tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post470424771279029340..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: John Luther Adams: Composer of the YearBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-75831001853515979322014-11-10T11:54:47.215-06:002014-11-10T11:54:47.215-06:00Now that's an interesting comparison!Now that's an interesting comparison!Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-39518768178578614072014-11-10T10:17:34.950-06:002014-11-10T10:17:34.950-06:00Just finished listening to Adams' "Four T...Just finished listening to Adams' "Four Thousand Holes". Sounded like the big piano chord at the end of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" played backwards and forwards over and over with different transpositions. Something that a computer could have composed with about 100 lines of Java code.Ken Fasanonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-80538330104560528222014-11-10T06:15:09.614-06:002014-11-10T06:15:09.614-06:00What I hear with Dark Waves particularly is a grea...What I hear with Dark Waves particularly is a great sound, but it just seems to lack structure and direction.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-39414986801039589892014-11-09T12:56:44.507-06:002014-11-09T12:56:44.507-06:00Here are some things I find annoying with some of ...Here are some things I find annoying with some of the relatively "big" classical composers nowadays/the postmodernist ideal:<br /><br />- The overdependence on drones/non-moving textures.<br /><br />- The lack of rhythmic progress.<br /><br />- The lack of good melodies/interesting themes.<br /><br />- The lack of harmonic movement.<br /><br />- Too much dependence on minimalism.<br /><br />- Using orchestral textures to try to make up for lack of rhythmic, melodic/thematic and/or harmonic movement.<br /><br />I simply don't enjoy this postmodernist trend. During the baroque, classical, romantic, early modernist and even during the medieval & renaissance periods, composers in general had a much better grip of the important musical elements. I think the main thing lacking in this floating type of music is flow and sense of progression. Video game music and film music (the kind I enjoy at least) do for the most part keep the basic musical elements. It's true that it lacks in complexity and technique associated with classical music (in general) though. I will end this comment with a floating but flowing video game music example (sounds like a whole tone scale was used, entirely or for the most part, I think part of what makes it flow is the fact that is has a easily recognizable (albeit simple) melody and it has changes in instrumentation which stick out against the background):<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXIigPKJehkRickardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08084578675339015204noreply@blogger.com