This has been around the musicblogosphere a bit, but I can’t let it go.
The Epoch Times is an independent newspaper from
The article in question is an interview with a German doctor/oboist with the Western-Eastern fusion Divine Performing Arts Orchestra. Excerpts follow:
Even though he played piano and oboe for six hours a day during high school, he was still the best in his class academically.
Even though?
Dr. Trey's first professional choice would have been to become a conductor, but he later decided to go into medicine.
Probably wise, if you like money. But go on…
Since his youth, Dr. Trey has had a deep interest in the history and development of music believing that "music is a major contributor in building societies. It creates a direction in societies."
I would argue, rather, that music (and the arts in general) are a reflection of society. Symptom, not cause. No?
Dr. Trey notes that music has lost its way since the nineteenth century. It has changed from earlier eras—the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and Romantic epochs (1600-1900)—to trends starting in early 1900's.
Lost its way? Where were we headed? Utopia?
These earlier eras spanning 300 years represent the pinnacle of classical music in the West and are based on higher principles and values.
Higher principles…values? Counterpoint?
Composers such as Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Stockhausen composed music from a listener's perspective as if experimenting with noise.
First of all, this sentence sucks. Second, those are all great composers. Right? No? Uh-oh...
When this chaotic music appeared, atomic bombs, communism and cold war also surfaced.
Whoah. We have a serious cause-effect problem. Well, maybe not. It could be that this is utter fucking nonsense. Because: seriously? That is the stupidest fucking bullshit ever written. And I read Atlas Shrugged!
He believes this chaotic music in no small way contributes to the chaos in modern times. Destructive political movements, such as communism, thrived by killing people in its own society.
New Music = Communism? Communism was invented in the mid-1800s. It must have influenced Brahms. Wait...no. Brahms influenced Marx. Is that right?
I guess this is all anti-communist rhetoric? Because it sure isn’t music history. The teleological view espoused is complete nonsense. Where was music going before it got “derailed”? How did
If we all just listened to Mozart all the time, we’d live in paradise!
Whee! Motherfucking crazy shit on the internets!