favorite
My Favorite Music
John Baez
February 22, 2007
I've loved music ever since I was a teenager - before that
I just liked it. I spend a lot of time listening to it,
thinking about it, playing it
and trying to record it.
So, I'm finally going
to break down and talk about it. I'll just say a bit
about my favorite pieces: only a few at first, then gradually more.
Since part of my goal is to get people to hear some great
stuff they might not have known about, I won't mainly talk about
the most popular pieces or musicians. Instead, I'll focus on
some pieces that represent perfection to me - perfection of very
different sorts.
Names of pieces are in italics, album titles in boldface.
Click for more details.
-
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin,
BWV 1001-1006, arranged for 8-string guitar
and played by Paul Galbraith on Bach: the Sonatas and
Partitas.
-
Franz Joseph Hayden,
Keyboard Sonatas,
H. 16/46, 16/47, 16/44 and 16/2,
arranged for 8-string guitar and played by Paul Galbraith
on Paul Galbraith Plays Haydn.
-
Jon Hassell and Brian Eno,
Charm (over "Burundi Cloud"),
from Possible Musics.
-
Plastikman (Richie Hawtin), Consumed.
-
Steve Reich, Sextet,
from Sextet/Six Marimbas, performed
by Steve Reich and Musicians with members of Nexus and the
Manhattan Marimba Quartet.
-
Francisco Tárrega, Recuerdos
de la Alhambra, played
by André Segovia on disc 2 of
André Segovia: A Centenary Celebration.
After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the
inexpressible is music. -
Aldous Huxley
baez@math.removethis.ucr.andthis.edu
© 2007 John Baez