A final, closing post with an overview of this semester.
I enjoyed putting the music that I know in a clearer chronological order that also informed different process, patterns and evolution of musical thought. Although I will never be good with dates, I am clearer of how composers were informed of the past and how their knowledge, as well as their environment informed their music. I found it very beneficial to understand the circumstances and trends of those iconic pieces, and often just following along with the score, which I really should do more often...
It was also beneficial to come back to the subject of music history again as an adult and a working musician and approach the material not as a given fact but an evolution, as well as putting myself in composers' shoes.
The story doesn't end here, I continue to examine current day composers and further understand trends and thoughts of present day and living composers. It seems that the reactionary composition we've seen over and over is continuing now, as different streams of thought are reacting against each other - the experimental, the old fashioned, the conceptual, the crowd pleasers, the critic pleasers, the avant garde, the crossovers, the techies, the globally influenced...
Composers are trying to find their own voice in a world where it seems everything has been done, within endless possibilities and an ever growing global crow. Their only common denominator is trying to stand out.
For this last post, I wanted to share a few pieces representing some different ideas of current day composers and show the different directions composers are taking:
Gabriel Prokofiev (grandson of) - Concerto for Turntables and orchestra
(balancing technology and classical orchestra)
Karen Seigal (my former colleague) - Confessions from the Blogosphere
collaging quotes collected from blogs
(Karen is the soprano)
Chen Yi - Spring Dream
incorporating traditional Chinese music
John Zorn - Meholalot
mixing and mashing up Jewish themes, classical, rock, jazz, punk, chance and whatnot with no discrimination
It is also fitting that I end with this piece that summons our semester so very well:
thanks for a bunch of good music y'all! it's been fun
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Friday, November 29, 2013
Post WW2
There is a a very dramatic shift of music in its conception, philosophy, goal, process and effect on the audience.
WW2 has shocked the world profoundly in a number of ways, and the arts as a result have turned back on expressing idealism, progress, elitism as well as romanticism or beauty.
The artists of the world are disillusioned and have turned to a more conceptual, experimental, intellectual and less emotional work.
The question that came up for me again and again this week had to do with the definition of music, since this week's pieces stretch the meaning more and more.
Pierre Boulez (1925- ) - Structures for 2 pianos
Building on Schoenberg and Massiaen, this piece is mathematical, conceptual tone row work based on matrix, mathematical principles when it comes to the selection of pitch, rhythm and dynamic. It's hard for me to fully understand this work because I am not mathematically inclined and the explanations and diagrams of it make little sense to me. It is very carefully and meticulously planned out even though it is not something that can be heard.
With many post modern works, I feel like we are listening to audible formulas, and I don't if our ears and their perception are at all relevant to the exploration of "pitch math". This piece is not meant for auditory enjoyment but rather intellectual and scientific exploration.
John Cage (1912-1992) 4'33
John Cage is a fascinating and very interesting individual. Such an individual. I regard to him more as an original thinker, as a philosopher. I don't know if I can think of him as a composer, he notably was not a good musician. More then anyone on this list he constantly asked "what is music" of himself and his audience and challenged every barrier of it. I like to think of his creations as "sound philosophy".
In 4'33, the famous "piece" where the pianist just sits there and occasionally turns pages meant to bring awareness that even silence is music, even outside and incidental noise is music. This type of art becomes more about the concept and the reaction of the audience to that concept then about "musical talent". John Cage pushed forward the ideas opened up by Cowell and opened up the door to conceptual "sound art" that is such a big part of what current art music is today. For better or for worse.
Here he explains it for himself:
and here's my favorite 4'33
Krysztof Penderecki (1933 - ) Threnody for the victims of Hiroshima
Once again the stretch of the definition of music. With the creation of expended technique and notation Penderecki is able to get a completely different sound out of the strings and create an "auditory experience". The piece is very powerful and very effective in visualizing the tragedy. I can see Cowell's inspiration here, using the instruments unusually. I can also see the tremendous effect this piece had on future composers as well as film soundtracks. He successfully brought out sounds and an emotional response that can even be thought of as literal. May I dare to compare this to madrigal text painting?
