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Admit it, you're as bored as I am
The Guardian ^
| Wednesday July 9, 2008
| Joe Queenan
Posted on 07/19/2008 6:07:08 AM PDT by Borges
click here to read article
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To: MinuteGal
I agree wholeheartedly, except that I believe it started long before 1930. It actually goes back to the alienation of the intelligentsia from their own society in the 19th century. They hated their own society, its members, what they believed in and anything they enjoyed.
Initially this was confined to a very tiny group of avant gardists, but it has gradually spread down and out into society as more people acquired an “advanced eduction.” One of the best ways to prove you’re a member of this exclusive group is to express your hatred for your own society.
For artists, this meant producing stuff most people couldn’t understand and didn’t like. They even invented a term for this anti-art: transgressive. The audience proves its membership in the “hate our own society” club by pretending to like and enjoy transgressive art and literature.
The odd thing is that we’re about to have an election in which the haters of America will probably win, as at least for the moment they appear to have a majority. For some reason they don’t appear to be able to recognize the incongruity of hating a society in which they are in the majority.
41
posted on
07/19/2008 6:50:06 PM PDT
by
Sherman Logan
(Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. - A. Lincoln)
To: Borges; aculeus; Billthedrill; AnAmericanMother
Queenan’s a funny guy. Thanks for posting.
42
posted on
07/19/2008 7:11:29 PM PDT
by
dighton
To: aristotleman
'Scuse me.
"Crap"? "saccharine"?
You haven't been listening.
Our choirmaster at church is also an avant-garde composer (he's actually recorded.) His stuff is way above my pay grade, but it does make sense.
Probably because he knows and loves the classics, including Mozart. We sang the C major "Spaurmesse" for Easter -- and it is neither saccharine nor crap, I assure you.
43
posted on
07/19/2008 7:33:39 PM PDT
by
AnAmericanMother
(Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
To: dighton
He’s got a point. Some of the modern stuff makes my ears bleed.
44
posted on
07/19/2008 7:34:03 PM PDT
by
AnAmericanMother
(Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
To: MinuteGal
"Chopin was one of the pioneers of proto-atonal music!" Agreed, but he had the talent to know how to do it and still sell records! Shore thang! Ole Freddie sold 25 million LPs in 1848!
45
posted on
07/19/2008 7:46:55 PM PDT
by
Revolting cat!
(Are you ready to pray for Teddy?)
To: Borges
Look up Terry Teachout’s comments on this article in today’s WSJ.
46
posted on
07/19/2008 7:48:17 PM PDT
by
Revolting cat!
(Are you ready to pray for Teddy?)
To: Borges
After 40 years and 1,500 concerts,
Joe Queenan is finally ready to say the unsayable: new classical
music is absolute torture...
Old Joe must be a little slow on the uptake.
Or I'm just a Redneck Flyover Country Idiot-Savant that reached
that conclusion after hearing some "NEW opera" while listening
to NPR (National Public Radio) for a couple of months.
I like SOME traditional opera...but the new stuff is...
AWEFUL.
47
posted on
07/19/2008 7:54:47 PM PDT
by
VOA
To: P.O.E.
Agreed particularly with regard to music. I don’t much like ANY music that is created today. It’s all boring and forgettable.
48
posted on
07/19/2008 8:31:57 PM PDT
by
TAdams8591
(The game is over "my friends" and has been for a long time.)
To: Borges
There is no denying that the people filling the great concert halls of the world are conservative, and in many cases reactionary: reluctant to take a flyer on music that wasn't recorded at least once by Toscanini. They know what they like and what they like is Mozart. No; they can all recognise that the difference between noise and music is harmony, something sorely lacking in 'new music', whether classical or rap.
49
posted on
07/19/2008 10:32:15 PM PDT
by
brityank
(The more I learn about the Constitution, the more I realise this Government is UNconstitutional !!)
To: TAdams8591
Agreed particularly with regard to music. I dont much like ANY music that is created today. Its all boring and forgettable. Look back in history, no matter when, you'll find that 99% of 'popular music' is crap.
Today is no different.
50
posted on
07/19/2008 11:27:02 PM PDT
by
uglybiker
(I do not suffer from mental illness. I quite enjoy it, actually.)
To: TexanToTheCore
To some degree video games as well. There’s a Japanese composer, Nobuo Uematsu, who basically is to games what John Williams is to movies.
51
posted on
07/20/2008 1:12:24 AM PDT
by
Fire_on_High
(Cthulhu 08! Why vote for the Lesser Evil?)
To: Revolting cat!
I see I have to add "/j" for "joke" when I make a funny, pitiful as it was, heheh.
Leni
52
posted on
07/20/2008 5:03:20 AM PDT
by
MinuteGal
(Stay Home or vote Barr for Obamination, more Taxation, Regulation, Litigation and Ginzburgization)
To: Borges
...an ambitious new work by a young American named Mason Bates. This last piece, entitled Liquid Interface, examined "the phenomenon of water in its variety of forms", something Ravel and Mussorgsky never got around to. It featured wind machines and bongos and an electric drum pad and a laptop and a gigantic orchestra. It was bloated but thoroughly harmless, and the audience responded warmly; nothing thrills a classical music crowd more than a new piece of music that doesn't make them physically ill. I think this explains why new "classical" music does not get listened to--It is exactly the opposite of what music is supposed to be. Instead of a harmonious arrangement of sounds that please the ear, mind and soul, new music is at best boring (Philip Glass) and at worst downright upsetting.
Great article.
53
posted on
07/20/2008 6:02:20 AM PDT
by
giotto
To: dighton; Borges; Billthedrill; AnAmericanMother
Queenans a funny guy.Yes and it's "funny" that the Guardian has picked him up.
54
posted on
07/20/2008 6:34:28 AM PDT
by
aculeus
To: Revolting cat!
Quite a few people have responded...
http://holdekunst.com/blog/admit-it-youre-as-bored-as-i-am-the-guardian.shtml
55
posted on
07/20/2008 7:03:45 AM PDT
by
Borges
To: Borges
Borges, I’m being sarcastic. Mr M was as radical as most “new music” is today.
56
posted on
07/20/2008 1:30:47 PM PDT
by
aristotleman
(....in wolves' clothing....stealing ur prey.....)
To: Jo Nuvark
You have just written Americas epitaph.
No Requiescat in pace?
To: Das Outsider; NFHale; RipSawyer
JO: You have just written Americas epitaph.
DO: No “Requiescat in pace”?
JO: More like “lacer seorsum”!
58
posted on
07/20/2008 3:57:10 PM PDT
by
Jo Nuvark
(Those who bless Israel will be blessed, those who curse Israel will be cursed. Gen 12:3)
To: Borges
Yes, I made an attempt to read a few of the responses. Unpersuasive and as boring as the music they defend.
59
posted on
07/20/2008 5:21:55 PM PDT
by
Revolting cat!
(Are you ready to pray for Teddy?)
To: Borges
I always found Copeland to be rather syrupy and overrated.
Phillip Glass's greatest contribution to the world was posing as a model for Chuck Close.
60
posted on
07/20/2008 5:29:17 PM PDT
by
Clemenza
(Barack Obama is a Chance the Gardner for the 00s)
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