David Lang - The Passing Measures

The Passing Measures

I think one of the reasons our commercial culture likes all music to be fast and snappy is because in fast music it is harder to recognize the passing of time. You listen to the tunes, to the catchy phrases, but you are not allowed to feel just how time slips away. Slow music is good for contemplation but is probably terrible for business, so you don’t get much of it in your daily life. One of the noble things you can do in a piece of ‘serious’ music is allow for an experience that can’t happen in your everyday life. The Passing Measures is that kind of experience.
David Lang

…mesmerising… a kind of evocative Monet that tantalises for as long as you choose to gaze upon it. The performance – immensely demanding on all forces – was impeccable.
The Independent

The Passing Measures is available on CD from David Lang’s website at the link on the right.

First performed by BCMG conducted by Paul Herbert at the Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham on 3 May 1998.