1 Sep
2010
1 Sep
'10
10:16 a.m.
On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 06:45:58PM -0400, Paul Davis wrote:
its not clear whether the arts have any forward
trajectory at all, so
trying to identify a particular period or a particular outcome as
"ahead", "backwards", etc. seems a little odd. is the american
minimalism of the late 1960s onwards progress compared to baroque
counterpoint? is wagner progress compared to perotin?
I agree. Art more or less explores the possibilities, the available
space, rather than going into any direction.
to me the most obvious thing that has happened to
"music" since the
mid-twentieth century is the fetishization of *sound* itself. adorno
has quite a responsibility there,
Good point.
.. we had
the jazz world, the world of carnatic music from india, african
polyrhythmic music and many other traditions engaged in a continuation
of the fine balance between chaos and control. we ended up with some
absolutely awesome art, and it had very, very little to do with
anything going on in the serious/academic world of "western art
music", and very little to do with with fetishization of sound itself
that seems to have been the hallmark of the western art music of the
last 50-60 years.
If there is any continuation of a 'tradition' it is indeed to be found
in the areas you mention. Jazz of course is an extremely wide and diverse
world. Some of it has become 'art' music, so of it has gone off on
tangents that are as obscure (to me at least) as e.g. serialism.
if i hear one more piece that wants me to marvel at
the *SHEER JUXTAPOSITION* of this versus that, i think i'm going to
scream.
Next LAC, maybe ? I'd want to record that scream :-)
thankfully, we've got a generation fo composers
now who haven't even
read adorno, and feel free to draw their influences from an enormous,
global selection. is this an eclectism that has "little power to
survive", or a vibrant source of compost and nutrition for a field
that would otherwise be on the verge of a monoculture die-off ?
It is certainly a source of nutrition, but not a paradigm with
its own foundations in the sense that e.g. baroque, romantic, jazz,
rock & roll are. It's more like just a state of affairs rather than
something that can survive on its own merits, that hundreds of years
later a music student can return to and add to his/her toolbox.
Ciao,
--
FA
There are three of them, and Alleline.