tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post6351363440908689133..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: Avant-FascismBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-42347353505292826902015-06-15T07:44:25.731-05:002015-06-15T07:44:25.731-05:00Hi Gabriel,
Music is sound (and silence) of cours...Hi Gabriel,<br /><br />Music is sound (and silence) of course, but a lot of the time the sound signifies, points to, suggests, expresses or evokes something other than just sound. I once quoted Aaron Copland who said: "The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there a meaning to music?' My answer would be, 'Yes.' And 'Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would be, 'No.' " To give a couple of very obvious examples, La Marseillaise is about a lot more than just the sound of it. But instrumental music can also suggest non-musical moods or images. Many pieces by Debussy, for example. Even so-called abstract instrumental music can act in this way such as the "Pathétique" sonata by Beethoven.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-23299375285536264952015-06-14T22:18:41.217-05:002015-06-14T22:18:41.217-05:00 Hello Bryan,
I think music is exclusively its s... Hello Bryan,<br /><br /> I think music is exclusively its sound. Which do you think those reservations are?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065548105468507743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-13515681493392980282015-06-14T09:32:01.344-05:002015-06-14T09:32:01.344-05:00With a few reservations, of course, music does ten...With a few reservations, of course, music does tend to be how it sounds.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-6538806094744843312015-06-13T23:46:33.674-05:002015-06-13T23:46:33.674-05:00Hello world!
High modernism sounds bad, therefore...Hello world!<br /><br />High modernism sounds bad, therefore it is bad.<br /><br />byeAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065548105468507743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-69630795728219292762015-06-12T09:37:55.269-05:002015-06-12T09:37:55.269-05:00I think that, while the first important minimalist...I think that, while the first important minimalist and consonant pieces started appearing around 1970, the orthodoxy still reigned in music schools for much longer--largely because the composition teachers were all educated under the precepts of high modernism. In fact, I suspect that there are some schools where this is still the case.<br /><br />"E.D."? I'm sure I should know what that is an abbreviation for...?<br /><br />I used to like Don Ellis for his rhythmically complex jazz.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-92152969779093328002015-06-12T07:46:25.499-05:002015-06-12T07:46:25.499-05:00I've thought that this avant-fascist ideology ...I've thought that this avant-fascist ideology peaked around 1970 and has been in decline since then (good riddance!). There's the story of the composer, writing for a grant, writes one page of terribly difficult serial music a la Stockhausen Klavierstueck 1, then writes 20 pages of diatonic music. We still have the "Beethoven wrote that symphony because he had E.D." school of feminist pseudo-musicology, but I think the atmosphere is a lot more diverse, open, and relaxed than it was when I was in school. BTW I am listening to Ornette Coleman now (Skies of America), and his music doesn't really sound so avant garde any more - sort of the distance from Beethoven (Parker) to Wagner (Coleman); and compared to Steve Coleman (no relation to Ornette), Ornette is rather tame - Steve Coleman writing twelve-tone jazz in multiple meters.Ken F.https://www.blogger.com/profile/08296737421194767997noreply@blogger.com