Wednesday, June 14, 2006
When Critic & Artist are the Same Person
Today's top link over at ArtsJournal is an extremely insightful personal statement of purpose by Matthew Collings, a British visual artist who is also a critic ("My Life as a Sitting Duck", The Times of London, June 14, 2006).
Aside from the fact that it's by someone in a parallel universe with whom I obviously identify, Collings's arguments resonate very deeply with many of the recent discussions we've been having both here at Sequenza21 and on NewMusicBox as well as the ongoing debates I've had for years both with other composers and with members of the Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA) and the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA).
I particularly found these two schizoid realizations very telling despite their being almost diametrically opposed to my own experience and personal philosophy:
"I have that mindset but I want to criticise it. I’m part of a scene that I often find insipid"
"It was only when the critical aspect was taken away from my art practice that I was able to become an artist."
I forwarded the article to a few friends this morning and my inbox runneth over and then Jerry B. invited me to share it here as well. Thoughts?
posted by Frank J. Oteri
12:36 PM
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Arranging Is the New Composition
Well, not really.
Not at all in fact, but it does seem to be slowly creeping back into fashion. I just posted Liszt's arrangement of Symphonie Fantastique over at ANABlog, and wondered if S21 readers had any arranging projects that they held dear.
Some past favorites of mine:
Bach's The Musical Offering
Stockhausen's From the Seven Days
Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring
So, what pieces have you liked enough to arrange?
posted by jodru
6:33 PM
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