ellis@flairvax.UUCP (Michael Ellis) (09/30/83)
Jeff Winslow sure seems to be getting sore treatment around here -- please note, this is net.music, not net.rock! To those whose reflex is to downgrade music `between 100 and 200 years old' as `archaic', several comments: Those `futurists' out there should remember that each kind of music has its own cycles of creativity. I speculate that the older a style is, the longer its cycle is, and the deeper the revelations during those high points tend to be. True, `classical' has been quite dead for about 50 years. On the other hand, most of the innovations during the early part of the century have only gradually entered into the consciousness of jazz and fringe-rock artists. To date, I have heard nothing as relentless or alien(-ating) as the non-human sound of 12-tone and more recent `classical' modernisms in other styles of music. And the founders of such noise have been dead for years! You can counter that such ideas are the dry product of sterile academics, but that only means the more accessible `living' styles have yet to come to grips with the momentum of musical change. Time will tell. Let's examine the music Jeff mentioned: Late Beethoven Quartets - Old, yes. But have you really listened? These works, the major portion of Beethoven's deaf, otherworldly `4th period', include such earbreakers (even today!) as the Grosse Fuge. Even the more conventional sounding late quartets are free spirited fantasies with wonderful surprises everywhere -- the one in C sharp minor is strongly recommended if you like music with serene vision that retains complete unpredictability after 100's of listenings. Mahler symphonies - As a Black Flag fanatic and lover of angst and excess in general, I must concur with Jeff's recommendation of these wonderfully schizoid compositions, which are often blamed for the destruction of the symphony. In the sixties, after decades of neglect, they were hailed as `music whose time has finally come'. Schoenberg - Now the `Ode to Napoleon' is unknown to me, as is most of this guy's stuff -- his music hurts my ears too much! To my knowledge, no composer's creations were ever as frequently tomatoed. Even his early `romantic' pieces (eg. Pelleas & Melisande) are nightmarish, disturbing. Perhaps in 100 years, when the other styles of music have narrowed the gap, the time for this music will come. Think of it, `modern' jazz and rock lagging behind music written in the 1930's. Wallowing in nostalgia? Bullshit! -michael
ellis@flairvax.UUCP (Michael Ellis) (09/30/83)
{ Hope you haven't seen this before, we've been having uucp problems lately }
Jeff Winslow sure seems to be getting sore treatment around here.
Please note, this is net.music, not net.rock! To those whose reflex is to
downgrade music `between 100 and 200 years old' as `archaic', several
comments:
Those `futurists' out there should remember that each kind of music has
its own cycles of creativity. I speculate that the older a style is,
the longer its cycle is, and the deeper the revelations during those
high points tend to be.
True, `classical' has been quite dead for about 50 years. On the other
hand, most of the innovations during the early part of the century have
only gradually entered into the consciousness of jazz and fringe-rock
artists. To date, I have heard nothing as relentless or alien(-ating) as
the non-human sound of 12-tone and more recent `classical' modernisms in
other styles of music. And the founders of such noise have been dead for
years! You can counter that such ideas are the dry product of sterile
academics, but that only means the more accessible `living' styles have
yet to come to grips with the momentum of musical change. Time will tell.
Let's examine the music Jeff mentioned:
Late Beethoven Quartets - Old, yes. But have you really listened? These
works, the major portion of Beethoven's deaf, otherworldly `4th period',
include such earbreakers (even today!) as the Grosse Fuge. Even the more
conventional sounding late quartets are free spirited fantasies with
wonderful surprises everywhere -- the one in C sharp minor is strongly
recommended if you like music with serene vision that retains complete
unpredictability after 100's of listenings.
Mahler symphonies - As a Black Flag fanatic and lover of angst and excess
in general, I must concur with Jeff's recommendation of these wonderfully
schizoid compositions, which are often blamed for the destruction of the
symphony. In the sixties, after decades of neglect, they were hailed as
`music whose time has finally come'.
Schoenberg - Now the `Ode to Napoleon' is unknown to me, as is most of this
guy's stuff -- his music hurts my ears too much! To my knowledge, no
composer's creations were ever as frequently tomatoed. Even his early
`romantic' pieces (eg. Pelleas & Melisande) are nightmarish, disturbing.
Perhaps in another 50 years, when the other styles of music have narrowed
the gap, the time for this music will come. Think of it, `modern' jazz and
rock lagging behind music written in the 1930's.
Wallowing in nostalgia? Bullshit!
-michael