I first was exposed to this piece in middle school, and absolutely hated it because of the way sonority and pitch was used. I didn't know how to react to a more conceptual work.
this is stupid:
Laurie Andreson - O Superman
I have a hard time being objective about this. Although I studied this piece before I still have the same problem with it - I don't find it to be any different then some other pop music, especially since the technology of the looping and the vocoder sounds incredibly outdated and sounds like something anyone can replicate on their garageband. Why is she studied in the same course as Beethoven? I don't know, I don't know how this piece made the cannon, I don't find much appeal in it intellectually, performance based or technologically. I do find merit in the text and acknowledge her use of "O Souverain...", and see her influence on present day indie artists, and I'm sure that in the 80s the technology and performance aspects of this were probably more revered but I don't think this is a timeless piece of music that can be appreciated 100 years from now...
Sorry Laurie Andreson, I do find you an intelligent, strong and creative woman and your eulogy to Lou Reed was beautifully written.
This is the "music video" for this song from the MOMA exhibit
WW2 has shocked the world profoundly in a number of ways, and the arts as a result have turned back on expressing idealism, progress, elitism as well as romanticism or beauty.
The artists of the world are disillusioned and have turned to a more conceptual, experimental, intellectual and less emotional work.
The question that came up for me again and again this week had to do with the definition of music, since this week's pieces stretch the meaning more and more.
Pierre Boulez (1925- ) - Structures for 2 pianos
Building on Schoenberg and Massiaen, this piece is mathematical, conceptual tone row work based on matrix, mathematical principles when it comes to the selection of pitch, rhythm and dynamic. It's hard for me to fully understand this work because I am not mathematically inclined and the explanations and diagrams of it make little sense to me. It is very carefully and meticulously planned out even though it is not something that can be heard.
With many post modern works, I feel like we are listening to audible formulas, and I don't if our ears and their perception are at all relevant to the exploration of "pitch math". This piece is not meant for auditory enjoyment but rather intellectual and scientific exploration.
John Cage (1912-1992) 4'33
John Cage is a fascinating and very interesting individual. Such an individual. I regard to him more as an original thinker, as a philosopher. I don't know if I can think of him as a composer, he notably was not a good musician. More then anyone on this list he constantly asked "what is music" of himself and his audience and challenged every barrier of it. I like to think of his creations as "sound philosophy".
In 4'33, the famous "piece" where the pianist just sits there and occasionally turns pages meant to bring awareness that even silence is music, even outside and incidental noise is music. This type of art becomes more about the concept and the reaction of the audience to that concept then about "musical talent". John Cage pushed forward the ideas opened up by Cowell and opened up the door to conceptual "sound art" that is such a big part of what current art music is today. For better or for worse.
Here he explains it for himself:
and here's my favorite 4'33
Krysztof Penderecki (1933 - ) Threnody for the victims of Hiroshima
Once again the stretch of the definition of music. With the creation of expended technique and notation Penderecki is able to get a completely different sound out of the strings and create an "auditory experience". The piece is very powerful and very effective in visualizing the tragedy. I can see Cowell's inspiration here, using the instruments unusually. I can also see the tremendous effect this piece had on future composers as well as film soundtracks. He successfully brought out sounds and an emotional response that can even be thought of as literal. May I dare to compare this to madrigal text painting?
I first was exposed to this piece in middle school, and absolutely hated it because of the way sonority and pitch was used. I didn't know how to react to a more conceptual work.
this is stupid:
Laurie Andreson - O Superman
I have a hard time being objective about this. Although I studied this piece before I still have the same problem with it - I don't find it to be any different then some other pop music, especially since the technology of the looping and the vocoder sounds incredibly outdated and sounds like something anyone can replicate on their garageband. Why is she studied in the same course as Beethoven? I don't know, I don't know how this piece made the cannon, I don't find much appeal in it intellectually, performance based or technologically. I do find merit in the text and acknowledge her use of "O Souverain...", and see her influence on present day indie artists, and I'm sure that in the 80s the technology and performance aspects of this were probably more revered but I don't think this is a timeless piece of music that can be appreciated 100 years from now...
