tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post7668074583804048707..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: Fashion and TraditionBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-8541042787781599322014-10-09T14:55:43.308-05:002014-10-09T14:55:43.308-05:00I have good news and bad news! The good news is th...I have good news and bad news! The good news is that the modernist phase is really over. It probably lasted from around the end of WWI to perhaps 1970. Though some composers were still working in that mode long after, just as other composers were working in pre-modernist styles until far into the 20th century. <br /><br />The bad news is that WE are what is going on now. By "we" I just mean composers working now from Steve Reich and Philip Glass who are now the "grand old men" to younger composers like Jennifer Higdon and John Adams (or is he a grand old man too?) to even younger composers like Esa-Pekka Salonen and Nico Muhly. Meaning that all the composers working today are collectively creating what music is now, for better or worse. And of course it is both.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-41585093243299961962014-10-09T12:33:35.869-05:002014-10-09T12:33:35.869-05:00I wonder though: What is fashionable in modernism ...I wonder though: What is fashionable in modernism right now? It seems like it's not 4'33. Instead modernist composers seem to make as much unpleasant noise as possible but not noise in John Cage's style (i.e. throwing in all possible objects that aren't normally considered instruments). But that must be so unfashionable. After all modernist composers have been trying to make as much unpleasant noise as possible many decades now. Hmm, it seems like modernism is stuck with its' own traditions.Rickardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08084578675339015204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-76295341946285746392014-10-09T12:20:48.280-05:002014-10-09T12:20:48.280-05:00Yes, writing a specific type of music only because...Yes, writing a specific type of music only because it is fashionable seems like a bad excuse/reason to write it. It looks like modernism and pop music have one thing in common: It's fashion music to a big extent. With pop music it's dubstep (I hate that buzzword, everyone wants a piece of that cake) today and then something else in at most a few years.Rickardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08084578675339015204noreply@blogger.com