Re: [microsound] re: looking for lygeti MIDI file?

[ndkent <ndkent@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> seriously though, what chance would anyone in their right mind have in
> spotting a copyright infraction of a ligeti sample? it's not  
> exactly ode
> to joy...  three seconds of any given piece could slide by even the  
> most
> devote enthusiast, in the right recontextualization, not that i'd have
> anything to do with it... wink wink nudge nudge say no more say no  
> more...

You are right when it comes to a sample and if it's processed  
unrecognizably. Then again the ability to spot anything processed  
unrecognizably is an oxymoron, right?

 But you asked about a midi file, not a sample. And I'll agree that  
the copyright issue isn't going to stop someone... but it will  
effectively keep it off the searchable www.

For what it's worth there's a fairly large hobby in Japan called DTM.  
It's all about tweaking XG and GM gear to accurately arrange all  
sorts of stuff. There are monthly magazines and sections in most big  
electronic shops. People pay to get examples from pros (like Hideki  
Logic System Matsutake, YMO's programmer), though of course the real  
money is in ringtones. It's usually a hobby though I'm sure some  
people want to adapt licensed pop songs for game soundtracks where  
they can't include the actual recording. But these people are  
unlikely to be into avant garde music and copyright keeps it off  
freely accessible servers if there is some.

> i wonder how many people's first ligeti experience was
> kubrick's 2001 space odyssey?

Definitely! I had it as a kid on 8 track cartridge!

So a sample from that album is going to be many times easier to spot  
than something else by him if one were to swipe stuff.

I haven't read any interviews but supposedly he hated it's use  
because as I understood he didn't feel it was supposed to depict  
outer space. Anyone have some actual quotes from Ligeti regarding  
2001? None the less you heard more Ligeti in part replacing original  
Wendy Carlos music in "The Shining", though you hear more Bartok and  
some Penderecki too. (Carlos did a lot of music for the Shining of  
which about 5 minutes were used, the most interesting unused parts of  
which were released recently). "Eyes Wide Shut" used an existing  
Ligeti work as the main piano theme, but you might not recognize it  
as Ligeti. There was some original music by J.Pook  too.

 If you don't know the history, 2001 was originally meant to be  
scored by Alex North, who scored other Kubrick films. He scored about  
a the first third (there's a re-recording of it available), but    
Kubrick was so taken by the temp tracks he chose from his record  
collection  that he paid North and then licensed the recordings. Most  
professional directors and music editors use temp tracks to have  
music on the film before the original music is written. It serves too  
purposes. It lets everyone who needs to know have an example of the  
nature of the music that the director thinks is okay. It also is  
often there so the money people don't hear "dead air" and worry the  
film is boring or too long. The danger is the temp tracks sound too  
good and the film's commissioned composer can't create new music with  
the same impact. It's facinating the Kubrick used "Atmospheres" (and  
other works) much like atmosphere, functioning  in an ambient  
context . Scoring in a film score tradition like North did would  
never have had the same effect and I doubt he would or could have  
created similar tonalities. It's a mystery how he might have handled  
the last and very subjective portion of the film.


nicholas d. kent
http://technopop.info/ndkent/

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