Sorry Laurie Andreson, I do find you an intelligent, strong and creative woman and your eulogy to Lou Reed was beautifully written.
This is the "music video" for this song from the MOMA exhibit
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Early Modernism
After the late romantics went on to break conventions when it came to harmonic function and form, the modernists, each in their way were all about finding ways to break conventions. How much of it was their true artistic expression and how much of it was a way to be seen as original and push buttons?
Claude Debussy (1862-1912) - Prelude l'apres midi d'un faun
Although this piece started as a symphonic poem, it is more recognized as a dance piece, or from fantasia...
On one hand Debussy follows Wagner in terms of harmonic ambiguity, on the other he makes his harmonic shifts coloristic and aesthetically pretty and pleasing, hence more approachable. The piece illustrates and paints the scene with a high visual connotation which is why it got adapted to dance so quickly. The melodic ideas are approachable and enjoyable.
I have to note the type of dance and choreography by Nijinsky that was set to the piece, it as a modern and angular movement, tying in modernism in dance as well.
Debussy's coloristic and modal inspired chord progressions have inspired not only classical musicians and he is a very popular composer to quote and draw from;
Here's a Brazilian jazz version:
and here's a disco:
and even though it wasn't this piece, I wrote songs inspired by Debussy, twice!
here's one of those...
Saved, inspired by "Claire de Lune"
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) - Le Tombeau de Couperin
I've been in love with Ravel since middle school. I love his sonorities, drama, complexity and the parallel fifths.
Le Tombeau de Couperin (the tomb of Couperin) was originally written for piano but the is now more known as an orchestration manual. This is a personal piece dedicated to friends who died in WWI. This is the very opposite of both idealistic Wagner and absolute Brahms, it is probably more of a continuation of Mahler, writing emotional, personal music.
Ravel is looking at the past and creates an homage to the Baroque dance suite, while maintaining his signature impressionist style and harmonies.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) - The Rite of Spring
This piece is so large and influential I won't even attempt to cover it in the blog. The contribution and further stepping outside the conventions in regard to rhythm, tonality, meter and overt dissonance is well known.
It also well known to have been impossible to play, and both the music and the ballet were met with total outrage. Again we see modernist composer and choreographer (same Nijinsky) teaming up and creating a sharply new sensibility.
The type of movement in this ballet is breaking all ground of formal classical training, parallel to what the music is exhibiting.
The pagan subject matter as well as the folk roots of the music can be a continuation of Weber and German opera.
The music is intellectual, and is pushing buttons and conventions as it turns to the "ugly". In opposite of the emotional, pretty impressionism.
This piece has also inspired a large amount of music outside of classical:
Jazz trio "The Bad Plus" who are known for out jazz covers have dedicated a full project to "jazzifying" the work with their own aesthetic:
My colleague and successful NYC based composer Lev Zhurbin came up with a full suite of orchestrations of the folk songs featured in "The Rite of Spring"
and I'm pretty sure the imagery from "the ring" is a connection too...
I've overstayed my welcome on this post, but I must make a quick mention of two more:
Schoenberg, who took "breaking the rules" a step further by not only not relying on tonality but eliminating the tonal system all together in favor of his 12 tone system. The result is incredibly intellectual, cerebral and unapproachable to the common listener. In that though he is continuing Wagner's notion of progress with no account to popularity.
Cowell who not only eliminated pitch, but is focusing on sound, texture, sonority and noise, to push the envelope of what is music a step further.
If Stravinsky only used dissonance as a turn for the "ugly" then these two eliminate the need or relevance for "beauty" in music all together. Listening becomes not about your emotion but intellectual exploration in Schoenberg's case, and experimentation in Cowell's.
Claude Debussy (1862-1912) - Prelude l'apres midi d'un faun
Although this piece started as a symphonic poem, it is more recognized as a dance piece, or from fantasia...
