tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post975168383322965657..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: Friday MiscellaneaBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-3675288491860670402017-01-22T07:21:32.153-06:002017-01-22T07:21:32.153-06:008>)8>)Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-1894649394775764012017-01-21T19:46:13.727-06:002017-01-21T19:46:13.727-06:00Was going to tsk, tsk because Frank Martin was Dut...Was going to tsk, tsk because Frank Martin was Dutch! (his Mass for double choirs was performed here last summer at the OBF) but I've learned to give you the benefit of the doubt, ha, and, sure enough, he was Swiss. Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-29265960363023259282017-01-21T08:22:51.789-06:002017-01-21T08:22:51.789-06:00@Anonymous: Yes, you caught me in a bit of a rheto...@Anonymous: Yes, you caught me in a bit of a rhetorical flourish: I'm sure that many readers can name a Swiss composer or two. Frank Martin is another and he wrote a fine piece for guitar. But If we compare the number and importance of Swiss composers to those of the neighboring nations of France, Italy and Austria, we are bound to notice that they are few indeed.<br /><br />@David: oh yes, music lovers who live in Canada can come up with a nice list of Canadian composers. But with the exception of Claude Vivier, none of them have much in the way of any international recognition. Rather like Swiss composers.<br /><br />I have been puzzling for a long time over the extremely strong contribution that Russia has made to 20th century composition. Three of the greatest composers of the century are undoubtedly Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich and there are a host of minor ones as well. The comparison with Canada is stark. Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-8133649181753741712017-01-20T21:59:11.442-06:002017-01-20T21:59:11.442-06:00Bryan, forgive my omissions of Bartok, Prokofiev ...Bryan, forgive my omissions of Bartok, Prokofiev and Stravinsky in my earlier list. I see that I run the risk of losing my credibility. On reflection, there does seem to be a weighting to composers from the Eastern Bloc here. Any thoughts on why.Davidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-64558863419712169282017-01-20T21:41:03.299-06:002017-01-20T21:41:03.299-06:00Bryan, I think the claim of the news release on C...Bryan, I think the claim of the news release on Canada Mosaic has not yet sunk to the level of President Trump's "FAKE NEWS". The press release claims that Canadian "musicians" have "punched above their weight". Two things; first this seems to include both composers and performers, as both are within the common understanding of the word "musicians". Second, there is no claim as to what the Canadian weight class is. Objectively, it is probably featherweight. So, maybe hitting at a welterweight level doesn't make you a musical Ali, but it might be enough to give legitimacy to the "feel good" objective of the press release.<br /><br />As a Canadian, I took your "Name a Canadian Composer Challenge". My answers (before Google-ing) Healey Willan, Murray Schafer, Jean Colthard, Howard Cable, and the guy who wrote O Canada. <br /><br />I concede your point when I read the Wikipedia entry on Andrew Ager, who is described as "one of Canada's most prominent composers". I am familiar with Andrew as the former organist at St. James Anglican Cathedral in Toronto.<br /><br />But to be fair, the class of global composers born after 1867, the year Canada came into being, is not loaded with heavy weights of the Canon. (Satie was born in 1866). A reasonably complete selection of the "identifiable" composers born in or after 1867 includes Roussel, Suk, Scriabin, Holst, Gliere, Ravel, Ketelby, Kodaly, Stravinsky, Bax, Berg, Szymanowski, Respighi, Copland Villa-Lobos, Atterberg, Milhaud, Hindemith, Hansen, Korngold, Gershwin, Poulenc, Khachaturian, Kabalevsky, Tippett, Alwyn, Messiaen, Barber, Hovhaness, Gould (Morton), Bernstein, Arnold, Shchedrin, Schnittke, Part, Tavener, Rutter, Glass, Reich. The big names of the last 150 years really do pale incredibly in the light of the Big Names of Classical Music that preceded them, don't they.<br /><br />I expect that you will have identified the one name missing from the list who can legitimately be said to be canonic: Shostakovich.<br /><br />I am listening to a recording of Dorati conducting Hayden symphonies as I write this, so forgive me if you detect some "sturm und drang" in my comment.<br /><br />Thanks for giving me something to think about.Davidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-81401491521910136132017-01-20T16:15:30.841-06:002017-01-20T16:15:30.841-06:00"I'll bet you would be very hard-pressed ..."I'll bet you would be very hard-pressed to name a single Swiss composer."<br /><br />Michael Jarrell and Heinz Holliger immediately sprang to mind, the music of both is them is played fairly often in Europe. Klaus Huber, long known mostly as a teacher, seems to now be getting some late recognition for his compositions in a fashion similar to Friedrich Cerha's increasing stature as he has got into his seventies and eighties.<br /><br />The only way Canada seems to have fallen behind internationally is not became it has no famous composers -- I listen to Istvan Anhalt, Claude Vivier, and Andre Prevost from time to time -- but rather because those famous composers are now deceased and the living composers still iving haven't made the same splash (at least, not yet – when Vivier died, a young and relatively little known figure -- no one would have his music to have such a lasting impact over these last 30+ years).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com