What are you listening to now?

[Quijote]

When I japed that Schoenbergian 12-tone composition "equalizes" musical space in every direction, I was referring to the horizontal/vertical (read : melodic/harmonic) aspects. That sounds terribly grandiose, doesn't it? What on earth does this mean? I will explain : take away the functionality of dissonance in traditional harmonic practice (what the textbooks and CD liner notes refer to as the "emancipation of dissonance" [agh!]), you in effect level out the musical framework. Or in other words, it renders traditional harmonic concepts redundant. Could the visual artists on this forum enlighten or correct us if I were to suggest (very tentatively) an anology with cubism? And was cubism also a blind alley?

[Michael]

Which is an echo of Mark Twain's immortal jape : "Wagner's music is better than it sounds". Or was it Bernard Shaw? Can't recall.

That's the quote I was trying to remember. I think it was Mark Twain.

[Quijote]

And what have I listened to today? Something quite spiritual (I suppose) : once again, Jonathan HARVEY, Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco. Don't really care what the words mean, for they are simply "hooks" for the music. Anyway, it must be spiritual because
a) Harvey is well-known for his adherence to Buddhism;
b) the words are latin and eminently religious in intent;
c) the words are taken from an inscription on the great tenor bell at Winchester Cathedral (a sort of temple where people pray and so on).

The full inscription on the bell is : Horas avolantes numero mortuos plango vivos ad preces voco.

[Quijote]

So, whilst its supposèd spiritual content escapes me (cold, atheist heart that I have), I do find it quite beautiful.

[Quijote]

You see, where the words are important to me (in the electroacoustic artwork I mention just above, by way of example) is where they have sonic potential : each word can be broken down into phonetic elements, sibilants, plosives and so on, that serve to undermine their surface content and meaning. Far more interesting. But then again, I have admitted to being a recovering formalist, and constantly fall off the wagon.

[Quijote]

As to its "value", that is for another thread, together with "transcendence". I have a strong suspicion that certain forum members have been reading Julian Johnson, Who Needs Classical Music? Cultural Choice and Musical Value, Oxford University Press, 2002.

[Roehre]

Today:

Röntgen:
Symphony [no.8] in c sharp minor (1930)

[Hofrat]

Roehre;

Your listening to Roetgen's symphony in C# minor reminded me of something. In the 18th century there were only 2 symphonies written in the key of C# minor. One of them is by Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792) in Sweden. Do you know who wrote the other??

[Quijote]

This morning :
Chopin : Etudes, with transcriptions by Leopold Godowsky, played by Boris Berezovsky (a Warner Classics CD).

[Preston]

It's like a baroque cello or viola da gamba in some ways, as you would expect, but those strings on the back give it a very interesting, full sound.

Chris, I quite like the sound of the viola da gamba. I listen to Tobias Hume's pieces every now and again. Listening to Tobias Hume was how I first heard the viola da gamba.

[Quijote]

Roehre;

Your listening to Roetgen's symphony in C# minor reminded me of something. In the 18th century there were only 2 symphonies written in the key of C# minor. One of them is by Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792) in Sweden. Do you know who wrote the other??

I don't know. Come on Hofrat, tell us.

[Roehre]

Roehre;

Your listening to Roetgen's symphony in C# minor reminded me of something. In the 18th century there were only 2 symphonies written in the key of C# minor. One of them is by Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792) in Sweden. Do you know who wrote the other??

I am afraid I haven't the slightest, Hofrat

======================

Today:

Zemlinsky:
Cello sonata in a-minor (1894) (R3)

Röntgen:
Symphony [no.15] in f-sharp-minor (1931)

[Hofrat]

I don't know. Come on Hofrat, tell us.

I was asking for help, not posing a music quiz question. The question cropped up when I bought the Kraus C# minor symphony CD. In the liner notes, it was stated that there were but 2 symphonies composed in the key of C# minor in the 18th century and Kraus was one of them. The notes did not say who wrote the other one. I have been looking ever since. All I know that he is from the Vienna School. I thought some of the well read contributors to this forum would know.

[Sorrano]

Wikipedia is no help at all: "There are only two known symphonies in the 18th Century written in this key. One of them is by Joseph Martin Kraus, but he appears to have found the key difficult since he later rewrote it in C minor." It does not list the other composer, nor in the section covering symphonies written in C sharp Minor. Good luck with your search.

[Quijote]

I was asking for help, not posing a music quiz question. The question cropped up when I bought the Kraus C# minor symphony CD. In the liner notes, it was stated that there were but 2 symphonies composed in the key of C# minor in the 18th century and Kraus was one of them. The notes did not say who wrote the other one. I have been looking ever since. All I know that he is from the Vienna School. I thought some of the well read contributors to this forum would know.

Not a quiz? Very well. It is particularly irritating that the writer of your CD liner notes offers an interesting observation (only two 18th-century symphonies written in C-sharp minor ...) but omits to name the second !! Is it because (s)he doesn't know, either? You should contact the CD company, find out who wrote the accompanying CD "blah blah" and put the question. Actually, it is rather an unusual key for the period, isn't it?