robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (09/07/84)
References: >To Mr. Janzen's remarks I would also add that classical music requires >a great deal more mental effort from all parties involved-- composer, >Performer(s), and listener--than does pop. And I don't mean merely that >classical works are longer and therefo require sustained concentration, >though this is a major part of it. I mean that the effort-per-unit-time >is higher in classical music. I admit I don't know much about how pop >songs are produced these days, but I can't help but get the impression >that quite a bit less work goes into a five-minute rock tune than went >into a piece of comparable length by, say, Stravinsky. Great classical music, maybe a lot of classical music, requires (and rewards) more concentration than a lot of popular music, but great popular music (maybe a fair amount of it) rewards concentation just as much. There are fine composers working in both fields. There is an incredible anount of second, third and fourthrate classical music available on records and the radio that requires no concentration at all if you are used to listening to the style of music. Most popular composers are ready to write for a mass audience, most of which will not give them high degrees of concentration when they listen, and in many cases, they adjust accordingly to allow their music to be heard superficially in lo-fi. The really big contrast comes because we are largely comparing: Pop music of the last 40 years Classical music of the last 300 years We are comparing the classical composers who have been remembered among their contemporaries. How would you liek to compare them to the popular composers of today who will be remembered in 150 years? By the way, Stravinsky is no typical example. Few composers of any kind can compare with him for depth of conception. - Toby Robison (not Robinson!) allegra!eosp1!robison decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison