tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post720933893450872400..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: Friday MiscellaneaBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-89584575692696601302019-08-16T12:56:15.676-05:002019-08-16T12:56:15.676-05:00I dunno, I always thought that the photo they usua...I dunno, I always thought that the photo they usually use for Mahler is way too good looking!Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-65339767500605633442019-08-16T11:34:22.399-05:002019-08-16T11:34:22.399-05:00Regarding the picture of Bruckner, it has always i...Regarding the picture of Bruckner, it has always interested me that general books on music select the absolute worst looking photographic portraits of composers. Often the pictures are selected from those taken when they were old and ill, rarely when middle aged and almost never when youthful. It is possible that the same principle applies to the other arts but I don't read enough of them to judge. With performers it is the opposite. I guess there is some real resentment at play. Of course apart from poor Bruckner, most of them were notorious womanizers.Maurynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-81849958987256733582015-09-06T08:03:45.740-05:002015-09-06T08:03:45.740-05:00That's going in next week's miscellanea!That's going in next week's miscellanea!Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-3073208585588057532015-09-04T11:08:40.703-05:002015-09-04T11:08:40.703-05:00Was going to suggest this-- "Akiho said the [...Was going to suggest this-- "Akiho said the [ping pong] ball was a unique musical instrument and its bouncing was in perfect harmony with string instruments"-- for Friday's Miscellanea but I realised it's already Friday. (Medici.tv, on my Facebook page, has a video-- am not ordinarily a reader of Xinhuanet.com, ha.) <br /><br />[http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-07/19/c_134426226.htm]Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-38479263545524259132015-08-30T09:21:11.569-05:002015-08-30T09:21:11.569-05:00The ideology of modernism tended to condemn all us...The ideology of modernism tended to condemn all use of traditional musical forms like the symphony. There are really two phases to the symphony. The first one goes from the early or mid 18th century where it started as an instrumental appendage to an opera. People like Sammartini and C.P.E. Bach started writing free-standing symphonies and then Haydn took up the form and it became the center of his musical output and the most important musical form or genre (other than the opera). He was followed by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and a host of 19th century composers from Berlioz to Mahler. It extended into the 20th century with Sibelius, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. But for a long time it was rejected by the high modernists as being obsolete. Then, oddly enough, it has seen a revival with symphonies by Philip Glass, Peter Maxwell Davies, John Corigliano and others. Plus, there has always been an ongoing tradition in Scandinavia with people like Allan Pettersson and Einojuhani Rautavaara. But you won't find any symphonies by people like John Cage, Boulez or Stockhausen!Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-47841983890291812512015-08-29T16:37:21.896-05:002015-08-29T16:37:21.896-05:00Thanks, Rickard, I will listen to Tubin. Thanks, Rickard, I will listen to Tubin. Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-47284963599576734422015-08-29T15:06:03.406-05:002015-08-29T15:06:03.406-05:00That article about Cultural Libertarianism was wel...That article about Cultural Libertarianism was well worth a read indeed. Well, I believe the idea is based on the political compass: http://politicalcompass.org/ Basically a 2 dimensional (Cartesian coordinate) representation of political views with a left-right economic scale on the x-axis and an authoritarian-libertarian scale on the y-axis. I did the test once (few months back) and ended up in the middle of the 4th quadrant (which is right libertarian): https://www.politicalcompass.org/analysis2?ec=4.88&soc=-5.08 Either way, it's a good to see more people speaking out against censorship etc. There are many other issues in our current (Western) political system though. Corporations might not in themselves be bad but currently corporations have too much influence/power over politics. The federal reserve is not actually owned by the government but by a wealthy group of people. US has an "unholy trinity" of the government, corporations and government feeding of each other. There is also potentially scary future of improved technology being used to spy on citizens. We've already seen what NSA can do but that would be nothing compared to what would happen if for instance RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) chip implants were mandatory. Not to mention the Patriot Act already limiting freedom and the wars for oil in the Middle East. And lets not forget the destruction of environments. Europe has its' own problems with excessive immigration and also the bureaucracy/authoritarianism of the EU. Well, even if our votes don't count as much, money does and more educated spending of money would solve some of these issues. I suggest the documentary "Ethos", sure it borders on conspiratorial stuff but it was still very interesting.<br /><br />Anyways, I think libertarianism is the way to go but not too much of it. What I mean is that we can't give government too much power but at the same time we can't give corporations too much power. Some regulations are needed, especially environmental and worker condition regulations. Governments being able to break monopolies is probably a good thing also. For instance Theodore Roosevelt (if I remember correctly) broke the oil monopoly which was beneficial for the US.<br /><br />@Marc, on the topic of Estonian composers I recommend you check out Eduard Tubin, especially his symphonies. His 3rd symphony is a good starting point. Rickardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08084578675339015204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-2022696261197694212015-08-29T14:00:40.940-05:002015-08-29T14:00:40.940-05:00Got around to reading the Alex Ross you linked to;...Got around to reading the Alex Ross you linked to; he apparently has to use the rhetoric of Progress etc but at least he <i>likes</i> certain contemporary symphonies. It is true, though, that symphonies are not as prominent in the concert halls as they used to be? I counted 'em up in the upcoming season here in Eugene and there are four symphonies in the eleven concerts. Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-82668139258463409462015-08-29T08:26:57.489-05:002015-08-29T08:26:57.489-05:00There seems to be a lot of interesting music in bo...There seems to be a lot of interesting music in both the Scandinavian and Baltic countries. I don't know much about the Baltic nations, apart from listening to some Arvo Pärt, but I posted something back a while about an article by Richard Taruskin on some Baltic composers in which he commented on how much their music used consonance. After all the dissonance of modernism, rather a new idea!Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-85351602886050765332015-08-28T11:57:17.272-05:002015-08-28T11:57:17.272-05:00Estonia is the place to be, I guess. Last night I ...Estonia is the place to be, I guess. Last night I fussed with a post about the Nargenfestival in Estonia, which features the Arvo Pärt Days and the Cyrillus Kreek Days etc-- which festival of course I had never heard of. There seems to be a strong tradition of choral singing there, with the widespread participation of amateurs. I suppose being such a small country with its own language etc contributes to this survival but whatever the reasons it's quite attractive and praiseworthy.Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.com