Classical Music R.I.P.
Fri, Jul 20 2012, 8:59PM
The death of 'classical music' on 9th August 1975 was not well reported. Some say it rose again and was actually buried on December 4th a year later, but it matters not. 9th August is also my birthday so I had other things on my mind, but I seem to have 'noticed it not'. Whlie another thread tries to decide who are the great living composers, I merely ask one question. Give me the name of one work written after 09/08/75 that is any good. I don't mean stands up against Beethoven or even Brahms or even Britten. I just mean 'a little bit good', worth listening to. I don't expect any replies. Classical music died on my birthday and nobody told me. (I think people were still talking to me then).
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 1:18PM
#2
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
Agreed both - Shostakovitch was a major figure. A sad day indeed 9/8/75.
Cheer up Uber. On that day Woa! I'm going to Barbados was no. 1 in the pop charts!
Just found a snippet on Wiki Uber; Boulez described Shostakovitch as 'the second, or even third pressing of Mahler'.
I think on this occasion Mr. Boulez was talking Boulex.
I agree with you ww - though I know Uber won't - Arvo Part is important for me personally.
I'll have a think about what works might be on the list...
Mark
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 1:23PM
#3
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
WW, quite a few people confuse the Classical Period (about 1760-1820) with Classical Music as a genre. "Serious music", "Art music" or "precise music" (as Bernstein used to call it) are different conventional names to describe this form of Music.
Stick to the essence of the matter. The Music itself.
Parla
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 5:09PM
#4
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
Just found a snippet on Wiki Uber; Boulez described Shostakovitch as 'the second, or even third pressing of Mahler'.
I think on this occasion Mr. Boulez was talking Boulex.
Ha ha! Excellent, and I don't agree with Boulez, despite finding much of Mahler's work hugely enjoyable.
Anybody got any other suggestions to help Uber consider that maybe the world didn't end in 1975 (or 1875 if you're a fan of Bizet)?
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 5:46PM
#5
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
I'll take the bait. Here are a few post-1975 works that have impressed me:
Ginastera -- Popul Vuh (1975-83)
George Crumb -- Haunted Landscape (1984), Idyll for the Misbegotten (1985)
Sofia Gubaidulina -- Pro et Contra (1989)
K. Penderecki -- Symphony no. 7 (1996), Symphony no. 8 (2005)
Arvo Part -- Te Deum (1985), Litany (1994)
Tania Leon (Cuban-American) -- Batey (1989), Carabali (1991)
Chen Yi (Chinese-American) -- Ge Xu (1994), Chinese Myths Cantata (1996)
Kaija Saariaho -- Orion (2002)
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 8:06PM
#6
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
Anybody got any other suggestions to help Uber consider that maybe the world didn't end in 1975 (or 1875 if you're a fan of Bizet)?
Sally Beamish, David Matthews, Michael Tippett, Peter Maxwell Davies ..... and I haven't even stepped outside of Britain.
I fear however, that trying to convince Uber Alice of anything might prove to be an exercise in futility.
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 8:13PM
#7
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
....Trying to get me to listen to Michael Tippett will certainly be. What a totally untalented bore he is.
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 8:31PM
#8
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
Woa! I'm going to see my girlfiend
Woa! In the sunny Caribbean sea
Uber, upon peril of your musical soul, listen to Tippett's Concerto for Double String Orchestra (pre 1975). It's a masterpiece. Then try Tippett symphony 4 (1977).
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 8:34PM
#9
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
WW, quite a few people confuse the Classical Period (about 1760-1820) with Classical Music as a genre. "Serious music", "Art music" or "precise music" (as Bernstein used to call it) are different conventional names to describe this form of Music.
Stick to the essence of the matter. The Music itself.
Parla
Permanent music is the best description IMO.
Chris
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 8:34PM
#10
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
WW, quite a few people confuse the Classical Period (about 1760-1820) with Classical Music as a genre. "Serious music", "Art music" or "precise music" (as Bernstein used to call it) are different conventional names to describe this form of Music.
Stick to the essence of the matter. The Music itself.
Parla
Permanent music is the best description IMO.
Chris
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 10:18PM
#11
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
WW, quite a few people confuse the Classical Period (about 1760-1820) with Classical Music as a genre. "Serious music", "Art music" or "precise music" (as Bernstein used to call it) are different conventional names to describe this form of Music.
Stick to the essence of the matter. The Music itself.
Parla
Well let's rule out a few options. Music for children - Pop music. Music for drunks - Jazz. Music for taking prozac or committing suicide - Blues (and Joy Division). Music for uneducated yoofs with anger management problems and severe attitude problems (plus middle class kids who think it's big and clever) - Rap.
OK, serious music - This will get confused with the face of posh spice who never smiles because working class kids are taught to believe by their stupid chav parents that posh people never smile. Art music, quite like this one. Precise music - That's a laugh coming from 'I'll just rewrite this bit to suite my style' Bernstein.
and partsong, you are never going to convince me that Tippett is a genius. Pick up any book written in the fifties or sixties and he's seen as important. Read any book written now and he hardly gets a mention, even by British authors, even by the BBC. I have ordered a Part CD based on your recommendation though, it better be good.
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 10:21PM
#12
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
....don't wanna be bus driver, all me life. Fly away, on coconut airways.........
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 10:41PM
#13
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
....don't wanna be bus driver, all me life. Fly away, on coconut airways.........
Think that one might have been posted under the wrong identity, Rastafaright...
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 10:48PM
#14
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
Don't let the conspiracy theorists take you in Andrew. You know what is real and what is not. That is why you have a position of authority.
Sat, Jul 21 2012, 11:50PM
#15
RE: Classical Music R.I.P.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is captain Uber Alice welcoming you aboard
Coconut Airways flight 372 to Bridgetown Barbados
We will be flying at an 'ight of 32000 feet and at an airspeed of approximately 600 miles per hour
Refreshments will be served after take-off, kindly fasten your safety belts
and remember our security personell will be around checking to make sure nobody has brought a Pierre Boulez record on board.
As a great lover of the music of Shostakovich, I sort of know what you mean. But there are many pieces I think of as 'a little bit good' or even better than that. Arvo Part "I am the True Vine" (1996) , James Macmillan "The Strathclyde Motets" (2005 I think) and many others. There's also loads of stuff which may not fall into the category of 'classical music'* but which is still of great interest to me, such as Neil Ardley, who died in 2004.
*Glad you used inverted commas; I was taught that classical music was written between around 1760 to 1820, after that it was Romantic, then Modern, and so on. I like Radio 3's tendency to call it all 'serious music'.