tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371351138596055444.post1765441904785401401..comments2024-01-20T23:55:26.269-08:00Comments on The Detritus Review: Composer of the Day!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371351138596055444.post-33238834761042348532008-02-25T08:41:00.000-08:002008-02-25T08:41:00.000-08:00Attacked and maligned??? NO. His music was nothin...Attacked and maligned??? NO. His music was nothing but a collection of warm fuzzy moments and it reminds of kittens and warm summer evenings.<BR/><BR/>The real problem with Webern's music is that there is a glorification and a dependence (on Webern's part) for highly structured forms full of musical equivalents (eg. palindromes, canons and the like). There's nothing wrong with these things per se, but they are made a lot easier when you have "free atonality", and if you have worked with the chromatic scale, making symmetrical forms out of 12 tone rows isn't a real challenge. The chromatic scale is already symmetrical. However, to do these things with tonal music takes far greater skill and greater command of your musical tools. <BR/><BR/>Look for example at Bartok's Cantata Profana where the main musical materials transform symmetrically around a "magic" harmonic section (I forget precisely where -- check the golden mean ;-), and bridge the gap between the related pitch sets of the opening and the close of the piece. The clearest enuciation of this come in the very opening and closing iterations of a scale built on d which transform is a very audible manner. The effect is that the piece seems to evolved and, to some extent, resolved the unstable musical material. And most importantly, in an audible fashion.<BR/><BR/>Of course, this isn't to dismiss the music of Webern, nor do not I recognize that like most musical arguments, this one is based on personal aestetics. But perhaps I am saying that clever formal contructions are an element of good music, not good music itself. <BR/><BR/>Although, there is certainly a refreshing nature to pieces like his last work, a cantata, in which he simply repeats the final three stanzas (each identical) and when finished, stops. His intentions clear, transparent, and an honest interpretation of the subject. I find this trait to quite admirable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371351138596055444.post-11794269619292861172008-02-25T07:06:00.000-08:002008-02-25T07:06:00.000-08:00Great artists are often, sadly, less-than-admirabl...Great artists are often, sadly, less-than-admirable people. I don't think that invalidates the art, though.Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16371363571092946834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3371351138596055444.post-3436680202786524502008-02-24T22:08:00.000-08:002008-02-24T22:08:00.000-08:00He was also, kind of sort of possibly a Nazi sympa...He was also, kind of sort of possibly a Nazi sympathizer. (Not a real Nazi, though...he warned his Jewish friends to flee in advance of the Anschluss.) Oops. Oh, well!Sator Arepohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00006808744513156317noreply@blogger.com