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"Pieces of music composed at the piano, on the keyboard, those thought out with pen on paper and those just composed with imagined sounds in the head must all be quite different in character and make quite different kinds of impression.
I am sure Bruckner composed just by imagining the sound of the orchestra in his head, Brahms with pen on paper. Of course this is an over-simplification. But it does highlight one feature."
[from Culture and Value, by Ludwig Wittgenstein, translated by Peter Winch, p. 12e]
What is that one feature?
Also Carnegie Hall and the Met.
I am sure Bruckner composed just by imagining the sound of the orchestra in his head, Brahms with pen on paper. Of course this is an over-simplification. But it does highlight one feature."
[from Culture and Value, by Ludwig Wittgenstein, translated by Peter Winch, p. 12e]
What is that one feature?
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Concerts are being canceled left and right: Canada mostly closes down:
The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) last night cancelled 11 concerts, running up to April 5, 2020.There was coughing and sneezing at a Toronto Symphony rehearsal. Some players called the media. Hours later, the orchestra shut down.Just in from Vancouver Symphony: BC Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has directed the cancellation of all gatherings larger than 250 people in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19. As such, VSO concerts through to April 5th are immediately cancelled or postponed.
Also Carnegie Hall and the Met.
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And yesterday the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra gave a live streaming concert with no audience:
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The important American composer Charles Wuorinen has passed away. Here is his Fourth Piano Concerto from 2003:
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The Salzburg Easter Festival has been canceled. Fingers crossed for the big one in July/August. Plus a host of European nations have canceled concerts for the rest of March.
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I know of numerous composers who suffer from tinnitus — that ringing or other sound in the ears which never shuts off. And even violinists tend to end up with hearing damage in the left ear, since that is the one closest to the sound of the instrument. It is, of course, the sounds we don’t make ourselves that we are most disturbed by. Noise from neighbours can be fatal. It is not unknown for disputes to end in murder or suicide.When Franz Joseph Haydn visited London he found the noise so intrusive he was unable to work. He wrote to Maria Anna von Genzinger in January 1791 that in spite of being showered with honours, “I wished I could fly for a time to Vienna, to have more quiet in which to work, for the noise that the common people make as they sell their wares in the street is intolerable.” He solved the problem by moving.
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I have a confession to make. I recently invited a pair of friends who had never heard a live orchestra to a Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performance. They left at intermission — at my suggestion.
They weren’t clapping at the wrong time or dressed inappropriately. They had heard enough.
It wasn’t the first time I’ve advised newcomers to stay for half a concert, and it won’t be the last. Concerts traditionally last two or three hours, a big commitment for neophytes as well as passionate regulars. With all of today’s cultural and entertainment options, the competitive opportunity cost for attending concerts continues to climb.
My solution: Classical music concerts should be shorter.I'm not sure he's wrong. Sometimes I feel that programs are too short with too little substance prefaced by entirely too much talking, but there are certainly occasions when the program felt too long. And yes, I have left a number of concerts at intermission over the years.
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Brahms is now early music? Here is the Symphony No. 3 conducted by Philippe Herreweghe:
As usual, Bryan gives us too much to contemplate ... first, the multitudinous weekday goodies and then Friday Misc...whew ... but I don't want to be seen complaining about an abundance of culture and inspiration ... I think the C-virus lockdown is getting to me ... weeks of humorless cabin fever for the immediate future ... well, at least the C-virus hasn't gotten into our keyboards, knock on wood ... onward. STEVE Reich: I get a bit impatient with this very fine composer only because I come to classical music for relief from popular music. What is the hallmark of popular music? The theme repeated endlessly ... What does Steve R like to give us in his compositions? The theme repeated endlessly. (The worst offender in either sphere of composition? Columbian cumbia party music, wherein, yes, the theme is repeated endlessly; it is great after 3 cuba libres at close to midnight and dancing with a lovely partner ... otherwise). Nevertheless, as an ardent modernist and card-carrying member of the avant garde, and, as my newfound musical hero, Bryan Townsend, likes him, I will persevere and keep trying to enjoy Steve R. LEAVING the symphony at midpoint? It's legit; I'm all for it. Not to make a statement or for any serious reason. It mostly has to do with programming. The Seattle Symphony is big on programming 19th and 20th century pieces in one concert evening. It usually works but sometimes you're just not in a 19th century mood, other times you want to vacate the 20th century for a spell. The programmers are usually considerate enough to divide the centuries at intermission. The symphony kitchen staff, by the way, makes wonderful intermission snacks, especially chocolate chip cookies (hard not soft). INTELLECTUAL fascism is no fun. Human beings love making distinctions - especially in things artistic; especially in music. I did get to hear Yepes in Tokyo in the early 90s. He was masterful, almost eerie in his perfect execution of Granados (or Albeniz). I think we should be thankful for all our virtuosos; they might seem legion, but they are rare.
