What are you listening to now?

[Peter]

The sudden change in the weather for the better has prompted a Spanish mood and Manuel de Falla's The three cornered hat. Poulenc rated Master Peter's puppet show as Falla's finest work but I am not familiar with this and wondered if anyone here was?

[Quijote]

The sudden change in the weather for the better has prompted a Spanish mood and Manuel de Falla's The three cornered hat. Poulenc rated Master Peter's puppet show as Falla's finest work but I am not familiar with this and wondered if anyone here was?

I can't recall if I ever heard this work (Master P's Puppet). Does it employ the harpsichord? Anyway, your posting has prompted me to put on Falla's Three Cornered-Hat (piano transcription). In French it is called Le Tricorne, and in Spanish El Sombrero de Tres Picos.
The image always gives me the shivers, as it reminds me of the pro-Franco Spanish Guardia Civil who murdered de Falla's friend, the poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Of course, such horrors were far from the composer's mind when he composed this work in 1917.
For you Peter, the innocence of sunshine, for me, something much darker.

[Quijote]

I have just realised I could make a joke about Master Peter's Puppet(s). But I will refrain.

[Quijote]

Well am I wrong to think it odd that a grade 5 piano student (of mine I regret to say) aged 14 should never have heard of her national composer, Elgar? I find whenever it comes to grade 5 aural training the knowledge displayed is lamentable and there is no interest in listening to classical music. When prompted to suggest a Baroque composer, Batch was suggested - a further prompt when I mentioned you open a door with it produced the famous Knob!
The poor child is also privately educated so hopefully the parents are satisfied with the results and her desire to do GCSE music.

The child is doing Grade V piano and has no interest in classical music? Then why is she preparing for the exam?
Prompting her to name a Baroque composer (you open a door with it) could also have elicited the unknown baroque composer Foote, or (perhaps reflecting a different social milieu), the slightly more famous Kevin de Slèdgeammer.
Still, basing your pessimistic forecasts of the "death of classical music" on such a tiny sampling profile would, I suppose, lead you to your conclusions.

[Quijote]

A propos, sounds like a good idea for a quiz :
Name me a composer you open a door with. Answer : Yes, yes, we understand.
OK, Knob was right.

1) Name me a composer that tastes of a certain Black Forest schnapps.

[Quijote]

2) Name me a very famous music analyst of Beethoven's works whose name has a slightly "caramelized" flavour.

[Quijote]

One for Roehre :
4) Name me a famous electroacoustic composer whose name reminds you of a famous Italian cheese.

[Quijote]

5) Name me a composer who won't come out of the shadows.

[Quijote]

6) Name me a composer who spends his time in "temples of consumerism".

[Quijote]

7) Name me a composer who was probably born on a verdant hill.

[Quijote]

3) [missing from above!] Name me a composer who - paradoxically - wants to release you from the prison of your ears.

[Roehre]

Today:

Sasnauskas:
Requiem (1915) (R3: TtN)
A rather bland Requiem , the one which Tchaikovsky didn’t compose, with the soloists (SATB) only having separate parts for approximately a quarter of the duration of the piece. Poor singers...


Haydn:
Opera overtures
Acide e Galatea,
Le Speziale,
Le Pescatrici,
L'Infedelta delusa,
Philemon und Baucis,
Der Götterrath,
Il Ritorno di Tobia,
Il Mondo della Luna,
L'Incontro improvviso,
Die Feuersbrunst
Mozart could have learnt a thing or two from some of these


Porcelijn:
10-5-6-5(a) (chamber orchestra, 1972)

[Peter]

I can't recall if I ever heard this work (Master P's Puppet). Does it employ the harpsichord? Anyway, your posting has prompted me to put on Falla's Three Cornered-Hat (piano transcription). In French it is called Le Tricorne, and in Spanish El Sombrero de Tres Picos.
The image always gives me the shivers, as it reminds me of the pro-Franco Spanish Guardia Civil who murdered de Falla's friend, the poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Of course, such horrors were far from the composer's mind when he composed this work in 1917.
For you Peter, the innocence of sunshine, for me, something much darker.

I'm not sure if it employs a harpsichord though he was of course very fond of the instrument hence his excellent concerto, written for (or at least played by) the supreme Wanda Landowska.

I'm sorry his music evokes such terrors for you (and I am fully aware of the horrors of the Civil war and the murder of Lorca) but as you mention it was far from the composers mind and of course El Sombrero de Tres Picos predated these events. Personally I think it sad that you should allow those events to cloud your response to the music and I daresay Falla would agree with me.

[Peter]

The child is doing Grade V piano and has no interest in classical music? Then why is she preparing for the exam?
Prompting her to name a Baroque composer (you open a door with it) could also have elicited the unknown baroque composer Foote, or (perhaps reflecting a different social milieu), the slightly more famous Kevin de Slèdgeammer.
Still, basing your pessimistic forecasts of the "death of classical music" on such a tiny sampling profile would, I suppose, lead you to your conclusions.

I don't necessarily forecast 'the death of classical music' - I simply think it is sad that in the UK there is generally such a negative attitude towards it from young people and a lot of ignorance. There are of course wonderful exceptions as was recently demonstrated by the high standards of the BBC young musician of the year and this inspires hope for the future.

[Peter]

Peter, I'm not at all surprised that your Grade V (piano?) student didn't know anything about Elgar or Bach. Your comments raise some serious issues:

Firstly, the school approach to music nowadays is CRASH, BANG. Sadly, these are the frequent sounds which emanate from most comprehensive high school music departments, in my experience. The private system would be more "in tune" (pardon the pun) with the requirements for serious study, I suggest to you, but if parents aren't themselves educated then they wouldn't necessarily question the course content.

Secondly, many parents put their children into private schools to give them a social advantage (which I'm not opposed to, BTW) and learning a musical instrument is often considered an additional refinement, that is all.

Thirdly, the vocational orientation of courses now on offer at most universities (well, this is how it is in Australia at least) foster the notion that a good grounding in culture-related subjects is surplus to requirements!! It's the utilitarianism thing gone mad.

Also, my own experience with a systemic syllabus in learning an instrument, such as Australian Music Examinations Board, paradoxically did not foster a love of classical music. I started learning at 35 and already had a huge, in-depth knowledge of music and I often said to my teacher/s that there was nothing about the syllabus which actually encouraged a love of music. There were typically unfortunate responses to my observations but, years later, I stand behind this. The viva voce sections, for example, encouraged glib responses to complex issues; no student was required to show evidence of further musical engagement beyond weekly lessons; the broad strokes painted over many stylistic musical periods could be rote learned by youngsters without real engagement; many teachers had scant knowledge themselves; the isolation of popular culture from the syllabus was counter intuitive and no point of reference was established to compare different kinds of music in order to show the profundity of western art music.

Lastly, there is the whole process of preparing students for examinations which will probably send only a very, very few into the conservatory. The rest who don't make it there (and this is desirable, since there is already inherent difficulty in pursuing a professional career) aren't left with an intrinsic love of music, just a piece of paper and, hopefully, some skills they will go on to use in their daily lives.

These comments are sure to engender controversy as they did when I was an outspoken student!!

There is much in what you say and really we ought to have a new thread especially for this subject!