Noise, Water, Meat, and Snow

I remembered something after my last post- one of my favorite conceptual art pieces is a piece by Yoko Ono that I read about in a book called "Noise, Water, Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts", by Douglas Kahn. I'm paraphrasing from memory here, but the piece was a set of instructions that said something like, "Make a tape recording of the sound of snow falling. Wrap up an empty box, and use the (magnetic) tape as a ribbon". I read this about 9 years ago, so I may not remember exactly right. But it seems like an appropriate time of year to think about these things.

The other thing I like, when the first snowfall comes, is to listen to Howard Hanson's 2nd Symphony (the "Romantic"). There's a long personal story behind it I won't get into right now. I recommend the Mercury Living Presence recording, with Hanson conducting the Eastman Symphony.