Boulez Serves up Imperialism

Came across this little arts brief for an upcoming concert featuring Boulez’s Le Marteau sans Maître.

The highlight is a performance of Pierre Boulez’s Le Marteau sans Maitre [sic]…

See.

But…

The highlight is a performance of Pierre Boulez’s Le Marteau sans Maitre [sic] which encompasses the sound worlds of modern jazz, the Balinese Gamelan, and traditional African and Japanese music.

Okay. Here’s the deal—and I think it’s important, or at least it says a lot about our author's care for attention to detail:

Just for argument’s sake, let’s start from scratch. Let’s assume I have no idea what this piece is about, what it sounds like, whether the composer was still alive or not (or what a composer actually does, for that matter), and that he was also a famous conductor (you know, one of those guys who does an interpretive dance in front of a classical band). Let’s assume I’m a targeted reader.

Now, from the above sentence, I’m thinking to myself, perhaps, this kind of stuff. Not bad. Part Allman Brothers, part Ennappadam Venkatarama Bhagavatar. Suffices to say (etymology link), I’m thinking fusion of some sort or another. Or if I were a tad more classical savvy, maybe I’m thinking this fashion of fusion. Not exactly my bag, but certainly fusiony, to be sure.

My point is that it’s to everyone’s benefit, especially the layperson’s, that the description matches the product. But here’s what this description did:

…because this is the product (Movement IX, Bel édifice et les presentiments).

At this point I'm asking myself, how did this go so wrong, so quickly?

I bet I know; and I bet, deep down, you know, too.

Wiki.

Pedia.

The instrumentation was quite novel for Western music at the time [1955], lacking any kind of bass instrument, and drew some influence from the sound of “non-European” instruments, the Xylorimba recalls the African Balafon, the Vibraphone [the] Balinese Gamelan, and the Guitar the Japanese Koto…

I guess a guitar is like a koto; they both utilize plectrums of one kind or another. (Wiki Disclaimer)

Figure 1. A koto (left) and a guitar (right) Wait! Sorry. Koto right, guitar left. Or…dammit Boulez!

Unfortunately, whoever pilfered the Wiki entry and, subsequently, wrote the little concert blurb must not have finished reading the entire sentence.

…though “neither the style nor the actual use of these instruments has any connection with these different musical civilizations” (“Speaking, Playing, Singing” (1963) in Boulez 1986, 341).

What’s that you say? A quote from Boulez, himself! Cited, even! (At least an attempt at a citation. To be sure, I double-checked its veracity.)

Now, exactly where "modern jazz" came from is still a mystery.

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Conceit Comes in Many Flavors

Serving up a musical cocktail: eighth blackbird’s tasty music fusion

The words "crossover" and "fusion" are perhaps the most frightening in the music descriptive lexicon.

A few thoughts. 1) I would like to purchase, and subsequently destroy, all copies of this lexicon of which you speak. 2) It is true, there is a lot of bad “crossover” and “fusion” music. However, there is a lot of bad music, period. “Bad” is not genre-specific. Except New Age. That is bad. 3) Of all of the words in the music descriptive lexicon, I would nominate “bad” as the most frightening. “Out-of-tune?”

They indicate a self-conscious crossing of a barrier -- from "classical" to "pop," say -- or a marriage of things that just don't taste great together.

Sometimes. Sometimes they indicate this. You write as if genre-bending is a new idea. I submit that it’s as old as recorded music history.

Yet there are successful ways to bring different influences together.

What? Yes. That’s not what you…

See, for example, the marvelous Chicago-based new music sextet eighth blackbird (the "birds," as their fans call them, don't capitalize their name).

You don’t say. Non-capitalization is a personal pet peeve. Every music department has that one guy who refuses to capitalize basically anything he writes (including his name) which marks him as the second coming of John Cage. We get it. You’re avant-garde, at least in your mind.

e. e. cummings is great. The "birds" also, in their name, reference Wallace Stevens. He used capital letters, when appropriate.

Saturday night at the Harris Theater, they presented one of the most organically realized evenings of music that took the best of several disciplines, discarded classifications and arrived at enchantment.

“Arrived at enchantment”? Wow. That sounds like parody. But, sadly, no.

However. The ensemble mentioned is really rather good, as is the rest of the article. The concert sounds like it was good, too. But “arrived at enchantment” sounds like something from The Simpsons.

Homer and Marge walk into a day spa. Over the loudspeaker, a voice says:

“Welcome! You’ve arrived…at enchantment!”