Arcana II: Musicians on Music

Arcana

by John Zorn (Editor), Yamataka Eye (Contributor), J. Thirlwell (Contributor)

In his preface to the first Musicians on Music (2000), avant-garde composer and saxophone player John Zorn "This book exists to correct an unfortunate injustice, the incredible lack of insightful critical writing about a significant generation of the best and most important work of the past two decades." That the injustice was repaired by that collection was happily affirmed by its subsequent success. The range of writing--from the technical to the aphoristic/diaristic--demonstrated that sometimes critical writing on music can inspire as much as it can explicate. As Zorn acknowledged, though, Arcana was also a first step. Now Arcana II , also edited by Zorn, extends the scope of its predecessor, compiling further essential writing by luminaries of contemporary improvisation and composition such as Butch Morris, Evan Parker, Marina Rosenfeld, Ned Rothenberg, Sylvie Courvoisier, Steve Coleman, Dave Douglas, Annie Gosfield, Jim O'Rourke, Milford Graves, Zeena Parkins, Bill Laswell and Uri Caine.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Essays, Art

300 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

John Zorn (a.k.a. Dekoboko Hajime, Rav Tzizit) is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zorn

Reviews

[Mónia Camacho · Rating 4 out of 5]

É um livro muito interessante. Que será mais perceptível para pessoas com formação musical.
Sendo uma recolha de escritos de diversos autores tem garantida a diversidade na abordagem e nos temas tratados que vão desde os ciclos lunares como ponto de patida para a criação de música até ao desafio da "música do mundo" para o músico. Achei curioso o artigo sobre os nove pre-requisitos para a inspiração até por terem aplicação também no resto das artes. Um outro artigo cativante é o que explora o tom e ritmologia. É interessante poder traduzir uma cor para música tendo por base o seu comprimento de onda e a sua frequência. Ou ainda aquele que questiona o que é o tempo (adorei a definição de John Archibald Wheeler: "time is what prevents everything from happening at once").
Para os percursionistas será interessante o artigo de Lukas Ligeti: "secret instruments, secret destinations"
É uma leitura rica que aconselho a músicos ou pessoas com interesse pela música.

[Devin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through these Arcana volumes John Zorn is addressing a much needed resource for documenting the thinking and writings of people passionately involved in making music within an underground culture. By necessity, these essays are uneven. The open inclusiveness of these writings brings with it the good and the bad. What is striking is the presence of academic writings of frustrating opacity along side less formal (and often undisciplined) writings of striking clarity. There are also densely academic writings written with almost lyrical appeal along side less disciplined writings with all the frustrating opacity of any peer-review journal submission. What emerges is the sometimes messy and inspired collection of ideas that animate composers. An invaluable insight into what makes the "downtown" scene tick.

[Onsetsu Evan Cordes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plenty of great info in here about composing, playing, theater, etc.