Every now and then a perfect opportunity comes along to be a curmudgeon, which I treasure. Even if no-one else does. Often these opportunities come from Ted Gioia and such was the case yesterday when he linked to a chat between Tyler Cowan and Evan Goldfine. What is so delicious about this kind of opportunity is that it comes as a result of amateurs waxing ponderous about music.
We live in odd times, when the expert class in general, those folks constantly pontificating on climate, health, socialism and gun control, have seen a shocking loss of credibility due to them being, well, pretty much constantly wrong.
So this is more of an old-fashioned curmudgeon opportunity when someone with long experience in a certain area, me, is taken aback by the sheer fecklessness of people who are experts in another area, feeling free to share their inner thoughts about something in my area: J. S. Bach. Here is the link. The first thing that just astonishes me is the long, long, long list of artists they feel free to opinionate on. Good lord! But let's move to a quote:
Evan Goldfine: Correct. And I love Leo Kottke. I've seen him many times in concert in
Tyler Cowen: Same here.
Evan Goldfine: And, um, what a, what an incredible American, uh, weirdo character, but also he performed the, uh, Jesu Joy of Man's desiring on the Six and 12 string guitar album.
Tyler Cowen: That's right. Yeah.
Evan Goldfine: Which is just a beautiful, beautiful arrangement for steel string, not usually done on the steel string guitar.
And I recommend everyone take a listen to that.
Tyler Cowen: It's better than most classical guitarists, how he has some sort of feel for Bach, even though it would not count as traditional in any way.
Evan Goldfine: Yeah, he, uh, Bach can translate into folk music, uh, if, if it's in the right hands. [00:04:00] You've called Bach the greatest achiever of all time.
This is ok, of course, just a couple of folks sharing their likes. In the old days, this would happen in a coffee-shop and no-one else would ever hear it. But when you call it a podcast or YouTube clip and put it on the web, somehow it becomes iconic, monumental? Just for the record, Leo Kottke is a very virtuoso folk guitarist who has no special gift in Bach performance and I'm happy to point this out anytime.
You've called Bach the greatest achiever of all time.
How did he do it?
Tyler Cowen: We don't know. So there's plenty of records about Johann Sebastian Bach. But what he really was like to me is quite a cipher. And I've read the major books on him by Gardiner, Wolff. Others, uh, you can read about the records, different places he worked, tax records. But at the end of the day, he's the least easily graspable major composer.
I feel Beethoven in Mozart. If I met them, they wouldn't fundamentally surprise me. Oh, you're Beethoven, you know, Bach. I don't know. It's, uh, that's part of the mystery and challenge, isn't it?
Let me help out here. The main difference between the general perception of Bach versus Mozart and Beethoven is that the latter two composers have been heavily romanticized in countless program notes and biographies so you can barely hear the music behind the melodrama. This is much less the case with Bach. But he is anything but a cipher. He was a superbly gifted musician coming from three hundred years of Bachs in the music business. He had the skills and came at a time when he could synthesize the whole tradition of Western European music--and do it better than anyone before or since. He was inherently a conservative cultural force, something that current narratives have difficulty dealing with. If you want a better sense of Bach, read the three volume treatment of Spitta. The trouble with these guys basically comes down to, they have read a couple of books and listened to a few dozen pieces, which means that they really know nothing about Bach--they just think they do!
Well, that was fun! Now let's listen to some Bach. One of my favorite pieces from the Art of Fugue is this canon. The second voice is upside down, down a fifth and in double note values.
You state that health professionals are mostly wrong. As just one example to counter that, consider the covid mRNA vaccine that saved millions of lives. And if you are of ill health in some way, do you avoid going to a doctor because they are mostly wrong? If so, who do you consult (if any)?
ReplyDeleteThe mostly wrong experts (I assume) include music historians and theorists. But you claim to have much more expertise than the podcasters. Does that put you in the 'mostly wrong' group?
Just asking, I always enjoy your blog Bryan.
Oh Patrick, I hate it when you use reason and common sense! I have a wonderful doctor that I am pleased to consult anytime I have a problem. However, I have also noticed that quite a number of health professionals, i.e. those who make overall policy, seem to have made a number of bad calls. In fact, one has the uneasy feeling that they had some other agenda than just letting us know what was going on. This is true in many areas of public policy: deceit and twisting the narrative are widely practiced.
ReplyDeleteBut you know that I like to paint with a broad brush, so yes, I do overgeneralize. To be more accurate you have to sort out those who have actual expertise from those who just pretend to it.
And in another category are those who try to piggyback their expertise in one are into another where they are really just amateurs. Honestly, can you read the conversation at the link and find any honest truths? Of just half-baked blather?
Who is Evan Goldfine??
ReplyDelete