ReplyDeleteLots of abundance in your comment, Dex! I am entirely in agreement regarding cumbia--we get way too much of it here in Mexico.
ReplyDeleteSteve Reich: I had a profound experience the first time I listened to him and that has stuck with me. I certainly get your point about endless repetition, however and I discovered that even though I liked his music, I had to excise every trace of it from my own compositions.
Yes, the C-virus situation is sobering indeed. The whole music world put on hold, as it were.
I had the opportunity to hear Sr. Yepes in a couple of concerts in the mid-70s. A brilliant and interesting musician--the anti-Segovia in many ways.
Thanks Bryan; I would love to see you write about Segovia and Yepes sometime (maybe you already have?). Cumbia aside (it's very big in Central America especially close to midnight), I adore Mexican and Cuban boleros, La golondrina, granada, la barca, perfidia, el reloj, etc...
ReplyDeleteYou know, apart from Barrios, I think my favorite Latin American music is the vals venezolano.
ReplyDeleteYou might try searching the blog for Segovia and Yepes because I have written a bit about them.
Here here Bryan! I love Antonio Lauro and his Venezuelan waltzes and other pieces. What a great sonic blessing he has been to the earth ... (Barrios too, of course ....!) D Yes, I will search the salon for more of your thoughts on the masters ....
ReplyDeleteThese comments from from Mr. Wuorinen reminded me of discussions at TMS, such as the inability nowadays to recognize artistic merit.
ReplyDelete“There is one main way of doing things,” he said when he published his book “Simple Composition” in 1979. “While the tonal system, in an atrophied or vestigial form, is still used today in popular and commercial music, and even occasionally in the works of backward-looking serious composers, it is no longer employed by serious composers of the mainstream. It has been replaced or succeeded by the 12-tone system.”
He loathed most popular music, had only grudging respect for some jazz, and deeply disliked musical minimalism. In 1991, Mr. Wuorinen told the New York Times that “we have reached the stage, under the impulse of cultural populism, where we are incapable of measuring or acknowledging artistic merit except in terms of commercial success. We don’t distinguish between the committed, passionate audience and the trend-seeking yuppie audience. We just count bodies and measure sales.”
Yes, Wuorinen was a member of the academic avant garde meaning that he could hold the ideological position that the tonal system is dead and the only viable style is 12-tone without fear of commercial consequences. His generation have slowly passed on and while I do not have a good read on what is being taught in composition classes these days, I am pretty sure it is not 12-tone.
ReplyDeleteOn the other side of the coin, the Wall Street Journal on the weekend published an opinion piece praising Alma Deutscher to the skies. And there were over a hundred comments, nearly all of which viciously attacked contemporary music in general. So we have a real divide between the tastes of the mass audience, more and more either enjoying commercial popular music, or demanding that classical music concerts be more accessible, which seems to mean, more sentimental kitsch and less demanding music.
What Wuorinen expressed was in my view a half-truth. Yes, it is a bad thing for music if it is only evaluated in terms of commercial success. But it is also a bad thing for music to impose a rigid ideology on composition so that you are only allowed to write 12-tone music. In reality, that was one of the shortest epochs in music history lasting only from around 1930 until the advent of minimalism around 1970. We could argue those dates, of course. But while serialism was preserved in amber in university music departments, it did not last long outside them.