contemporary classical music
I couldn't agree more with Joe Queenan: Admit it, you're as bored as I am. Thanks ZH for the link. He's found exactly the words I needed to express my utter disgust at anything "avant-garde" in classical music. If anything, classical music has been more harmed than advanced by attempts to move beyond the paradigm established by Bach and upheld for over 300 years. Yes there've been occasional bright sparks but no luminous visionaries to light the way ahead. Minimalism, serialism, the 12-tone row... unfortunately these are all historical curiosities that'll only endure as museum pieces.
Labels: Everything, Music
posted by Unknown at
7:56 pm
1 Comments:
While the writer is certainly well informed and no doubt has his heart and his ears in the right places, respectively - I must disagree somewhat. Just because the self-admittedly ignorant audiences fall asleep doesn't invalidate the new music. Neither does the fact that the author doesn't appreciate it - some people just don't. Many people do, and many aspects of contemporary music have in fact found their way into popular culture, like music concrete.
Also, I'd like to draw a comparison to the jazz avant-garde, which isn't as totally alienated from the mainstream. Sure there are plenty of crackpots but figures like Ornette Coleman have become respected almost universally. He even proved his ability to play pop when he collaborated with the grateful dead.
Personally I don't understand the avant garde either, but I consider that a personal limitation rather than a flaw in the music somehow. Most musicians at least believe they're sincere.
adam
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