Friday, May 27, 2005
Sequenza21 -- The Concert
Hey Composers Forum,
Jerry and I have been putting our heads together (ouch!) and have come up with a bit of a plan:
Sequenza21 – The Concert.
Huh?, you say.
Planning is in its most incipient stages, but it could work something like this: You guys over the summer send me some scores/CDs of relatively small-scale solo and chamber works. We’ll see what we’re dealing with in terms of instrumentation and try to program as many pieces as we possibly can.
In order to get a Spring '06 date, I would in late August/early September reserve CUNY’s Elebash Recital Hall, which is located in glorious Midtown Manhattan, for our concert. It’s a fantastic space, and we can get it for free.
Jerry thought it’d be a good idea to float the idea preliminarily on the Composers Forum just to see what suggestions you might have. Perhaps some of you have some players who owe you favors, or know some places we could apply to for funding. Feel free to contact me via e-mail as well.
It’d be fun if we could get this off next Spring, but, if not, then Spring ‘07 for sure.
Whadya think?
posted by David Salvage
2:50 PM
Point of Order
One of the great things about this forum so far is that the discussion has been lively but impeccably civilized. I'd like it to stay that way. If you post comments anonymously, I will delete your post the second I notice it and probably put a hex on your IP address. If you want to rant, go over to my political blog.
posted by Jerry Bowles
8:03 AM
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Overall Mediocrity
Here are some observations about the absurdly-titled “Contemporary Composers: Overall Appeal” from the MCANA/NAJP Music Critics Survey:
All of the composers on the list have written one or more substantial works for orchestra (or rather, composers who have *not* written for orchestra do not appear on the list).
Virtually no composer on the top-twenty list is liked by more than half of the critics surveyed.
[CORRECTION: I misunderstood the statistics, and Ian Moss and the ever-popular "Anonymous" have set me straight (so to speak) in the Comments below.]
None of the composers on the list make much use of electronics in their work, except for a couple who amplify acoustic sounds.
No composer is under the age of 40; are any of them even under 50??
None of the composers on the list are Hispanic, African-American, or South Asian. However, some of the critics surveyed believe that William Bolcom is African-American.
Perhaps they should re-title the list “Contemporary Composer: Overall Mediocrity.”
Do these results make you as sick to your stomach as they make me? Fortunately, I know of a few critics who are not as ill-educated and closed-eared as the general pool. (Incidentally, those few tend to visit art exhibitions in galleries instead of museums.)
posted by Corey Dargel
3:27 PM
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
More Praise for Famous Men?
I'm off to the National Critics Conference in Los Angeles in the next hour, but I thought I'd add more fuel to the flame before I go. Frank J. Oteri
I've recently been reading Colin Symes's fabulous history of recorded classical music, Setting the Record Straight: A Material History of Classical Recording (2004, Wesleyan University Press), and found the following anecdote which fans of recordings by Pierre Boulez should undoubtedly appreciate:
"Pierre Boulez…by all accounts never listens to recordings and does not own a gramophone… He argues that a score ought to be enough of a listening aid and that all forms of listening outside of the concert hall are of questionable worth." (Symes, p. 47) For me, it added whole new layers of meaning to Josh Ronsen's sadly now offline Pierre Boulez Project which was described on Sequenza21 in an article by Ronsen titled " "Deconstructing Boulez."
Is anyone able to track down an exact quote from the maestro?
Ed. Note: The Blogger software is being contrary today so Frank asked me to post this for him when I can get it work. JB
posted by Jerry Bowles
12:50 PM
In Medias Res I: Back to Bach's Example
It seems to me that good solid thought-out contrapuntal writing is taking a back seat to the practice of the "prosodic line"; that is, a melodic line that flows more "naturally" or imitates speech patterns. When you have a counterpoint of two or more of these complex lines, they often seem to be thrown together with little regard for the counterpoint between them.
There is a lot of "contrapuntal" music being written today -- music made up of these lines written together -- but as a result not a lot of thoroughly thought-out counterpoint, because the prosodic lines tend to take precedence over the consistency of the harmonic content. In addition, the tendency towards "brilliant orchestration" leads to more and more of these lines being written together to show off instrumental colors -- once again, harmonic counterpoint tends to dissolve.
My recent music, for example, is rather clearcut in its parameters, in an attempt to highlight detailed melodic and contrapuntal combinations. At this point in my writing, using the complex "prosodic line" would obscure this level of contrapuntal logic. I genuinely appreciate Bach's consistency in both melodic and harmonic writing, as well as the originality of the modulations created out of his disciplined application of counterpoint, modulations that would not occur without such level of detail.
Here's a simple (perhaps trivial) example of consistent contemporary counterpoint,what I call a "counterpoint of 7th's and 9ths": merely move 18th century-type lines vertically in relation to one another, make a few appropriate changes,and counterpoint made up largely of thirds and sixths becomes predominantly a counterpoint of seconds, sevenths and ninths.
Thus "In Medias res" is born, writing lying somewhere between the prosodic line and good solid counterpoint.
QUESTION for the reader: where are the great contrapuntalists of the present day? More specifically, those working not only somewhere between the prosodic line and the simple line, but those working between atonality/aleatoric practices and the "New Tonality" which, more often than not, is the "old tonality". Most specifically, composers who are writing aurally logical music (music that actually considers the overtone series, circle of fifths, etc.) which perhaps involves a good deal of scalar dissonance (modal tone clusters) and tertian writing, both of which have a good deal of tonal logic but are not at all traditional tonality. Graham Fitkin and Louis Andriessen come to mind, but I want to get even more specific, more "Bach-like"...
posted by Gregory Hall
12:03 AM
Monday, May 23, 2005
The Music Critic as Victim
From the MCANA/NAJP Music Critics Survey: The industry itself is moribund, stuck in a backward-looking gaze that has taught audiences, recording companies and performers alike to prioritize great works of the past at the expense of time spent exploring the present and future. So it should be no surprise that those surveyed say they spend 72% of their time writing about historical works. Did the critics create this situation, or are they simply responding to the environment given them? Do they have the cultural legitimacy or power of personality and opinion that could help change this situation? Most, in this survey, seem to think not. What do we think?
posted by Jerry Bowles
12:38 PM
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