Big Buildings
Yesterday I recommended listening to Herrmann’s theme for North by Northwest while reading this science article. But for the best results one should listen to it while looking at big buildings like the ones in this photo by Joseph O. Holmes. The opening of North by Northwest is one of those supreme moments when the visual fever induced by the fusion of architecture and cinema reaches the high condition of a Koolhaasian delirium.
Regarding the original suggestion - try listening to John Zorn's American Magus while reading the article. Works pretty well for me.
For big buildings, say a walk along the canal in Chicago, something like Xenakis's Persepolis (for a long walk) works pretty well, especially if you are wont to linger while looking at the IBM tower.
As for the NxNW score, do we really still need music made by a bunch of old men sitting around scratching at wire with horsehair? That doesn't seem very Koolhaasian to me. Xenakis seems more pat because it's as passé as most architecture is. What Xenakis and say Mies have in common is the quaintness of their attempt to overcome the alienation inherent in the scale of modernity. They seem to fit together.