Another quickie post!
From Charles Ward of the
Britten piece shows Belcea Quartet's got the goods
There's a tiny bit of
What?
"Show me your goods" is the implicit demand listeners throw at performers.
Oh.
Wait, what?
Are we shopping for produce, or some other merchandise? Or…picking out prostitutes? How would I go about throwing a demand? Indeed, demands are even harder to throw when implicit. Non-verbal demand throwing: the next Big Olympic Sport!
But then, whatever. However, later...
Britten wrote imaginatively and creatively:
Sounds good.
five movements of varying length and structural variety.
Makes sense…
The center movement, Solo, was arresting for the high violin melody that floated over a chaste accompaniment.
Chaste? Whatever. But this:
Don't listen with the mind, the melody seemed to say. Simply let your senses take over.
No. Sorry. Trained musicians (or critics?) listen with their minds. That is not, you see, because… Well, to wit, your next paragraph:
The final movement offered both a peeling away of style and baring of the soul. The music slowly edged towards a clearer sense of tonality,
Sorry, Mr. Ward. If you discerned that the music “slowly edged towards a clearer sense of tonality” you were totally listening with your mind. Tonality is a mind-construct, if you will.
You just can’t have it both ways.
4 comments:
Sorry, "imaginatively and creatively" is redundant. Booo.
As for mind constructs, everything is a mind construct.
I would give my life savings--no, I would donate my unharvested liver-- if someone could prove that they listen with a different sense. "Senses," then, is also erroneous. Hey! Nature Neuroscience! I have a story for you!
And, off the beaten path, I apologize, I have been enamored of the name Mompou, lately. I just had to say it, again. Mompou.
"As for mind constructs, everything is a mind construct."
I'm pretty sure that the table leg I stubbed my toe on this morning was not a mind construct.
Maybe we're dealing with some deeply layered psychological desire to stub your toe. Besides, the pain was a mind construct.
"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."
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