Rick Mabry wrote:

>Do various bits of music ever strike you as "extra-terrestrial"?  That
>is to say, so different, so original that they seem not to be of this
>earth?  Which pieces?

As one who used to watch science fiction films...well, the music for one
extra terrestrial in particular sounds very conventional...music by John
Williams.  The music of Louis and Bebe Barron for Fobidden Planet was
amongst the most "extra terrestrial" of them all.

On the other hand I have often wondered about one or two composers who
were so original that I wondered about their inspiration.  For me, Varese,
was one of them.  In many instances I have observed gestures for which
I could never find antecedents.

While much of Gerhard's music clearly displays antecedents...with Varese
sometimes being one of those antecedents, the Gerhard Third Symphony is,
for me, a work which reaches beyond, as does Copland's Inscape, both of
which are works I value highly.

Then there is the Imperial Court music, Gagaku which conveys to me great
beauty.

I am also impressed with the singing of Tibetan monks when they manage
to produce two sounds at the same time, sounds not totally unlike
multiphonics which can be produced in some wind instruments.  There is
a wonderful book, now old, "New Sounds for Winds" by Bruno Bartolozzi,
which includes, as I recall, a disc of a quintet for winds...like you
have probably never heard before.

But placing the above aside...the notion of extra terrestrial might not
be far from what I am thinking about...the notion that music can reach
beyond that which we have experienced.

Karl