Great. If you want a list of retro-romantic bilge by audience-whores
this is it.
(Exceptions: a few of the composers wrote a few promising works in
their youth before they "went pop", as Xenakis once put it. And
composers born early in the previous century like Holmboe can hardly
be expected to be "contemporary".)
Paula
Oh no! Composers who think it's good to be listened to! *The horror*...!
> (Exceptions: a few of the composers wrote a few promising works in
> their youth before they "went pop", as Xenakis once put it. And
> composers born early in the previous century like Holmboe can hardly
> be expected to be "contemporary".)
Was Xenakis actually musical? Someone who actually thought in and in terms
of music...? Or did he merely translate extra-musical organisation into
musical notation...? Do tell...!
A.
Don't worry about it. It's not for you. There is plenty of music
that's been dumbed down for you. I believe Rautavaara actually ran a
clinic where young composers could undergo musical lobotomies and
kitsch injections in order to jet-set around with Hollywood stars like
Salonen. Try Classics Lite. Or the above list if you want to pretend
you're "with it".
Paula
> Composers who think it's good to be listened to! *The horror*...!
All composers think it's good to be listened to.
-david gable
Yes. Some of them even even wish their music to be felt.
bl
Paula
Paula
I love listening to his music. It's beautiful and powerful and extremely moving.
--
samuel
http://www.xs4all.nl/~sqv/ - homepage, soundclips
http://blogger.xs4all.nl/sqv - weblog in Dutch
Nobody out there but us. And I can never figure out who that was or will be,
much less is.
- Charles Bernstein
> > Was Xenakis actually musical? Someone who actually thought in and in terms
> > of music...? Or did he merely translate extra-musical organisation into
> > musical notation...? Do tell...!
>
> > A.
>
> I love listening to his music. It's beautiful and powerful and extremely moving.
>
Yes. The perfection of his constructions makes his innovations
completely convincing. I was never really able to appreciate
microtonalism, for example, until I heard his use of it in the akea
quintet and Ata, which came out in the '80s. Now I "get" it in works
where it's more difficult to catch, like Nono's Prometeo.
BTW there is a wonderful over an hour long interview in English of
Xenakis on the DVD with La legénde d'Eer where much wisdom is
cheerfully dispensed.
http://www.amazon.com/Xenakis-Electronic-Music-Vol-Legende/dp/B0007RFGU0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1259010154&sr=1-1
though I believe you can rent that DVD from Netflix if you don't want
to buy it. There is an edited version with music behind it on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfwam-jqMn4
And BTW, Arnold, you got it back-asswards. He invented his own
notation for his very musical "organization".
Paula
I couldn't agree more.
Philip
This is the work of Ryan Morris, who has enlightened us in Amazon
reviews with such comments that Boulez is the chief of the "minimalist
composers", and for whole decades there was no music played that was
no twelve-tone, composers of tonal music being completely dismissed
from the music world.
See what happens without peer review?
Actually, change the next-to-last word in your paragraph to "academic," and
it's more than a bit closer to the truth.
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
Read about "Proty" here: http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/proty.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employers
Lessee. Scotland can't be that unrepresentative of the general situation.
http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/about/history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardiner_Professor_of_Music,_Glasgow
Out of that lot, only Robin Orr (Glasgow 1956-66) was a composer of
atonal music. (The other Scottish universities don't have webpages
I can find that describe their music departments at all; I know that
Aberdeen at least has one).
The original poster was talking bollocks and so are you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k
Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557 <http://www.campin.me.uk> Twitter: JackCampin
>>> This is the work of Ryan Morris, who has enlightened us in Amazon
>>> reviews with such comments that Boulez is the chief of the "minimalist
>>> composers", and for whole decades there was no music played that was
>>> no twelve-tone, composers of tonal music being completely dismissed
>>> from the music world.
>> See what happens without peer review?
>> Actually, change the next-to-last word in your paragraph to "academic,"
>> and it's more than a bit closer to the truth.
>
> Lessee. Scotland can't be that unrepresentative of the general
> situation.
>
> http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/about/history.html
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardiner_Professor_of_Music,_Glasgow
>
> Out of that lot, only Robin Orr (Glasgow 1956-66) was a composer of
> atonal music. (The other Scottish universities don't have webpages
> I can find that describe their music departments at all; I know that
> Aberdeen at least has one).
>
> The original poster was talking bollocks and so are you.
I have a book to recommend to you. It was written by Dale Carnegie:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0091906814
If you meant to say, "Not in the UK," then I will grant that, as the only
academe with which I am intimately aware is that in the USA.
Meanwhile, read the book. I am sure you will find it helpful.
Trying to be patronizing doesn't mean you weren't talking bollocks.
> If you meant to say, "Not in the UK," then I will grant that, as the
> only academe with which I am intimately aware is that in the USA.
If were that intimately familiar with it you'd know how many copies
of Walter Piston's textbooks sold to American college students. If
tonality was banned how come just about every college in the country
had its students reading "Harmony"? (On looking at the Wikipedia
page I see it was even reprinted specially for the US Armed Forces
during WW2).
