An interesting discussion about the 'heaviness' of German music and its performance tradition, as provoked by British composer Thomas Adès in an interview:
Is Austro/German classical music - Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven etc. up till and including Mahler and Strauss - indeed 'heavy'? And its performance tradition the best way of presenting it? But what is its performance tradition?
Thinking of modern performances by, for instance, Harnoncourt, Sir J.E. Gardiner, Salonen, Van Zweden, this repertoire sparks fire at the cutting edges and is contemporary for ever. But nationalistic chauvinism is as distorting as criticizing it for teutonism.
About Me
- The Subterranean Review
- Education: Rotterdam Conservatory, Cambridge University // Activities: composition, writing
Saturday, 31 October 2015
Thursday, 29 October 2015
Dangerous composer's widow
There is a type of women who project their own frustrated artistic ambitions upon their husbands, driving them to achieve for two and giving their muse the opportunity to glorify in creation-by-proxy. Mahler's wife was such a specimen.
The London Review of Books has published an interesting review of a new biography of Alma Mahler, the wife of the great composer, based upon newly discovered material from the archives: 'Malevolent Muse: The Life of Alma Mahler' by Oliver Hilmes. Some quotes which may whet the appetite:
Alma recorded in her diary in 1914 that she ‘quivered with joy’ when a friend of hers, a professor of cultural history, remarked that she had led Mahler away from Judaism. ‘That was what I always felt, but I was even happier when I finally heard the word from someone else! I made him brighter. So my presence in his life was a mission accomplished after all!? That alone I always wanted, all my life! To make people brighter.’
We will never know how great a composer she might have been had she continued to work. On the brink of their engagement, in 1901, Mahler wrote her a famous letter in which he insisted that if she wished to marry him she must give up composing: ‘How do you envision such a marriage between two composers? Have you any idea how ridiculous and ultimately degrading in our own eyes such a peculiar rivalry would become? … you must become the person I need if we are to be happy together, my wife and not my colleague – that is for certain!’
Poor Mahler... to have fallen into the trap of this despicable woman. By attempting to suppress her own ambitions, he stoked-up the fires that would burn him.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n21/bee-wilson/she-gives-me-partridges
The London Review of Books has published an interesting review of a new biography of Alma Mahler, the wife of the great composer, based upon newly discovered material from the archives: 'Malevolent Muse: The Life of Alma Mahler' by Oliver Hilmes. Some quotes which may whet the appetite:
Alma recorded in her diary in 1914 that she ‘quivered with joy’ when a friend of hers, a professor of cultural history, remarked that she had led Mahler away from Judaism. ‘That was what I always felt, but I was even happier when I finally heard the word from someone else! I made him brighter. So my presence in his life was a mission accomplished after all!? That alone I always wanted, all my life! To make people brighter.’
We will never know how great a composer she might have been had she continued to work. On the brink of their engagement, in 1901, Mahler wrote her a famous letter in which he insisted that if she wished to marry him she must give up composing: ‘How do you envision such a marriage between two composers? Have you any idea how ridiculous and ultimately degrading in our own eyes such a peculiar rivalry would become? … you must become the person I need if we are to be happy together, my wife and not my colleague – that is for certain!’
Poor Mahler... to have fallen into the trap of this despicable woman. By attempting to suppress her own ambitions, he stoked-up the fires that would burn him.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n21/bee-wilson/she-gives-me-partridges
Saturday, 24 October 2015
Hatred of the past
Graz is a city, where pre-modern architecture has been preseved in such a way, that the tasteful continuum of classical beauty as interpreted in different periods created a world of timeless elegance and poetry:
But, of course, that was not enough - a modern museum was needed. And thus, a monstrous blurb was created, demonstrating the grotesque lack of any architectrual quality or respect for its surroundings:
You can see the monster eating its way through the fabric of a thoroughly humane settlement, like some gruesome parasite. And indeed, such 'architecture' is thoroughly parasitic.
Modernism transcends the boundaries of genre. In music, this would be the intrusion of a Xenakis piece in an otherwise normal, regular orchestral concert. It is a way of thinking, of designing, which aggressively wants to make a 'statement' in the idiom that exudes the core of the movement: hate of the 'past' and its achievements, and a strict anti-humanist stance. Modernist architecture has created a new genre of building: not architecture but 'object building'.
How do the Grazzers themselves look upon this museum? I saw an English TV programme where the moderator visited a terrace on the local mountain where he met a local couple enjoying the wide view over the city, with this eye sore in the middle. 'What do you think of that gallery?' the man asked them. The couple answered hesitatingly that they did not like it but excused themselves immediately that this was merely a subjective opinion... probably out of fear of being unexpectedly filmed as conservatives. But they confirmed that this abject object 'did not fit' within the cityscape. That was, at least, some admittance of common sense.
The Graz tourist site explains:
"A blue bubble of art. Designed by the world-famous architects Peter Cook and Colin Fournier, the Kunsthaus hovers elegantly and mysteriously over the right bank of the River Mur. The Kunsthaus Graz's spectacular biomorphic shape makes it an unmissable icon of the city. Its intriguing exhibition spaces attracts visitors from all over the world to view shows of Austrian and international contemporary art."
We know what kind of art will be on show..... the kind that does deserve such 'building'. But why in the heart of an old city? Why not beyond its borders, where it will merely be ugly but not intruding?
But, of course, that was not enough - a modern museum was needed. And thus, a monstrous blurb was created, demonstrating the grotesque lack of any architectrual quality or respect for its surroundings:
You can see the monster eating its way through the fabric of a thoroughly humane settlement, like some gruesome parasite. And indeed, such 'architecture' is thoroughly parasitic.
