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From: asente@decwrl.UUCP (Paul Asente)
Newsgroups: net.music.classical
Subject: Re: Modern Classical Music
Message-ID: <947@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 1-Jun-84 15:21:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.947
Posted: Fri Jun  1 15:21:49 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 5-Jun-84 08:03:46 EDT
References: <386@ihu1g.UUCP>, <50@mouton.UUCP>
Organization: DEC Western Research Lab, Los Altos, CA
Lines: 39

Perhaps one of the reasons many people dislike "modern classical music"
is that there hasn't been time yet to weed out what is good from what
is just mediocre.  Yes, even Mozart and Beethoven wrote music that
wasn't great.  Have you ever heard Beethoven's Symphony #2?  There's
nothing wrong with it, it just isn't great.  Beethoven's opera
"Fidelio" would probably be forgotten if anyone else had written it.
Every one in a while we get treated to some long-lost piece by some
famous composer and, surprise, it's DULL.  (Not always, of course, but
sometimes.)  Also, most older pieces have either had a chance to be revised
and improved by the composer later in his life or come from the
composer's older days.

For some reason I think that the most interesting modern work being
done is being written for voice or chorus.  Steve Reich's recent
"Tehillim" (Psalms) is very worth looking into; I have always liked Steve Reich
but this piece absolutely blew me away when I heard it live 3 years
ago.  Also check out John Adams' "Harmonium" (due out on Phillips
anytime now recorded by the SF Symphony.)  This is settings of three
poems by John Donne and Emily Dickenson for chorus and large orchestra.

Not choral but really good if you can find it is "Windows" by Jacob
Druckman.  This won the Pulitzer Prize for music when it first came
out.  The main idea is that there is a "wall of sound"; occasionally
you come to "windows" in the wall and hear little snatches of music in
various recognisable styles, then you move on to the next window.  The
little snatches all are almost recognisable; they all seem to tug at
your "I know that!" feeling, but they were all acutally written by
Druckman himself.  This record is very hard to find (I've been trying
for years).

In short, don't give modern music the complete write-off.  There's a
lot of dreck out there but there are some diamonds, too.  The only
difference between now and 150 years ago is that the trash then was
quiet and boring; now it's loud and boring.

	-paul asente
	    (decvax, ucbvax, ihnp4...)!decwrl!asente

"It is easier to fight for your principles than to live up to them."