Remember: Support Your Thesis with Evidence

At least that’s what my sixth-grade English teacher told me.

Piano music written by Frederick Chopin and Claude Debussy is more alike than some people may think, and Stephen Manes’ program Tuesday night did a lot to prove that.

And since I am taking several minutes out of my busy, music-hating life to write about this, you already know—being smart Detritusites—that our author will merely prove that there was a concert and it featured Chopin and Debussy, and that, by the end, we will be miles from where we started.

But it began so well. I had such high hopes.

The works heard seemed tailor-made to highlight the similarities between the two composers.

The obvious question (and logical continuation), then, is how?

Manes constructed seamless little suites from the first four of Chopin’s opus 28 Preludes, two excerpts from Debussy’s First Book of Preludes (“La Cathedral engloutie” and “Ce qu’a vu le vent d’Ouest”) and, in the second half of the concert, Debussy’s three “Estampes.”

Oh, right. The similarities highlighted the tailor-made suite-like constructions that the composers...

Wait. What?

The blending of both composers’ preludes was especially interesting in how they meshed together, perfectly logical in hindsight if not foresight.

This is an example of what counterpoint students refer to as oblique motion.

It would appear, however, that Manes has more of a kinship with the constantly shifting soundscape provided by Debussy.

In other news: the lead in was merely an object to be inverted, played backwards, then fragmented, never to return in its original form.

But still, it would be nice to have some specifics to back up what you say, even if it has nothing to do with the original thread.

While his Chopin interpretations in the first half were more than acceptable, they seemed to be harder-edged, an approach that lessened the vulnerabilities of the Preludes although the playing in Chopin’s “Berceuse” and “Barcarolle” later in the set were fine enough.

Well, folks, that explains it—a harder-edged approach proves that the pianist has more of a kinship with Debussy’s shifting soundscapes.

And without any sarcasm, that’s as specific as it gets. It even degenerates to this:

Manes’ take on “Clair de Lune” was magical [...]

Any evidence to support your claim?

Yeah. No.

But then again, magic is magical. So...

I'm lost.

As the final notes of “L’isle joyeuse” rolled out into the hall, the audience erupted into a well deserved standing ovation.

Oh no! Now a poor little hyphen seems to have been lost. Has anyone seen it?

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And finally, a joke:

Manes then took two encores...

I'll bite. Where did he take them?

...playing a pair of Chopin scores, an F minor mazurka and the “Revolutionary Etude” (op. 10, no. 12).

That was a lousy punchline.

But at least there was an opus number. Hooray! The author took a fact.
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I swear, use that expression one more time...

I don’t feel the need to @#$g@$ about this. But, here’s a little commentary, anyway.

The June In Buffalo Festival is always a showcase for music that doesn’t get heard very often in non-academic settings.

That’s funny, because the concert took place IN an academic setting. What a perfect venue to play this...this (nose upturned)...meeooosick: SUNY, Buffalo.

It is a nearly weeklong extravaganza of works that seek to broach boundaries, looking over the edge, as it were, and peering into the abyss.

New music is not, you hear me?, NOT abyss-mal. Here’s my trusty OAD, yet once again, if you don’t believe me:

abyss (noun)—a deep or seemingly bottomless cavern: a rope led down into the dark abyss/ figurative I was stagnating in an abyss of boredom; figurative the regions of hell conceived of as a bottomless pit: Satan’s dark abyss; (the abyss) figurative a catastrophic situation seen as likely to occur: teetering on the edge of the abyss of a total political wipeout. Origin late Middle English (in the sense [infernal pit]): via late Latin from Greek abussos ‘bottomless,’ from a-‘without’ + bussos “depth.’

Need I say more? Wrong word choice. No. Wrong anti-new, anti-anti-melodic, anti-change sentiment, Garaud!

If you want to be challenged, then you can start here, although there are no guarantees that you will always be challenged or that you will always stay awake.

Such is the case with new music, nay, ALL music with which you are unfamiliar. Ask Mr. Cent (Curtis Jackson), he’ll tell you.

My favorite word today? Peon. Do you want me to take out the OAD again? No? Okay.

The basic theme for this week’s performances is “Music and Computers,” an interesting concept rife with possibilities for new sounds and ways of thinking.

Well said (begrudgingly).

Both works [by Morton Subotnik and Charles Dodge] had their moments of unconventional beauty...

(skeptically) But...?

...but it would be hard to imagine them being created anywhere else but in an ivory tower where the vox populi is not catered to.

What the #(*^%$asd@&a^$(dd@&^k)@kgs!!!!!!????!

#$*(&%asd^@a#*&%asdf!

$#($*(*$pedantic Latin sayings#*&^$%#!

Jhds&^%kcrapd!!!!!!!!!!!

#&^$Gh739Beethov78&&^h&^%2 your cliché 3&^%^#&!!

F-*#&DHkwf37&((*&@%7!!!!!!!!!?!!!

But, #(*&$^%)8anti-76*&^,*&87469: *&*&@gahg&&@^!!!!!!

!!!!!!&^h!!!!!!!

&$*(%&9&@Y@)*&SDO*&#$^Fgno new music?faos8y8!!!?

#*&^#*$Gshj*&#h!!!!!!

AAaarrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!! *&^@#%!!!!!

And that’s why I’m trying to earn my doctorate in music composition! And yes, from an ivory tower, thank you very much.
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