Composers Forum is a daily web log that allows invited contemporary composers to share their thoughts and ideas on any topic that interests them--from the ethereal, like how new music gets created, music history, theory, performance, other composers, alive or dead, to the mundane, like getting works played and recorded and the joys of teaching. If you're a professional composer and would like to participate, send us an e-mail.
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Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Tonality Out the Window
Theorist John Ferri shared a wonderful quote from Maurice Ravel on the subject of tonality/atonality: "When the room gets a little stuffy, some people have to break the window. I know how to open the window."
I'm a big fan of fresh air and tonality, and try to get my fill of both as often as possible. In recent years, though, I suspect that a lot of composers have become adept at switching on the air conditioning.
posted by Lawrence Dillon
6:27 PM
re: what's the matter with kids today?
Personally, I think it's healthy for people to listen to minimalism, romantic music, atonal, 12-tone, grunge, whatever. What perhaps is not so healthy is for people to be fixated on styles. I'm not surprised that may be a reaction to the more recent trend in less dissonant music, just as minimalism was viewed (perhaps with some validity) as a reaction to the impersonal, academic music of Boulez, Carter, and others from the 60s.
One interesting trend, which I think is a good one, is for people from many different musical backgrounds gravitating to repetition as well as dissonance. I can't explain it, but am gratified that so many people from diverse backgrounds (jazz, classical, rock, etc) are getting interested in Morton Feldman's works. He's not a "minimalist" nor is he academic. Yet his works (particularly the later, lengthier ones) seem to appeal to a lot of people, myself included. I knew very little of his music until last year, and now have 2.5 GB of Feldman alone on my iPod. I even posted a silly list of best Feldman works on my blog.
Many people, however, seem to judge performances of Feldman based on how long they are-the longer the better. I'm not sure this is either appropriate or fair. The Ives Ensemble's performance of Feldman's uninterrupted String Qt #2 (or "FSQ2" for those in the know) clocks in over 5 hours, while the Flux Quartet's recording is just over 6 hours; I like both performances, and neither one is more valid than the other. A work like Triadic Memories has no metronome marking whatsoever, so any reasonable interpretation is valid. Besides, humans are not machines; metronome markings really should be approximate, and open to interpretation.
posted by David Toub
11:01 AM
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