Modern Classical

whatever

Well-known member
i mean as far as 'shreds' go that one is pretty doggoned clever, somehow it touches something reel ddeep inside . the silences where biden and obama are looking back with 'feigned serious interest and appreciation' are THE BEST moments in this alternate version of reality ... , no? somehow i couldn't stop laughign with existeniall glee but that coulda jsut been me
 

zhao

there are no accidents
a little gripe with modern classical programming for concerts and festivals:

there is so much rigorous, challenging, AS WELL AS beautiful, seductive, sensuous, and (here's that word again) accessible works from the 20th century ---- and sometimes, or often, i find the most impenetrable, difficult, and... almost farcical pieces by composers with large bodies of work performed.

i mean i kind of understand and even admire the impulse: a big acetic fuck you to "entertainment", to "bourgeois sensibilities", to consumerism... but at the same time, they are playing right into the stereotypical cliches the general population have about this music.

case in point: yesterday saw some Salvatore Sciarrino among others performed (don't remember whose piece the following describes) -- a group of 6-8 performers playing brief notes between long uncomfortable pauses, exchanging seats/instruments, all running to the piano to pound on it, etc., none of which being the least "musical", and just coming off like the sort of buffoonery people complain to arts foundations about -- and they wonder why funding often gets cut for "new music".

but the evening was saved by a drop dead gorgeous Stockhousen piece, which gently swelled and ebbed along elegant arcs... the 4 performers, per instruction of the score, had not slept or eaten much in 4 days...

well OK considering the theme of yesterdays concerts was "Audio Poverty" so maybe they consciously chose to showcase stringent works which do not "give", and embody an idea of "poverty" of experience... but the same holds true of many other concerts i've attended...
 
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Don't know if that counts as modern classical, but I saw a performance of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians recently, still one of the most accessible, satisfying and just beautiful pieces I know. And the place was packed, I think nearly 2000 people.
 

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
but the evening was saved by a drop dead gorgeous Stockhousen piece, which gently swelled and ebbed along elegant arcs... the 4 performers, per instruction of the score, had not slept or eaten much in 4 days...

one of Aus den Sieben Tagen? :)
 

zhao

there are no accidents
one of Aus den Sieben Tagen? :)

not sure but wiki just told me that those are text pieces? while this thing was comprised of sparse and subtle instrumentation interplay...


to continue my thoughts above, i think the reason stingy and difficult music is prized and elevated to the status of genius rather than sensuous and generous music is because the institutions of academic music are run by joyless old male kurmudgens.
 

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
not sure but wiki just told me that those are text pieces? while this thing was comprised of sparse and subtle instrumentation interplay...

they were Stockhausen in his hippie phase: small text as an impetus to improvisation with whatever imstruments
whether it's any good depends on the performers really
 

zhao

there are no accidents
they were Stockhausen in his hippie phase: small text as an impetus to improvisation with whatever imstruments
whether it's any good depends on the performers really

ah. and i suppose these pieces specified the sleep deprived state of the performers? (i wish i had kept the program)
 

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
ah. and i suppose these pieces specified the sleep deprived state of the performers? (i wish i had kept the program)

to enhance intuition by making them too tired to think straight ;)

was one of the pieces called Goldstaub?
 
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