Beethoven - String Quartet in F, op 59 (Rasumovsky) no 1

When I first bought classical records I didn't listen to a piece, such as a symphony, all the way through - I would listen to each movement over and over again until I felt I knew it like the back of my hand, and only then - which could be up to a month later - would I listen to it complete. Later on, when I was listening to more music - buying CDs, going to concerts every other week or so, listening to it on the radio - I got more blase. But I can see now that that approach was wrong. I was listening to too much, too carelessly.

I heard the Rasumovsky quartets, once each, about 20 years ago (I borrowed the CDs from the library). I remember thinking they were good, but they really went over my head, because listening to the F major quartet I want to listen to it again and again. I heard it all on Monday, and yesterday I was playing the second movement (the allegretto) over and over. The amazing thing is that normally a scherzo is supposed to provide light relief, but this is incredibly rich in ideas that grow out of each other like the shoots and branches of a tree. So listening to this quartet is work in progress. I am going to keep listening this time until I have understood it.

Overall impressions - on the one hand (little as I remembered from listening to this the first time) I can see more similarity with the late quartets than I expected (I tend to think of the late quartets as completely out on a limb, and that is incorrect); on the other hand I can see a lot of influence from Haydn's quartets.

Sorry this is rather incoherent. But in the end, it is the music that does the talking.

Libertines - The Libertines

There was a period from 2000 to late 2005 (which I call "the Great Silence") when I didn't listen to any music at all, so the Libertines passed me by completely. This record is terribly disappointing, and I can't quite put my finger on why, except the fact that Pete Doherty, while he may (at least for some) have been the epitome of cool, can't sing. And since my favourite band is The Fall, I hardly expect Pavarotti standards. All I can say is that "Narcissist" is nearly OK, but that doesn't nearly compensate for the grisly awfulness of "Music When The Lights Go Out". It helps a bit to realise they weren't really a punk band, more punky pop, which is why they are so unconvincing when they really punk out on "Arbeit Macht Frei" (not funny). They must have been amazing live, but not here. Very, very overrated.

PS - I see I am not alone... http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/events/overrated/shortlist.shtml

Various - Best Of Bootie 2009 (version 2)

The Guardian recommended this free collection of mashups, so I listened to it, and I enjoyed it more than I was expecting, given that this sort of young people's music is not really my cup of tea. It's well worth downloading for the ear-destroying Beastie Boys/Prodigy/Pendulum track "Voodoo Sabotage" and the wonderful version of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" with a whistling tune which I gather is the theme from an old American TV programme called the Andy Griffith Show. It has its limits - for example, it is clever to weld Lady Ga Ga's "Bad Romance" together with the Human League's "Don't You Want Me" without showing a join, but what you get is less than the sum of the parts.

You could write length essays about (a) mashup as an essentially postmodern art form and (b) the legal implications but I don't have time....

http://www.bootiemashup.com/bestofbootie2009/

J S Bach - Cello Suite No 3

I didn't really get on with this. I think it was because I was feeling ill and tired, and I thought that a bit of Bach would be easy to listen to. But it isn't, because you have to engage your whole mind, more so than with Romantic music where, if you don't want to do too much thinking, you can let the emotions wash over you. I may have reservations about the recording as well, but I will listen to it again soon, fully switched on.

Thelonious Monk - Genius Of Modern Music Vol 1

I actually wasn't looking forward to listening to this. I don't know why but I am a bit uncomfortable about jazz, probably because I don't listen to enough. I should certainly listen to this more often (the last time was about 3 years ago) because it is wonderful. The track that really stood out for me this time was "April In Paris": the harmony inhabits a sound-world which if not the same, seems next door to the one inhabited by Berg's Piano Sonata. The other thing which I noticed, which I supposed I had noticed before but not identified, is the use of bare fifths.

"This Flight Tonight"

When I was getting the car out this morning, a line of a song went through my head: "I'm drinking sweet champagne, got the headphones up high" and thought "CHAMPAGNE ISN'T SWEET, STUPID, YOU MUST BE THINKING OF LAMBRUSCO". Then I remembered that the line was from "This Flight Tonight", and that although I've heard the 1973 heavy blues version by Nazareth, I had never heard the original by Joni Mitchell. So I've just found it and played it, and it's amazing, even though I'm not really a Joni Mitchell fan (whenever I think of her I think of the LOL hilarious bit from the Isle of Wight Festival where she is telling off the rioters). So perhaps I should listen to more Joni Mitchell.

I also played the Nazareth version, and that is amazing as well, in a different sort of way.

The Fall - Cerebral Caustic

It is funny how memory plays tricks. I remember when I first bought this album in 1995, I thought it was brilliant, mainly because (a) Brix had come back and (b) it was better than its predecessor, the rather lacklustre Middle Class Revolt. After a few months of intensive listening, I came to the conclusion that apart from three good tracks ("The Joke", "The Aphid" and the cover of Frank Zappa's "I'm Not Satisfied") and two bad ones ("North West Fashion Show" and "Pine Leaves") it was pretty boring. The interesting thing from this listen, over a decade later, is that the boring tracks are much more interesting, even "Pearl City", a track which I had totally forgotten. Even the much-maligned "One Day" is quite good. Though I've decided conclusively that "Bonkers In Phoenix" (a title which could equally aptly be applied to the TV series Medium) is a turkey.

Sibelius - Symphony No 7

I've finally finished listening to Sibelius's symphonies. I started the cycle (if you want to be pretentious) back in the summer of 2008, just after I started this blog, and I planned to listen to one a month, but I've only just reached No 7. I enjoyed it: it isn't as if Sibelius is talking a different musical language to the other symphonies, but he manages to create a piece in one movement which is genuinely symphonic.

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left

Oh dear, I am going to sound like a total phillistine (maybe spending a week listening to No Se has destroyed my hearing, or brain, or both) but I really didn't like this. Except for "Time Has Told Me", which is a wonderful song, I found it simultaneously twee (especially the arrangements) and depressing. I'll come back to it in a few months time, perhaps, and see if I change my mind.

No Se - Rece Na Kratach

I heard harcore Polish punk band No Se for the first time early last year, when I found their debut mini-LP on Jamendo . I ended up playing it over and over again during the year, and each time I played it I liked it more. So I was really pleased to find their latest collection, released just before the new year. With 11 tracks lasting 20 minutes, the best description is fast and furious. (So furious, in fact, they make Crass sound like the Wiggles.). Best tracks are "Frustrator", "Masochizm", the manic "Hymn Pracoholika" (Workaholic Hymn) and, best of all, "Wulgarny Kawa L Ek Polityczny" (Vulgar Political Piece).

Euros Childs - Son Of Euro Child

Locking yourself out of your blog is as embarrassing as locking yourself out of your house. I forgot my password and got into an endless circular process with Blogger and Google which left me feeling I couldn’t be bothered. Till now.

I heard this back in November. I had been an admirer of Gorki’s Zygotic Mynci (though not uncritically), and I had been wondering what Euros Childs was up to these days, when he released his latest LP as a free download. It is brilliant (mainly – I found the instrumentals “Fairy Feller’s Master Stroke” and the various parts of “Harp” a bit boring). Childs’ surreal imagination is undiminished, often very dark beneath the apparent jollity (as in “Sitting Gently All Around” and “How Do You Do”). Even better are “My Baby Joy” (but don’t expect something joyful) and the wonderful, bittersweet one-minute love song “Mother Kitchen”.

Download at http://www.euroschilds.com/