On one hand Debussy follows Wagner in terms of harmonic ambiguity, on the other he makes his harmonic shifts coloristic and aesthetically pretty and pleasing, hence more approachable. The piece illustrates and paints the scene with a high visual connotation which is why it got adapted to dance so quickly. The melodic ideas are approachable and enjoyable.
I have to note the type of dance and choreography by Nijinsky that was set to the piece, it as a modern and angular movement, tying in modernism in dance as well.
Debussy's coloristic and modal inspired chord progressions have inspired not only classical musicians and he is a very popular composer to quote and draw from;
Here's a Brazilian jazz version:
and here's a disco:
and even though it wasn't this piece, I wrote songs inspired by Debussy, twice!
here's one of those...
Saved, inspired by "Claire de Lune"
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) - Le Tombeau de Couperin
I've been in love with Ravel since middle school. I love his sonorities, drama, complexity and the parallel fifths.
Le Tombeau de Couperin (the tomb of Couperin) was originally written for piano but the is now more known as an orchestration manual. This is a personal piece dedicated to friends who died in WWI. This is the very opposite of both idealistic Wagner and absolute Brahms, it is probably more of a continuation of Mahler, writing emotional, personal music.
Ravel is looking at the past and creates an homage to the Baroque dance suite, while maintaining his signature impressionist style and harmonies.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) - The Rite of Spring
This piece is so large and influential I won't even attempt to cover it in the blog. The contribution and further stepping outside the conventions in regard to rhythm, tonality, meter and overt dissonance is well known.
It also well known to have been impossible to play, and both the music and the ballet were met with total outrage. Again we see modernist composer and choreographer (same Nijinsky) teaming up and creating a sharply new sensibility.
The type of movement in this ballet is breaking all ground of formal classical training, parallel to what the music is exhibiting.
The pagan subject matter as well as the folk roots of the music can be a continuation of Weber and German opera.
The music is intellectual, and is pushing buttons and conventions as it turns to the "ugly". In opposite of the emotional, pretty impressionism.
This piece has also inspired a large amount of music outside of classical:
Jazz trio "The Bad Plus" who are known for out jazz covers have dedicated a full project to "jazzifying" the work with their own aesthetic:
My colleague and successful NYC based composer Lev Zhurbin came up with a full suite of orchestrations of the folk songs featured in "The Rite of Spring"
and I'm pretty sure the imagery from "the ring" is a connection too...
I've overstayed my welcome on this post, but I must make a quick mention of two more:
Schoenberg, who took "breaking the rules" a step further by not only not relying on tonality but eliminating the tonal system all together in favor of his 12 tone system. The result is incredibly intellectual, cerebral and unapproachable to the common listener. In that though he is continuing Wagner's notion of progress with no account to popularity.
Cowell who not only eliminated pitch, but is focusing on sound, texture, sonority and noise, to push the envelope of what is music a step further.
If Stravinsky only used dissonance as a turn for the "ugly" then these two eliminate the need or relevance for "beauty" in music all together. Listening becomes not about your emotion but intellectual exploration in Schoenberg's case, and experimentation in Cowell's.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Wagner...
Wagner....
Israelis have mixes feelings about Wagner. His music was banned, we only glossed over him in music classes briefly mostly with the saying "we wrote long operas, hated jews and inspired the nazis, next"
I didn't know very much about him and never even understood why him. He was by far not the only anti-semitic composer, and not the only one Germans flaunted as their national heritage, yet we have no problem listening to Bach...
It begs the familiar question of whether you should, and how can you separate the man from his work.
When a few years ago Daniel Barenboim put Wagner on the program in Israel people were outraged for months. It was a long debate whether the piece should be played, and the idea behind the ban resurfaced. Eventually Barenboim decided to perform the work, while many audience members yelled at him and left the hall.
I remember the news segment on that, an older man yelled at him "my whole family burned in the ovens, how can you play this music?" In my mind, I didn't see a connection. It wasn't Wagner or this musical piece that claimed the victims, is Wagner a projection? something tangible to be mad at and blame?
