Wednesday, March 23, 2005
re: evil empire
(comments were not showing up for some reason, hence this post in response)
And here I was really trying to get away from this subject...
To be honest, I've never heard this regarding sexual orientation and compositional technique. Pretty silly, if you ask me. Besides, both Copland, Bernstein and possibly Tippett also wrote some 12-tone music eventually. Not their best output, mind you, but they did it. I'm probably the only person out there who likes Connotations, however.
Why compare Schoenberg with Cowell? I don't make any distinction between them. Both wrote music I genuinely love. One of the most memorable concerts I attended as a kid was the premiere of Cowell's Quartet Romantic at (I think) Alice Tully Hall. The performers had to listen through a click track to play the complex rhythms (something that could easily be realized today on my iBook). I don't think of Cowell as writing simplistic, "nice" music. Both were great, and even if one doesn't like either's music, they clearly made a significant contribution to modern music. Besides, Cowell was good enough for Ives, and Schoenberg recognized Ives' genius, so right there both are linked (and probably to Kevin Bacon as well).
Lost in all this debate seems to be the music of Berg. A great example of how the technique is less important than the music itself. Most people probably don't even realize that most of his music isn't even 12-tone (though most is serial, but then, so is Feldman and Stravinsky). If we're going to debate Schoenberg vs. Cowell, why not Young vs. Adams, or Babbitt vs Glass? It is a waste of time, much like the Schoenberg vs. Stravinsky debate we used to constantly have when I was in high school (I preferred Schoenberg, but do love a lot of Stravinsky as well, but who really cares?)
posted by David Toub
9:56 AM
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