an off-beat article about Vivaldi

[sjwenger]

This is a really odd article:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1...osts.html?pg=3

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[robert newman]

Very interesting article Sjwenger. Thanks for that.

In any subject of such complexity it is easy to lose sight of some basic, fundamental truths. On the matter of individual composers and their styles -

If we, who love and listen to music have sometimes heard a previously unknown piece by turning on a radio and have been successfully able to identify the composer of that same piece before the transmission ends (as has happened, I'm sure, to many of us), then, I suggest, there are reasons why we are able to do this. One obvious reason may be that we are familiar with the style of that composer.

Similarly, a third person may be able to identify that a given letter has been written by you or even by me, even although he does not have a signature to work with. Once again, the reason is that the third person has knowledge of your handwriting style and has knowledge of mine.

The thing that makes Beethoven sound like Beethoven (!!) may therefore be reducable to a few, finite, things. These things are characteristic of Beethoven but are less so for other composers. And, its these things which (though we may not be ahle to describe them) are the reason why we are able to distinguish Beethoven from, say, Mozart.

This 'condensed' Beethoven exists. But the closest we get to replicating it may be algorithmic expressions of it - like those attempted by that writer. His algorithm needs improvement but, I think, his line of enquiry has real value.

Similarly, it is possible to produce on a synthesiser a sound remarkably like that of, say, a harpsichord, or a flute, or a violin. Our ability to produce such synthesised tones is, again, only as valid as the algorithm that has been constructed to produce them.

None of this helps to produce more of Beethoven's music. It simply helps us to produce (if anyone needs it) music that sounds remarkably like Beethoven wrote it.

Regards

[Frankli]

(Quote)
Since then, Cope has unleashed Emmy on dozens of the great composers. Until five years ago, though, he avoided Vivaldi. Like many serious fans of classical music, he found works like The Four Seasons a bit light and repetitive. "What's the joke about Vivaldi?" he asks the audience. "He wrote one piece a thousand times," a faint voice answers.
(/Quote)

That's a verdict originally made by Stravinsky, which just proves that Stravinsky (and Cope) didn't understand a bit of Vivaldi. There is nothing light and repetitive about the Four Seasons.
So, it's no wonder that this David Cope believes that his computer program is really able to produce true compositions by "dozens of the great composers".

[This message has been edited by Frankli (edited 09-04-2006).]