Peter Sickly saying goodbye and reminding you that it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi.

543
00:57:49,580 --> 00:57:56,580
You're looking good. See you next week.

544
00:57:56,580 --> 00:58:02,580
If you'd like a copy of that playlist I mentioned, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Sickly Mix.

545
00:58:02,580 --> 00:58:07,580
That's S-C-H-I-C-K-E-L-E, Sickly Mix.

546
00:58:07,580 --> 00:58:17,580
Care of Public Radio International, 100 North 6th Street, Suite 900A, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55403.

547
00:58:17,580 --> 00:58:32,580
PRI, Public Radio International.