Hope for the Future

[urtextmeister]

I recently attended a concert of new symphonic music. It gave me new hope for the future of...what do we call it? New classical music? Art music? Concert hall music? Anyway, it was an inspiring evening. All of the works were fresh and exciting, well-orchestrated, brilliantly conceived and performed with polish and enthusiasm. I was particularly impressed by an oboe concerto, a very original piece with great rhythmic complexity played by a virtuoso of the instrument.
This alone was cause for celebration--that new symphonic music is being produced. But this is what makes it even more amazing:
All of the composers and the entire orchestra was made up of teenagers.

[Peter]

Yes it is encouraging - we are long overdue a new artistic movement, one that doesn't set out simply to shock.

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'Man know thyself'

[v russo]

Originally posted by Peter:
Yes it is encouraging - we are long overdue a new artistic movement, one that doesn't set out simply to shock.

I was reading a New York Times article about the composer Paul Morovec this weekend. He has just won the Pulitzer Prize and spoke about his music. They call him a 'New tonalist', and that in its self is enough for a cause for optimism in the modern concert music world. Tonality is the key in my opinion. Enough of this tired and exhausted closed soceity of serialists speaking a language privy to a closed society of college professors, pseudo- intellects...etc. What does that sterility have to do with art? Music is to move people; in fact all great and memorable art has been designed to move us in one way or another!

Tonality!!!
>>Profound and emotive music for fast and complex times. NOT the other way around.



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v russo

[urtextmeister]

I don't think a tonal system is necessary for emotional expression. The pioneers of serialism--Schoenberg, Berg,Webern--were trying to a musical language that would express human emotion. I think they succeeded to some degree.
I agree, however, that much of the academic focus on serialism made music sterile and unfriendly to audiences.

Composers need to experiment, search for that new, original voice. It was true for Monteverdi, Beethoven, and John Cage. But composers also need to connect in a universal way with audiences. Maybe "new tonalism" is a way to do that. Tonality is a basic human impulse. Composers have repressed it, avoided it and disguised it. Maybe it is time to embrace it.

The trick is to find a way to do so with originality and relevance. The last thing we need is warmed-over Rachmaninoff.

I have never heard of Paul Morovec, but I will search him out and see what he is doing.

[Peter]

Originally posted by urtextmeister:
I don't think a tonal system is necessary for emotional expression. The pioneers of serialism--Schoenberg, Berg,Webern--were trying to a musical language that would express human emotion. I think they succeeded to some degree.
I agree, however, that much of the academic focus on serialism made music sterile and unfriendly to audiences.

Composers need to experiment, search for that new, original voice. It was true for Monteverdi, Beethoven, and John Cage. But composers also need to connect in a universal way with audiences. Maybe "new tonalism" is a way to do that. Tonality is a basic human impulse. Composers have repressed it, avoided it and disguised it. Maybe it is time to embrace it.

The trick is to find a way to do so with originality and relevance. The last thing we need is warmed-over Rachmaninoff.

I have never heard of Paul Morovec, but I will search him out and see what he is doing.

Composers such as Rodrigo prove it is perfectly possible to create in a melodious and exciting way that captivates an audience without descending into an intellectual cacophony.

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'Man know thyself'

[v russo]

Originally posted by urtextmeister:
I don't think a tonal system is necessary for emotional expression. The pioneers of serialism--Schoenberg, Berg,Webern--were trying to a musical language that would express human emotion. I think they succeeded to some degree.
I agree, however, that much of the academic focus on serialism made music sterile and unfriendly to audiences.

Composers need to experiment, search for that new, original voice. It was true for Monteverdi, Beethoven, and John Cage. But composers also need to connect in a universal way with audiences. Maybe "new tonalism" is a way to do that. Tonality is a basic human impulse. Composers have repressed it, avoided it and disguised it. Maybe it is time to embrace it.

The trick is to find a way to do so with originality and relevance. The last thing we need is warmed-over Rachmaninoff.

I have never heard of Paul Morovec, but I will search him out and see what he is doing.

...anything 'emotional' from Berg and Schoenberg came from thier earlier works when they were still clinging to the tonal system in some capacity. Later pieces by these artists tend to be of a more psycological/ subconscious nature. Emotion is always secondary in these instances. Its like the difference between "Transfigured Night" and "Six Little Piano Pieces" of Schoenberg. Milton Babbit and Charles Wourenin have taken this science and mathmatics even further is recent years to the point of sterility in my opinion.

I do agree that we do not need another neo-romantic movement. Billy Joel's novelty classical piano pieces come to mind.





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v russo

[Chris]

Originally posted by v russo:
I do agree that we do not need another neo-romantic movement. Billy Joel's novelty classical piano pieces come to mind.

Novelty? I don't think that's really accurate.

[This message has been edited by Chris (edited 06-01-2004).]

[urtextmeister]

Originally posted by v russo:
...anything 'emotional' from Berg and Schoenberg came from thier earlier works when they were still clinging to the tonal system in some capacity. Later pieces by these artists tend to be of a more psycological/ subconscious nature. Emotion is always secondary in these instances. Its like the difference between "Transfigured Night" and "Six Little Piano Pieces" of Schoenberg. Milton Babbit and Charles Wourenin have taken this science and mathmatics even further is recent years to the point of sterility in my opinion.

I do agree that we do not need another neo-romantic movement. Billy Joel's novelty classical piano pieces come to mind.

I think you are probably right about the 12 tone guys. Schoenberg was definitely more "abstract" once he had developed his system completely. It is not emotional communicative in the usual sense. Webern has an emotional impact for me, but it is not what I would call emotionally fulfilling. In my opinion, Berg was the one who communicated human emotions most directly. This seems true for his early works as well as late works. The violin concerto, which was written four months before his death is a very emotional work.

In general, V, I agree with what you are saying. The twelve-tone system is a way to compose music with pure logic and mathmematical principles and to bypass human instincts and intuitions. Taken to extremes, the system naturally strains out anything human such as emotion, inspiration, humor.
It seems like many of the more conservative composers like Alan Hovhaness, David Diamond, and Domenic Argento have been producing excellent music for many years, but their works occupy a fairly small corner in the classical listener's awareness.
Maybe what we need is a "movement" that will stick in people's minds. Maybe "new tonalism" is it.

I think I will become a New Tonalist.

[v russo]

Originally posted by urtextmeister:
I think you are probably right about the 12 tone guys. Schoenberg was definitely more "abstract" once he had developed his system completely. It is not emotional communicative in the usual sense. Webern has an emotional impact for me, but it is not what I would call emotionally fulfilling. In my opinion, Berg was the one who communicated human emotions most directly. This seems true for his early works as well as late works. The violin concerto, which was written four months before his death is a very emotional work.

In general, V, I agree with what you are saying. The twelve-tone system is a way to compose music with pure logic and mathmematical principles and to bypass human instincts and intuitions. Taken to extremes, the system naturally strains out anything human such as emotion, inspiration, humor.
It seems like many of the more conservative composers like Alan Hovhaness, David Diamond, and Domenic Argento have been producing excellent music for many years, but their works occupy a fairly small corner in the classical listener's awareness.
Maybe what we need is a "movement" that will stick in people's minds. Maybe "new tonalism" is it.

I think I will become a New Tonalist.

...do you compose?



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v russo