Richard Reed Parry is one of the members of the monstrously successful Montreal rock band Arcade Fire. That said, try this album out on a friend without identifying the composer, and s/he will be unlikely to guess that it comes from any kind of rock-to-classical crossover background. Parry was not classically trained but had frequent exposure to classical music in his youth, and the music is notated and possessed of an economy and a structural orientation rare in a composer coming from the top echelons of the rock world. ...
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Richard Reed Parry is one of the members of the monstrously successful Montreal rock band Arcade Fire. That said, try this album out on a friend without identifying the composer, and s/he will be unlikely to guess that it comes from any kind of rock-to-classical crossover background. Parry was not classically trained but had frequent exposure to classical music in his youth, and the music is notated and possessed of an economy and a structural orientation rare in a composer coming from the top echelons of the rock world. The title Music for Heart and Breath refers to the fact that the performers determine the tempo of the music by referring to their own heartbeats and breathing, not in a general way but wearing stethoscopes to put themselves in close touch with their own rhythms. The instrumental contributions are seen as elaborations of these basic beats. One is reminded of Moondog's recollection of the Arapaho music he heard as a youth: "the running beat, and alongside it the walking beat, which is...
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