Now that I got to read more about Wagner this week, for the first time I understand that point of view clearer. Wagner did not separate the man and the music. His music was a manifestation of his extreme views. His many writings on nationalism were very influential to the Nazi views, perhaps he is a little responsible.
In 2011 the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra has officially broken the ban by performing Wagner in Germany. There is symbolism in that, perhaps we can all learn to reappropriate the past.
I don't know if I can listen to his music with absolute clarity and objectivity while being aware of the baggage that comes with it, but as a musician I can try and appreciate his contributions.
The 19th century is also the period where we can see composers of Jewish origin coming to prominent fame. Politics and music and becoming more intertwined in this period and things are getting interconnected and in general more complex.
Israelis have mixes feelings about Wagner. His music was banned, we only glossed over him in music classes briefly mostly with the saying "we wrote long operas, hated jews and inspired the nazis, next"
I didn't know very much about him and never even understood why him. He was by far not the only anti-semitic composer, and not the only one Germans flaunted as their national heritage, yet we have no problem listening to Bach...
It begs the familiar question of whether you should, and how can you separate the man from his work.
When a few years ago Daniel Barenboim put Wagner on the program in Israel people were outraged for months. It was a long debate whether the piece should be played, and the idea behind the ban resurfaced. Eventually Barenboim decided to perform the work, while many audience members yelled at him and left the hall.
I remember the news segment on that, an older man yelled at him "my whole family burned in the ovens, how can you play this music?" In my mind, I didn't see a connection. It wasn't Wagner or this musical piece that claimed the victims, is Wagner a projection? something tangible to be mad at and blame?
Now that I got to read more about Wagner this week, for the first time I understand that point of view clearer. Wagner did not separate the man and the music. His music was a manifestation of his extreme views. His many writings on nationalism were very influential to the Nazi views, perhaps he is a little responsible.
In 2011 the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra has officially broken the ban by performing Wagner in Germany. There is symbolism in that, perhaps we can all learn to reappropriate the past.
I don't know if I can listen to his music with absolute clarity and objectivity while being aware of the baggage that comes with it, but as a musician I can try and appreciate his contributions.
The 19th century is also the period where we can see composers of Jewish origin coming to prominent fame. Politics and music and becoming more intertwined in this period and things are getting interconnected and in general more complex.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Romanticism
This is such a musical comfort zone it's almost boring....
Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven is regarded as the transition from classical to Romantic. He holds on to classical aesthetics in terms of proportion, form, organization, harmony and motivic use while progressing the thought forward and stretching it - the phrases aren't always equal, the harmony is more complex, a motif is milked for all it's worth and the emotion is back, and then some.
Sonata in C minor (Pathetique) (1798)
A must for every pianist, I am familiar with this piece forwards and backwards... I approached listening to it as a comparison to a Mozart sonata and marking some of the evolution.
Form -
Like I mentioned earlier, Beethoven holds on to the form and proportion of a sonata in theory, but stretching it by giving a long and virtuosic introduction before the A theme appears.
The transitional and closing sections are also stretched and given a lot of room and personality.
The sections flow into each other more, there isn't always a cadence finishing a part, it simply hangs on a chord and the resolution is already the beginning of the next section.
Virtuosity -
More and more we see composers composing for themselves as a way to impress the audience with their playing, and this again raises the bar on virtuosity with fast passages and demanding accompaniment.
Emotion -
This isn't as level headed as Mozart's sonatas, the emotional depth of the piece comes through as the pianist and the listener really go on a journey.
Affect -
Beethoven does change topics similar to a Mozart sonata, but it done much more dramatically - as a Mozart sonata is expected to change a topic every even number of bars, Beethoven takes the freedom to either hang on to an emotion and play it out, or to change abruptly.
My appropriation contribution:
this reminded my I completely forgot to share "Bach on Banjo"! I know we're past it but it's too good. Please excuse the digression and enjoy it anyway!
