tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post8364984777528546803..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: Composers, Music Criticism and ModernismBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-74084349969229937952013-06-08T08:22:36.831-05:002013-06-08T08:22:36.831-05:00Logan, good job! I will offer my own thoughts abou...Logan, good job! I will offer my own thoughts about these two pieces, but it will have to be tomorrow.<br /><br />I don't have a predisposition--I chose a couple of pieces I don't actually know as a kind of experiment. So when I have a closer look at them, it will be for the first time. Though I do have some general ideas about the two composers.<br /><br />It's not so interesting if you know what you are going to find!Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-16618082232528593022013-06-07T19:50:20.841-05:002013-06-07T19:50:20.841-05:00OK, I'll do my best:
The Martin piece is liste...OK, I'll do my best:<br />The Martin piece is listenable enough, I guess, but just so bland! Whatever doesn't seem to have been ripped from Rhapsody in Blue or from Ravel's Bolero is just generic (and rather wearing) brass-and-percussion stuff for a cheap impression of excitement.<br />The Dutilleux, for its part, doesn't really inspire me to explore more of the composer's work, but it's not at all dull. I don't have the requisite understanding of theory to discuss the piece in detail, but one thing I like about it is the simple austerity of the first minute or two. There's a spirituality there that's missing from Martin's hectic bombast. I also think that, while the Martin piece is pretty static, the Dutilleux evolves in an organic way towards its end; it takes us somewhere. And there's a certain unpredictability to its harmony that interests me.<br />I'm really just commenting to see what you have to say about the pieces, though.Logannoreply@blogger.com