You rarely see the words fun and classical music in the same sentence.That must be intentional. Just take a look at those musicians squeezed into their uncomfortable formal attire, all with pinched, somber expressions on their faces. And then you look at the audience, and see the exact same thing.I must have missed the memo. Aren’t we allowed to enjoy this stuff?
No, of course not, the memo reads "enjoyment of classical music is possible, but not likely." But kidding aside, I'm envisioning a Miles Davis concert with all the musicians with somber expressions and, yes, the audience with the same pinched somber expressions. Hey, you want fun, go to a Weird Al Yankovic concert.
So this is just sneering, scurrilous journalism with the sole purpose of setting up a straw man that he is about to disembowel. But first he takes it up a notch by doing a nasty hit and run on contemporary piano concertos--hey, they are even worse!
Finally he gets to the point and gives examples of several "underrated modern piano concertos." I can only see the first three since I am not a subscriber. The first is by Nikolai Kapustin a jazzy Ukrainian who sounds like Rachmaninoff if he were mugged in an alley by Dave Brubeck. Honestly, with different harmonies it is not terribly different from a Bartók concerto. Next is a very serene piece by Takashi Yoshimatsu and finally one by the Australian Peggy Glanville-Hicks. Ted asks why we don't hear more of her music. I suspect her not being American has a lot to do with that. So, ok, some mildly interesting pieces.
The problem for me is the way Ted always oversells his take on everything and the seeming obligatory sneer at classical music as an opening gesture. Would it not be better to just start by telling us a little bit about each composer, leaving out the cheap editorial?
Yep.
Here's one of those hateful modern piano concertos that Ted is probably thinking of, the one by Arnold Schoenberg.
Now, I'm not chuckling, but I am smiling with delight because, come on, this is delightful music. And it doesn't sound much like anything else, something you can't necessarily say about a lot of those more "fun" concertos.
UPDATE: Not long after writing this I ran into a very fine piece of writing about music: Shostakovich in South Dakota which I encourage you to hasten over to read. Yes, it's a bit long, but well-worth the time.
So unnoticed are the American arts that a major American historian, Jill Lepore, can produce a wonderfully readable 900-page historical overview—These Truths: A History of the United States (2018)—without devoting so much as a sentence to the arts. No one could possibly dispute her emphasis on present-day issues and needs—the urgency of pondering American race relations and inequality. But it does not follow that there should be no consideration of Walt Whitman or Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson or William Faulkner, Charles Ives or George Gershwin, Duke Ellington or Billie Holiday. Classical music, opera, theater, jazz, and Hollywood are all absent. Could any history of Russia omit Tolstoy? Could a British historian overlook Shakespeare? Is there a Germany without Goethe?
That's just a tiny sample from a long discussion of how music is received in America and some really successful efforts to improve that reception.
for me Kapustin's high-water mark is 24 Preludes and Fugues. I confess I'm not hearing the Rachmaninoff comparison. Mugged by Brubeck ... Brubeck was too nice to mug anyone. I think Kapustin is closer to what we'd get if Nikolai Medtner tried to be Bud Powell. I haven't gotten to his piano concerti yet but they are on my "to get to list". But if Gioia wanted to stump for Nikolai Kapustin he should have gone straight for Kapustin's 24 Preludes and Fugues. Hands down one of the best late 20th century contrapuntal cycles I've heard. I have stumped for that cycle over at my blog over the years.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of piano concertos that don't stick with me I tend to think of Thomas Ades' In Seven Days. I know Ades' is supposed to be the bee's knees for some contemporary music journalists but what I've heard so far bores me.
Modern concertos tend not to stick with me more generally. Leo Brouwer's guitar concerti may be the exceptions that prove the rule. That said, the Samuel Jones Tuba concerto is a blast. I also kinda liked Marsalis' Violin Concerto written for Nicola Benedetti.
I bow to the precision of your comparisons. I just heard some fairly typical piano orchestra textures, but with jazzy harmonies, i.e. Brubeck mugging Rachmaninoff in an alley. You must be the authority on prelude and fugue cycles, you keep mentioning ones I have never heard of!
ReplyDeleteI might agree with you on Adès--I still haven't heard anything that grabbed me. I heard the premiere of Brouwer's Toronto Concerto in Toronto with John Williams as soloist and Brouwer conducting. It made a great impression--they had to encore the slow movement, which is unheard of! Good piece. I'm not sure that very many of the subsequent ones have been of equal quality. Gubaidulina has written some pretty good concertos.
As for modern piano concerto, I can share my latest, written this summer:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1i7UApBqvc
Thanks, so much, Eric. I'm listening with pleasure. Is this from a live performance?
ReplyDeleteThanks much Bryan, this is my own performance, and all is recorded at home with orchestral sample librairies, that I am using for my symphonic works.
ReplyDeleteI have used Finale and its sample library to compose for orchestra and chamber groups, but it does not give as good a result. What software and sample libraries do you use?
ReplyDeleteSorry Bryan for my late answer, I was on travel, and also don't receive notifications from here.. I am using the market's best sample libs. Main software is Logic Pro (Mac), including score edit. Libraries are from Spitfire Pro, Cinematic Studio, and Orchestral Tools Berlin. I've created my own template (~100 tracks) with the best found combinations, that I am now using as standard for many works..
ReplyDeleteThanks for the detail Eric. You are sure getting excellent results!
ReplyDelete