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Dichterliebe (The poet's love) (1840)
A well known song cycle. I would compare it to a continuation and a progression of the Renaissance aria and song. It is just a pretty melody with pretty harmony, performed in a pretty and emotional manner.
There is simplicity to the form, and the harmony, though at times complex works to support a melody. The melody's contour, the personality of the piano, phrasing, dynamics and the performance bring up the emotion of the text. Short, approachable style that anyone can enjoy, and will probably find it "beautiful". That aesthetic is of most importance here.
Carl Maria Fon Weber (1786-1826)
According to Wikipedia "Debussy remarked that the sound of the Weber orchestra was obtained through the scrutiny of the soul of each instrument"
How's that for sentiment?
It seems the Romantic composers have gone back to the sentiment similar to the Italian madrigals where the emotion is of most importance. Unlike the madrigals the approach is less literal, but rather uses harmony, phrasing and technique to create and evoke an emotion. Another important difference is that here that emotion is achieved often with instrumental music, and not by relying on text.
We also see the use of the leitmotif both in this opera and Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastique". This is a development of working with a motif, as well as a continuation of Mozart's cymbolism and assignment of certain characters with certain keys, meter etc.
the very first youtube video I watched was of this, oh so disturbing staging:
Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven is regarded as the transition from classical to Romantic. He holds on to classical aesthetics in terms of proportion, form, organization, harmony and motivic use while progressing the thought forward and stretching it - the phrases aren't always equal, the harmony is more complex, a motif is milked for all it's worth and the emotion is back, and then some.
Sonata in C minor (Pathetique) (1798)
A must for every pianist, I am familiar with this piece forwards and backwards... I approached listening to it as a comparison to a Mozart sonata and marking some of the evolution.
Form -
Like I mentioned earlier, Beethoven holds on to the form and proportion of a sonata in theory, but stretching it by giving a long and virtuosic introduction before the A theme appears.
The transitional and closing sections are also stretched and given a lot of room and personality.
The sections flow into each other more, there isn't always a cadence finishing a part, it simply hangs on a chord and the resolution is already the beginning of the next section.
Virtuosity -
More and more we see composers composing for themselves as a way to impress the audience with their playing, and this again raises the bar on virtuosity with fast passages and demanding accompaniment.
Emotion -
This isn't as level headed as Mozart's sonatas, the emotional depth of the piece comes through as the pianist and the listener really go on a journey.
Affect -
Beethoven does change topics similar to a Mozart sonata, but it done much more dramatically - as a Mozart sonata is expected to change a topic every even number of bars, Beethoven takes the freedom to either hang on to an emotion and play it out, or to change abruptly.
My appropriation contribution:
this reminded my I completely forgot to share "Bach on Banjo"! I know we're past it but it's too good. Please excuse the digression and enjoy it anyway!
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Dichterliebe (The poet's love) (1840)
A well known song cycle. I would compare it to a continuation and a progression of the Renaissance aria and song. It is just a pretty melody with pretty harmony, performed in a pretty and emotional manner.
There is simplicity to the form, and the harmony, though at times complex works to support a melody. The melody's contour, the personality of the piano, phrasing, dynamics and the performance bring up the emotion of the text. Short, approachable style that anyone can enjoy, and will probably find it "beautiful". That aesthetic is of most importance here.
Carl Maria Fon Weber (1786-1826)
According to Wikipedia "Debussy remarked that the sound of the Weber orchestra was obtained through the scrutiny of the soul of each instrument"
How's that for sentiment?
It seems the Romantic composers have gone back to the sentiment similar to the Italian madrigals where the emotion is of most importance. Unlike the madrigals the approach is less literal, but rather uses harmony, phrasing and technique to create and evoke an emotion. Another important difference is that here that emotion is achieved often with instrumental music, and not by relying on text.
We also see the use of the leitmotif both in this opera and Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastique". This is a development of working with a motif, as well as a continuation of Mozart's cymbolism and assignment of certain characters with certain keys, meter etc.
the very first youtube video I watched was of this, oh so disturbing staging:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)