

The Next Track
Doug Adams and Kirk McElhearn
Doug Adams and Kirk McElhearn discuss music and musicians, and how we listen to music, whether it be analog or digital, downloaded or streamed, audio, or video.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 24, 2023 • 25min
Episode #256: You'll Never Have to Watch the Woodstock Movie Again
Doug re-watched the Woodstock movie. He'll never have to watch it again.
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Show notes:
Woodstock - Director's cut
Episode #254: Remastering, Re-Recording, and Standards
Woodstock – Back to the Garden: The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive
Boston Calling
Our next tracks:
Manchester Gamba Book
Eli "Paperboy" Reed: Come and Get It
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May 10, 2023 • 1h 12min
Episode #255: Timo Andres on Classical Music that Doesn't Sound Like Classical Music
Composer pianist Timo Andres joins us to discuss the Apple Music Classical app and Kirk's article about classical music that doesn't sound like classical music.
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Guest:
Timo Andres
Show notes:
Timo Andres on Wikipedia
Apple Music Classical (Mostly) Plays the Right Chords - TidBITS
The Next Track: Episode #253: Apple Music Classical
Classical music recommendations for people who want to discover classical music that doesn’t sound like classical music
Takemitsu: Spectral Canticle
Merlin Bird ID
Terry Riley: In C, Shanghai Film Orchestra
Timo Andres: Shy and Mighty
- Brian Eno: Everything Merges With The Night — Timo Andres
Sufjan Stevens: Reflections
The music
Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
This 1976 work is one of the foundational works of minimalism. Its driving beat, or pulse, as Reich calls it, makes it a toe-tapper. This recording, on the ECM label in 1978, is the first recording by Steve Reich and Musicians. There have been many recordings since then by Reich and by other ensembles.
John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
You can't talk about 20th-century classical music without mentioning John Cage. His music, mostly created using chance operations, was revolutionary. The pieces on this recording were composed between 1946 and 1948, before Cage adopted his Yi Jing influenced compositional approach. The revolution here is the "prepared" piano, in which screws and bolts, pieces of plastic and rubber were wedged between the piano strings, turning into a percussion ensemble.
Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet
Morton Feldman was a close friend of John Cage, but his music was very different. Many of his pieces are long - this one lasts 79 minutes - and quite. His music has slow, soft, slowly morphing phrases, and you can get lost in his sound world.
Toru Takemitsu: From Me Flows What You Call Time
Strongly influenced by western classical music, notably Debussy, Tour Takemitsu created unique music that doesn't fit easily in any boxes. This 1990 work is a concerto for five percussionists and orchestra, and lasts about 36 minutes.
Philip Glass: Einstein on the Beach
Philip Glass is one of the foundational composers of New York minimalism, and is well known for his operas and film scores. His first "opera," Einstein on the Beach, lasts about five hours, and is a summation of his various composing styles in the 1970s. This recording is from the 1984 revival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which I attended, and which has left its mark on me. If you like this, you may want to see the opera staged, and this Blu-Ray of a 2014 production in Paris is excellent.
Olivier Messiaen: Catalogue d’Oiseaux
My only atonal selection is this group of works by the French composer Olivier Messiaen. He lived in the French Alps for many years, and in this series of piano pieces, Catalogue of birds, he presents his take on songs of the different birds heard around France. Much of Messiaen's music is "difficult," but if you take the time to get into this recording, you may find it enjoyable.
Arvo Pärt: Tabula Rasa
Estonian composer Arvo Pärt was "discovered" in the west in 1984 when ECM released this album. The title work, from 1977, is an example of music that deconstructs, and other works on the album are also fascinating.
Terry Riley: In C
One of the first true minimalist works, In C "consists of 53 short numbered musical phrases, lasting from half a beat to 32 beats; each phrase may be repeated an arbitrary number of times at the discretion of each musician in the ensemble. Each musician thus has control over which phrase they play, and players are encouraged to play the phrases starting at different times, even if they are playing the same phrase." (Wikipedia) This is the first recording, from 1968, led by the composer, but it has been recorded many times since.
Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Divided
This work consists of 36 variations on a Chilean protest song ¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido! which is both highly musical and extremely difficult to perform.
Timo Andres: Home Stretch
Timo Andres is a young composer living in New York City. This recording is probably the most classical sounding of my selection. At its center is a "reconstruction" of an incomplete Mozart piano concerto, which is "an almost entirely new-sounding piece, which I hope will be an antidote to the studied blandness of most existing completions." This is bookended by Home Stretch, a piece "in three large sections which gradually accelerate: beginning in almost total stasis, working up to an off-kilter dance with stabbing accents, and ushering in a sturm-und-drang cadenza which riles itself up into a perpetual-motion race to the finish," and Paraphrase on Themes of Brian Eno, where Andres orchestrates some of Brian Eno's songs from Before and After Science and Another Green World. (Notes from Timo Andres's website.)
