Comments on Mixed Meters: Classical Music Isn't Dead, It Just Needs a Rest

I'm kinda loving "Other Mixed Meters atta...

2009-08-26T22:02:58.335-07:00

I'm kinda loving "Other Mixed Meters attacks on artists" as a category. Now can we get personal and dirty?

It's an interesting point your making and also one I haven't a clue as how to answer. I do know that when I found your blog and your put music I was excited to come across a contemporary composer. You, George Zelenz, Lou Harrison and Phillup Glass (do you all hate him or respect him?) ...

Truthfully i can't remember too many parties ...

2009-08-24T16:35:27.629-07:00

Truthfully i can't remember too many parties of modern music practitioners where they play modern music even in part. It has happened though but not as much as one would expect.
It seems that people now are constantly multi-tasking that much music, does not fit in. As a medium music is often used when the body is needed to be free physically to do other things or the mind can also engage in and out without losing the 'flow'. The most successful modern music fits this well and explains why minimalism reaches more than complexity. so i think you are close when you say "instead prefer a solidly unchanging body of old music" but just drop the word old. Some people i think have managed to deal with this situation without going for the obvious. While i doubt he had it in mind, Feldman works well in this regard and why i think his popularity rose with recordings, which i really think is a better medium than a live situation for his music. One can follow his broad strokes or his refined detail. Even live it is difficult not to go from one or the other.
My point is that one is capable of writing viable music that will work in these situations, and i am afraid we have to deal with this problem instead of pretending it will go away. It seem it is an opportunity to write things that reveal other layers over time while maybe allowing broader elements that tie it together more quickly. I think there are means to do this outside my example too.

david, great points, on my first read on the &quo...

2009-08-24T08:43:20.229-07:00

david,

great points, on my first read on the "classical underground" series i thought finally somebody is doing something interesting but like you pointed out there are really no facts in the article. i'm not really sure if there is anything innovative or interesting about the concert series. maybe it is great, but the details are not there. who knows maybe its just a singles night masquerading as "classical underground" concert series. come to think of it most successful concert series eventually end up serving that purpose once they get popular. go figure