Category: Music

The first Beethoven recording I ever bought was Arrau’s album of the last four sonatas. The second movement, “Arietta,” of the final one was the most wide-ranging, futuristic music I’d ever heard, anticipating everything from boogie piano to space music, and it remains a particular favorite of mine.

… and this is Tune #365, completing a year of music. No matter what your taste in music is, I’m sure there was something to annoy you. I hope you also heard something worth listening to and perhaps worth investigating further. From here on out I’ll post when the spirit moves me, which is not all that often any more.

Probably the most over-the-top of all boss fight music. Uematsu obviously made a close study of Keith Emerson.

Another tune from the two-time Winfield winner. Incidentally, Ross is one of the very few people younger than me named “Don.” “Donald” was one of the most popular names for boys in the first half of the 20th century, but the day I was baptized it immediately became utterly unfashionable.

The outstanding example of botanical rock’n’roll. It’s generally accurate, allowing for a bit of poetic license; you really don’t want to encounter Heracleum mantegazzianum on a sunny day.

Featuring Sneaky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel guitar.

One of the first P.D.Q. Bach pieces Peter Schickele discovered.

My roommate at college #1 and I both liked “Oh Well,” but I preferred the furious first part and he the slow second part of the extended version. This may be a clue to how our personalities differed.

There’s been a dearth of polkas. Here’s one Strauss wrote for Hungarians.

The lyrics may be sentimental hippie mush, but I don’t care. Argent is the antidote for Tonio K, and vice versa.

Tonio K’s Life in the Foodchain belongs on any short list of classic rock albums that are actually worth listening to.

Fans of ELP will recognize the first movement.

The closest approach to a hit song that Holdsworth ever had. Of course I never heard this on the radio.

A childhood favorite, a long, long time ago.

Self-reflection from Randy Newman.

Háry János was the Martian Hungarian counterpart of Baron Munchausen. The playlist contains the entire suite Kodály extracted from his opera.

How many time signatures can you juggle simultaneously? Some aficionados claim that the first King Crimson album was the best, or Lark’s Tongue in Aspic, but Discipline is the one I listen to most.

Update: I just discovered that I had already posted the tune that I originally had here. So, here’s another by Mayumi Kojima, “ひまわり,” or “Himawari.” The machine translation of the title is “Sunflower.”

A Richard Fariña tune that was part of Fairport Convention’s early repertoire. Richard Thompson is one of the guitarists, as I probably don’t need to tell you.

Gentle Giant one more time.