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Apr 26, 2023 • 28min
Episode #254: Remastering, Re-Recording, and Standards
We discuss whether remastering albums is worthwhile, why some artists re-record their albums, and how there seem to be no more standards.
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Show notes:
Steely Dan Reissuing Countdown to Ecstasy on Vinyl
Jonathan Franzen: The End of the End of the Earth: Essays
Episode #219 - Reissues, Remixes, and Remasters
T.J. Clark: If These Apples Should Fall: Cézanne and the Present
Reel Big Fish
Bob Dylan: Truckin' (4/20/23, Nagoya, Japan)
Bob Dylan: Not Fade Away (4/15/23, Tokyo, Japan)
Brad Mehldau Trio: Blues and Ballads
Brad Mehldau Trio: Jacob’s Ladder
John Coltrane: Ballads
John Coltrane: My Favorite Things
Our next tracks:
Jorma Kaukonen: Quah
David Johansen: David Johansen
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Apr 12, 2023 • 34min
Episode #253: Apple Music Classical
Apple has released its Apple Music Classical app for iPhone, and it's pretty good. Not perfect, but it's a big step forward. We discuss this new app and how it can be improved.
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Show notes:
Apple Music Classical (Mostly) Plays the Right Chords
OmniDiskSweeper
Daisy Disk
macOS Power Hound
Universal Music Group Announces Acquisition of Legendary Classical Label Hyperion Records
Ember Mug 2
Our next tracks:
The White Stripes - Elephant
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Mar 29, 2023 • 27min
Episode #252: Imprinting and Dilution
Episode #252: Imprinting and Dilution
Creative content we discover at certain times of our lives imprints on our brains, and we forever compare other music, movies, and books to those we discovered at the right time.
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Show notes:
Andrey Tarkovsky: Stalker
Geoff Dyer, Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room
Wim Wenders: Kings of the Road
John Ford: Searchers
Xbox Series X
The Long Dark
Our next tracks:
W.A. Mozart: String Quintets K.515 & K. 516
Johnny Thunders: Finally Alone - The Stick & Stones Tapes
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Mar 15, 2023 • 30min
Episode #251: 19th Century Technology
Doug moved, and we discuss 19th century technology and wires.
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Show notes:
Onkyo A-9555 integrated amplifier
Behringer Truth Powered Studio Monitors
Ôsôji: the big Japanese cleaning
Our next tracks:
Daisy Jones and the Six
A Strauss Waltz Gala
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Mar 1, 2023 • 30min
Episode #250: Triangles of Sadness
On speaker placement and triangles.
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Show notes:
Hyperion Label Is Sold
Episode #173 - Pianist Angela Hewitt
Episode #174 - Pianist, Composer, and Author Stephen Hough
Episode #175 - Violinist Alina Ibragimova
Episode #179 - Pianist Marc-André Hamelin
Brian Eno: Lux
Ten Years After, Recorded Live
Episode #249: Immersive Audio and the New HomePod, with Chris Connaker
Roger Waters Says He’s Re-Recording ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ — Without Pink Floyd
Syng
Our next tracks:
Bob Dylan: Not Dark Yet
The Rolling Stones (Various Artists): Jamming with Edward
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Feb 15, 2023 • 29min
Episode #249: Immersive Audio and the New HomePod, with Chris Connaker
Chris Connaker from Audiophile Style joins us again to discuss some of his recent discoveries in immersive audio, and we talk about how the new HomePod sounds; better than expected.
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Guest:
Chris Connaker
Show notes:
Immersive Music and Magnificat Is Magnificent, Part 5
The new HomePod brings a new sound and more home smarts
Sony 360 Reality Audio
Our next tracks:
Glenn Gould: Bach, Goldberg Variations
The Buzzcocks: Sonics in the Soul
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Feb 1, 2023 • 29min
Episode #248: The New HomePod
Apple has released a new HomePod, two years after discontinuing the original model. But is it the HomePod we want, or the HomePod we need? We discuss how it works with home automation. Also, Audio Hijack has just been updated. It's an essential app for recording audio on Macs.
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Show notes:
Take Control of Audio Hijack
Audio Hijack
The all-new HomePod
How to Use Thread HomeKit Devices with Apple TV and HomePod mini
Eve Energy
Our next tracks:
The Murder Capital: Gigi's Recovery
Tami Neilson: Chickaboom!
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Jan 18, 2023 • 33min
Episode #247: Subtitles
Why do so many people turn on subtitles when watching TV?
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Show notes:
TV Subtitle Usage Up To 80% - What Is Going Wrong With Dialogue Mixes?
Boiling Point
The American Friend
Our next tracks:
Yesterday
Frank Zappa: Zappa '80: Mudd Club/Munich
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