Saturday, February 26, 2005
classical music and the nerdy people ( jason gross handing out the awards):
i The debate as to what to do with classical er, rages on, with articles just like this, written with JUST this kind of tone and EVERY single year. Always grudging in its acceptance of pop cult seen here in an inevitable, back door dissing of it but with no talk as to why it seems to work (its complexities), and absolutely no mention of hip-hop or dance. Additionally, this guy is gonna pretend that Varese (never mind Stockhausen) ever existed or that classical indies that provide an outlet for this unacknowledged music already do the work, while at the same time criticising pop crossover without examining his proposed 'sophisticated fusion' alternative, or what that means when being critical of any attempts at same.
ii the rise of atonality in the early 1900s must've felt as if the world had turned upside down - the negative reaction leading to a period of time where readjustment had to be taken by its listeners, but it wasn't only that: the revival of improvisation (through jazz), coupled with newer instruments that could harness microtones, as well as the rise of newer technologies that could play timbral dance plus the rise of cage-ian orthodoxy - the bogeyman - from now on we could listen to anything (even 'silence') and it was music; no wonder many didn't bother, some went backwards to a time when it was all about pitch relationships and not forward, where the orchestra was being effectively dismantled - less grandiose symphonies - toward the smaller sized ensemble, with the string quartet's survival. The privileging of the acoustic over the electric and the electronic - newer ways to play - isn't good enough. The beatles as classical composers sounds ok as another angle , interesting but ultimately inaccurate, as both were hand-in-hand with each other, 'tis also why 'school of rock' can't be taken entirely seriously as a characterization of classical but it serves the need of its mainstream wing.
iii oh wait, I should talk about records here - Michael von Biel's disc on edition RZ is a case in point: compositions from the early 60s, recorded for radio and not released till last year, and no wonder: there's an electronic-only track, cpl of quartets (but with the emphasis on effect), one quintet but its the last track that I return to. Its an odd comp for small-sized tuba ensemble with electric guitar, tapes and an amplified barbecue grill: there's an odd air to the recording (made in ’68) - its forward looking: smashing the ensemble, no obv hierarchy, and the use of amplification as the bogeyman; but also backward: the tuba plays tonal through-and-through, with some quotation (?!). Its not about good or bad, and I'll change my mind from listen-to-listen, from second-to-second. Broadcast round psychedelia’s dawn it fits the time, and then doesn't. Its a last hurrah before classical’s indiefication. But yeah, buy it for that one - prob rocks harder than rock, might rock harder than school (depends whether you had a teacher or friends you'll remember) but it def rocks harder than 'school of rock' (anything with Jack Black in it can't be v gd d00d!). ¶ 2/26/2005
i The debate as to what to do with classical er, rages on, with articles just like this, written with JUST this kind of tone and EVERY single year. Always grudging in its acceptance of pop cult seen here in an inevitable, back door dissing of it but with no talk as to why it seems to work (its complexities), and absolutely no mention of hip-hop or dance. Additionally, this guy is gonna pretend that Varese (never mind Stockhausen) ever existed or that classical indies that provide an outlet for this unacknowledged music already do the work, while at the same time criticising pop crossover without examining his proposed 'sophisticated fusion' alternative, or what that means when being critical of any attempts at same.
ii the rise of atonality in the early 1900s must've felt as if the world had turned upside down - the negative reaction leading to a period of time where readjustment had to be taken by its listeners, but it wasn't only that: the revival of improvisation (through jazz), coupled with newer instruments that could harness microtones, as well as the rise of newer technologies that could play timbral dance plus the rise of cage-ian orthodoxy - the bogeyman - from now on we could listen to anything (even 'silence') and it was music; no wonder many didn't bother, some went backwards to a time when it was all about pitch relationships and not forward, where the orchestra was being effectively dismantled - less grandiose symphonies - toward the smaller sized ensemble, with the string quartet's survival. The privileging of the acoustic over the electric and the electronic - newer ways to play - isn't good enough. The beatles as classical composers sounds ok as another angle , interesting but ultimately inaccurate, as both were hand-in-hand with each other, 'tis also why 'school of rock' can't be taken entirely seriously as a characterization of classical but it serves the need of its mainstream wing.
iii oh wait, I should talk about records here - Michael von Biel's disc on edition RZ is a case in point: compositions from the early 60s, recorded for radio and not released till last year, and no wonder: there's an electronic-only track, cpl of quartets (but with the emphasis on effect), one quintet but its the last track that I return to. Its an odd comp for small-sized tuba ensemble with electric guitar, tapes and an amplified barbecue grill: there's an odd air to the recording (made in ’68) - its forward looking: smashing the ensemble, no obv hierarchy, and the use of amplification as the bogeyman; but also backward: the tuba plays tonal through-and-through, with some quotation (?!). Its not about good or bad, and I'll change my mind from listen-to-listen, from second-to-second. Broadcast round psychedelia’s dawn it fits the time, and then doesn't. Its a last hurrah before classical’s indiefication. But yeah, buy it for that one - prob rocks harder than rock, might rock harder than school (depends whether you had a teacher or friends you'll remember) but it def rocks harder than 'school of rock' (anything with Jack Black in it can't be v gd d00d!). ¶ 2/26/2005
