Schnellertollermeier's "Piccadilly Sources": a recent find thanks to WREK's afternoon randomness.
I enjoyed it thoroughly as I drove from work to the studio, then played some more of their music (via iPhone) on the stereo in the studio as I worked. They've released several albums. A cursory glance at their website suggests they are Swiss, and seem to have great momentum (career-wise) at the moment.
As I listened to "Piccadilly Sources" again this morning I reawakened to the saturating influence of Stravinsky on everything that came after:
"Danse Sacrale" from Rite of Spring
Note that I speak of Stravinsky's influence as though it's a given. I base the statement solely on my own life as a listener, including a few offhand comments by radio announcers and orchestra program notes. Have I made a study of Stravinsky's life and music? No. Did something prior to Stravinsky influence him? We have heard about Matisse, Picasso, and their appropriation of forms from West African art (especially sculpture); is there something analogous going on with Stravinsky? Would the knowing be worth the effort of finding out? I think it's worth a peek, anyway.
The question rises in me because of my own life as a listener. In my 20's and early 30's, I would have told you that this "relentless rhythm of the machine" theme came from the "Mars" section of Holst's The Planets.
Lots to unpack here. That Holst video from the BBC Proms was recorded about a mile and a half from Piccadilly, for instance. And Holst taught at the St. Paul's Girls' School not much farther away. The horror conveyed by the "Danse Sacrale" stems from religious zealotry, while in Holst's "Mars," war is the horror. And where were the Swiss through the long 20th century?
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