A major work by Branca!
M. V. Sanderford | Danville, VA USA | 03/07/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Oh, this is just GREAT! Having been waiting for what seems like a millennium for a recording of Branca's 13th Symphony, I was delighted to get this recording of a substantial (30 minute) work that displays the brilliance and power of the rest of his work. The work is sectional - the first part sounding like it were written for drums and bells, and the rest employing Branca's patented drones - rich, furious writing reminiscent of the final movements of his 8th and 10th symphonies. This work is tremendously exciting, and while I haven't had time to digest it thoroughly, it already appears to me to be one of his very finest creations.
The second track is a 15-minute discussion between John Cage and Wim Merton about Cage's (very negative) reaction to the work, in which Cage comes off sounding like a remarkably unintelligent Vincent Price, with an unfortunate tendency to snicker - a quivering little bird who is upset that a mean ol' wind has ruffled its feathers. While I hesitate to go after someone like Cage, whose ridiculously inflated reputation has popped like a soap bubble, a couple of comments come to mind: Neither he nor Wim Merton seems to have the slightest idea what they are talking about. ("A Dinner with Andre" this ain't!) Cage keeps making awkward attempts to interpret his visceral reactions in political terms - and thus, I suppose, imbue them with Significance. "I wouldn't want to live in such a country." he keeps repeating. Well, listen up J.C.: You did live in such a country - and such a world, and such a universe - one filled with sorrow and weeping, cruelty and loss, and terror, and tenderness, love, joy and ecstasy - where everything that lives is fated to die, and where stars explode into dust and entire galaxies collide silently in the immensity of space. One can either embrace such a world with joy and courage, and transmute it into art as Branca does,(and as Mahler, Shostakovich, Ives, and Havergal Brian, etc. did) or hide trembling under the bed as you did. But don't be surprised if the precious little constructions you made out of the dust bunnies are only of interest to the others under there with you. And you may despair of the hope that a single sweep of the broom won't blow them all away.
"
Track Listings (3) - Disc #1