Posted on 07/19/2008 6:07:08 AM PDT by Borges
Copland syurpy? He was bascially a classicist, using very little means to achieve his ends. And the pre Americana stuff like the Variations for Piano are very stringent and hard to absorb (along with the post Americana stuff).
LOL!
Stockhausen, to say nothing of trying to get out of his record contract, inspired Lou Reed to compose this classic:
One music critic said that he once called the record company which originally put out the long out-of-print ‘Metal Machine Music’ to see if they would be releasing a digitally enhanced version anytime soon. He heard a giggle and the record co. exec hung up. When he heard the dial tone he thought they were playing him a newly enhanced version of ‘Metal Machine Music’.
Today's pop music is either not music at all, or too bland to remember.
Today's pop music is either not music at all, or too bland to remember.
And the music you like is what percentage of what was out at the time?
The situation today is vastly different.
Caution, spoiler ahead...
Metal Machine Music is nothing but electric guitars feeding back through multiple amps, played back at double speed.
Personally, I like experimental electronic music, I make it myself, but there is a time and a place for it.
I agree with several of the posters about film music being the “true” form of modern classical, (or perhaps “a” true form), I think you can also look at the huge influx of new composers who are no longer dependent on access to an orchestra, thanks to modern sampling software and the ubiquity of the personal computer as a cheap but very powerful musical workstation. To hear work by some very talented amateurs, you can go to http://www.garritan.com/audio/index.html
I might also recommend Mike Oldfield's new album, Music of the Spheres, his first work written exclusively for orchestra, as well as the track “Mont St. Michel” on the album “Voyager”.
Was he? Is "radical" the correct term, if it connotes making change and pushing the boundaries?
My thinking has been that Mozart represented the perfection--and I don't use that term lightly--of the classical period. Sure, radical is correct in the sense of developing within the parameters of the period. But I don't think we can really call anyone's music of the 18th and early 19th century "radical" in a larger sense until the Eroica.
I did say ‘of his time’. His music was considered overspiced and hard to follow. Some of his piano music anticipates Chopin. The 4th mvt. of the 40th symphony has an outright Schoenbergian tone row.
Fair enough. Uncareful reading on my part.
Harmonic language/counterpoint/thematic development/
-perfection of a style, yes. Radical at the same time, within the framework of the classical style. Beethoven was an early Romantic, radical in a different, new sense.
Contemporary music works just the same. I have an ear for it, and let me tell you it sounds no different to me than any other music. I just don’t understand people......
I'm glad you have an ear for contemporary music. A lot of folks I respect greatly do, also. A lot of folks I respect greatly do not. I guess, no matter how hard I've tried for 40 years, I'm missing a lot, which I regret.
I like your perspective. I think, having an ear for contemporary music is like having the palate for bitters, or peaty scotch, or strong Thai food. It either comes naturally, and then you cultivate it, or it doesn’t, and in that case you will never be able to find it palatable.
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