band was unusual in having no bassist; in concert, Manzarek played keyboard bass with his left hand while session musicians were used in the studio. Their debut album The Doors (1967) was an instant sensation. ‘Light My Fire’ became a massive Summer of Love hit in America and featured Krieger’s guitar sparring with Manzarek’s swirling organ in the jazzy middle ...
where Morrison was purported to have exposed himself. During a long wait for the scheduled trial, he exiled himself in Paris, where he died suddenly in 1971. The Doors disbanded two years later after two albums without him – though they reconvened in 1978 to provide accompaniment on An American Prayer, an album centred on tapes of Morrison ...
Bass Guitar In 1951, guitar maker Leo Fender launched the first commercially available electric bass guitar, the Fender Precision. Compared to the cumbersome and often difficult-to-hear acoustic double bass, Fender offered an instrument that had many advantages. Not only was it louder because it was amplified – and more portable – it allowed for more precise intonation because ...
as the ‘beat combo’, comprising a drum kit, electric bass guitar and two electric guitars (lead and rhythm). A different sound was produced by keyboard-based bands such as The Doors, where the keyboard replaced the electric guitars. The development of more advanced recording techniques in the 1960s and 1970s, especially that of multitracking, meant that groups could ...
seul (‘Symphony for a lone man’). This latter piece made use of human sounds such as breathing and vocal noises, as well as the sounds of percussion instruments, doors slamming, piano and orchestral textures. In the 1950s, Schaeffer established the ‘Group de Recherche du Musique Concrète’, a studio equipped with the very latest invention – magnetic tape ...
in mixed ensembles. In addition, it possessed the full chromatic compass that the shawm lacked. As a result, where the shawm had tended to be played out of doors, the oboe moved indoors and into the developing Baroque orchestra. It was quickly accepted as a standard instrument, being written for by Vivaldi, Handel and Telemann, ...
the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Valère sur Sion in Switzerland dates from the mid-fifteenth century and is generally referred to as the oldest playable organ in the world. The doors over its face look like the wings on a medieval altarpiece. As Baroque principles took over in art and architecture, so the grand appearance of the Baroque organ developed. ...
a good deal of money in the design and construction of the building to ensure that, as far as possible, the studio spaces are soundproofed. Triple-glazing, double doors and suspended, room-within-room construction all help to ensure that the studio environment is sonically isolated from the outside world. An ancillary space, (known as the machine room) houses ...
Harmonie, op. 24 (1824), it was for no fewer than 23 winds plus percussion. Because of their carrying power, wind ensembles are able to play successfully out of doors or in a noisy environment, something which has helped the development of military bands (there are no traditions of military string quartets). The Harmonie thus specialized in easy listening ...
Unlike rock music, electronic music is made partly or wholly using electronic equipment – tape machines, synthesizers, keyboards, sequencers, drum machines and computer programmes. Its origins can be found in the middle of the nineteenth century, when many of electronic music’s theories and processes were conceived. In 1863 German scientist Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz ...
started out with a more aggressive rock sensibility. Add to them former folkies such as Bob Dylan and The Byrds, as well as emerging west coast acts like The Doors, Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead, and it was clear that, echoing the musical revolution that had exploded on both sides of the Atlantic a decade earlier ...
it the following year in a substantially different form, but the deficit on the first festival meant that his theatre remained closed until 1882, when it reopened its doors for Parsifal. Written over a period of 26 years, the Ring reflects its creator’s changing and often contradictory thinking, resulting in a complex work that remains perennially enthralling ...
second key. It is his armoury, the weapons stained with blood. She may have three more keys, on condition that she asks no questions. The third and fourth doors reveal the treasury and his garden, the jewels smeared with blood and the flowers withering. The fifth opens onto the glory of his kingdom. All this is now hers. ...
(1937); Contrasts (violin, clarinet and piano, 1938); Solo Violin Sonata (1944) Piano music: 14 Bagatelles (1908); For Children (1909); Allegro barbaro (1911); Sonatina (1915); Sonata (1920); Out of Doors (1926); Mikrokosmos (six volumes of graded piano studies, 1926–39) Choral music: Village Scenes (1926); Cantata profana (1930) Introduction | Modern Era | Classical Personalities | (Sir) Arnold Bax | ...
central character’s feelings of loneliness and isolation. Bartók’s psychodrama unfolds with Bluebeard’s latest wife, Judith, accompanying him to his dark and ominous castle, where she unlocks seven doors that reveal the duke’s pain, suffering and worldly possessions. Musical motifs unite each of these segments – behind the fifth door is the glorious expanse of all of the ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.