>> Out of that lot, only Robin Orr (Glasgow 1956-66) was a composer of
>> atonal music. (The other Scottish universities don't have webpages
>> I can find that describe their music departments at all; I know that
>> Aberdeen at least has one).
>>
>> The original poster was talking bollocks and so are you.
>
> I have a book to recommend to you. It was written by Dale Carnegie:
>
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0091906814
>
> If you meant to say, "Not in the UK," then I will grant that, as the
> only academe with which I am intimately aware is that in the USA.
Hmmm. What is true for Scotland must be true for the rest of the world
(if there is a world beyond Hadrian's wall)!
Henk
First World Protestant countries are pretty homogeneous in their
approach to high culture. We're a bit more peripheral than you
are, not quite so peripheral as small-town America, but academics
in music in the late 20th century migrated freely everywhere from
Vienna to Hawaii.
The only living Dutch composer many people have heard of is Louis
Andriessen, who has been your country's leading musical academic
for about 50 years and has hardly written anything atonal since
the early 60s. I haven't met him personally but I'm 2 degrees of
separation away via any of about half a dozen people in the Scottish
contemporary music scene who've worked with him in the Hague. I'd
expect most of the American posters here could say the same. One
of the more significant technical innovations for 20th century music
was the Boeing 707.
> If were that intimately familiar with it you'd know how many copies
> of Walter Piston's textbooks sold to American college students. If
> tonality was banned how come just about every college in the country
> had its students reading "Harmony"? (On looking at the Wikipedia
> page I see it was even reprinted specially for the US Armed Forces
> during WW2).
Both Picasso and Jackson Pollock could draw very well, thank you. You
need a thorough grounding in the Tradition before you can
intelligently depart from it.
You might just as well have cited Schoenberg's textbooks, which are
concerned primarily with tonal music. His innovations are presented
separately.
> Trying to be patronizing doesn't mean you weren't talking bollocks.
Should the time ever come that you have learned politeness, I hope somebody
will let me know so that I may take you out of my killfile. Until such time,
your opinions do not interest me.
Cheers, Jack! You made Tepper's list of fame. Though he was talking
bollocks so I can't imagine why having the goodness to inform him so
is impolite. And you needn't bother to drum any more for Amazon and
Carnegie, Mat. Just add me to the file. Making friends with
Philistines can get one stoned to death. 'Sez so in the Bible.
Paula
That time has come. Please notice.
> Until such time, your opinions do not interest me.
Idem, any time.
Easier to just turn the volume down. No classical music played on
proper equipment hurts the ears. What happens is, music that hasn't
already been heard dozens of times, or that isn't full of clichés that
have been heard dozens of times, can actually wake up the brain. Some
find this a very disconcerting and painful experience,
Paula
Well ... the Turangalila Symphony (Previn, CSO) was pretty darn loud.
Probably the loudest music I've ever heard. (I've never been to a rock
concert.)
> Well ... the Turangalila Symphony (Previn, CSO) was pretty darn loud.
> Probably the loudest music I've ever heard. (I've never been to a rock
> concert.)
I've heard that some halls and orchestras are trying for more DBs.
The audiences supposedly find it "thrilling". Wonderful. You'd think
they'd have more sense than to try to compete with rock concerts where
a few teenagers can blow away any orchestra by simply twisting a
dial. And classical CDs seem to have more and more (and less and less
realistic) dynamic range.
In Europe they've had to tone orchestra concerts down as workers are
protected by the EU.
You're wise to avoid rock concerts. That the performers themselves
are wearing custom-molded ear plugs should tell you something. These
events cause permanent hearing loss. Football games ditto. The loss
is small but it is permanent and cumulative.
Ironic that just when technology is coming up with fantastic ways to
reproduce sound much of the population seems bent on making itself
deaf. Perhaps this is why marketers of high-tech audio are being
frustated by the public's love affair with mp3.
Paula
Actually not. These performers do this for work, during many hours a day; that's
a different situation.
True, but still the sound levels, for the audience, are more than
enough to cause permanent damage. Less damage for less exposure time
but still permanent and cumulative. And the audience has no
protection at all.
WHETHER there is damage depends entirely on the DB level. The AMOUNT
of damage depends on exposure time, cumulatively over your life span.
And again it is permanent. There is no way to "heal" it.
Paula
The loudest thing I've heard for a long time was Xenakis's Pleiades
for percussion ensemble performed at the Proms last year. And I was
standing some way back, so it must have been very loud indeed at the
front of the arena. Like much of the audience I went to the concert
for Vaughan Williams and Holst, but it was good to have an opportunity
to hear the Xenaxis - I even bought a CD afterwards but this seems
very tame in comparison to the live performance.
But I have the possible advantage of having a degree in maths not
music!
The loudest thing I heard was a Mascleta in Valencia. I was standing in the
first row, could hear it with my belly, and it was just great.
>
> But I have the possible advantage of having a degree in maths not
> music!
Same with me, but I am not sure it is a possible advantage.
Joachim