Modernism transcends the boundaries of genre. In music, this would be the intrusion of a Xenakis piece in an otherwise normal, regular orchestral concert. It is a way of thinking, of designing, which aggressively wants to make a 'statement' in the idiom that exudes the core of the movement: hate of the 'past' and its achievements, and a strict anti-humanist stance. Modernist architecture has created a new genre of building: not architecture but 'object building'.
How do the Grazzers themselves look upon this museum? I saw an English TV programme where the moderator visited a terrace on the local mountain where he met a local couple enjoying the wide view over the city, with this eye sore in the middle. 'What do you think of that gallery?' the man asked them. The couple answered hesitatingly that they did not like it but excused themselves immediately that this was merely a subjective opinion... probably out of fear of being unexpectedly filmed as conservatives. But they confirmed that this abject object 'did not fit' within the cityscape. That was, at least, some admittance of common sense.
The Graz tourist site explains:
"A blue bubble of art. Designed by the world-famous architects Peter Cook and Colin Fournier, the Kunsthaus hovers elegantly and mysteriously over the right bank of the River Mur. The Kunsthaus Graz's spectacular biomorphic shape makes it an unmissable icon of the city. Its intriguing exhibition spaces attracts visitors from all over the world to view shows of Austrian and international contemporary art."
We know what kind of art will be on show..... the kind that does deserve such 'building'. But why in the heart of an old city? Why not beyond its borders, where it will merely be ugly but not intruding?
Restoring the mysterious Self
Great essay about the relationship between the humanities and neuroscience:
http://www.thenation.com/article/humanism-science-and-the-radical-expansion-of-the-possible/
The author, philosopher and novelist Marilynne Robinson, defends the humanities and the existence of 'the self' on the basis of recent scientific developments, showing that some of neuroscience's claims like the denial of the existence of 'self', are unscientific.
Some quotes:
Mentioning the birth of humanism in the Renaissance: "The disciplines that came with this awakening, the mastery of classical languages, the reverent attention to pagan poets and philosophers, the study of ancient history, and the adaptation of ancient forms to modern purposes, all bore the mark of their origins yet served as the robust foundation of education and culture for centuries, until the fairly recent past."
Discussing the discovery of quantum entanglement (with some bearing upon Jung's concept of 'synchronicity'): "The phenomenon called quantum entanglement, relatively old as theory and thoroughly demonstrated as fact, raises fundamental questions about time and space, and therefore about causality. Particles that are “entangled,” however distant from one another, undergo the same changes simultaneously. This fact challenges our most deeply embedded habits of thought. To try to imagine any event occurring outside the constraints of locality and sequence is difficult enough. Then there is the problem of conceiving of a universe in which the old rituals of cause and effect seem a gross inefficiency beside the elegance and sleight of hand that operate discreetly beyond the reach of all but the most rarefied scientific inference and observation. However pervasive and robust entanglement is or is not, it implies a cosmos that unfolds or emerges on principles that bear scant analogy to the universe of common sense."
A great mind, this lady.
Thinking of the rampant materialism as demonstrated in postwar, establishment 'new music', where the mystery of the inner space of music was denied and the magic of the capacity of expression scorned, this essay may provide a means of understanding of what so many artists of today try to recapture: in painting, reflection of reality and experience, in architecture: the humanism of classical idioms, in music: the restoration of tonal traditions with their highly-developed sense of expression and communication.
http://www.thenation.com/article/humanism-science-and-the-radical-expansion-of-the-possible/
The author, philosopher and novelist Marilynne Robinson, defends the humanities and the existence of 'the self' on the basis of recent scientific developments, showing that some of neuroscience's claims like the denial of the existence of 'self', are unscientific.
Some quotes:
Mentioning the birth of humanism in the Renaissance: "The disciplines that came with this awakening, the mastery of classical languages, the reverent attention to pagan poets and philosophers, the study of ancient history, and the adaptation of ancient forms to modern purposes, all bore the mark of their origins yet served as the robust foundation of education and culture for centuries, until the fairly recent past."
Discussing the discovery of quantum entanglement (with some bearing upon Jung's concept of 'synchronicity'): "The phenomenon called quantum entanglement, relatively old as theory and thoroughly demonstrated as fact, raises fundamental questions about time and space, and therefore about causality. Particles that are “entangled,” however distant from one another, undergo the same changes simultaneously. This fact challenges our most deeply embedded habits of thought. To try to imagine any event occurring outside the constraints of locality and sequence is difficult enough. Then there is the problem of conceiving of a universe in which the old rituals of cause and effect seem a gross inefficiency beside the elegance and sleight of hand that operate discreetly beyond the reach of all but the most rarefied scientific inference and observation. However pervasive and robust entanglement is or is not, it implies a cosmos that unfolds or emerges on principles that bear scant analogy to the universe of common sense."
A great mind, this lady.
Thinking of the rampant materialism as demonstrated in postwar, establishment 'new music', where the mystery of the inner space of music was denied and the magic of the capacity of expression scorned, this essay may provide a means of understanding of what so many artists of today try to recapture: in painting, reflection of reality and experience, in architecture: the humanism of classical idioms, in music: the restoration of tonal traditions with their highly-developed sense of expression and communication.
Friday, 23 October 2015
Are there musical universals?
Interesting article that may affect our opinion about Chinese cultivation of European classical music:
http://thesmartset.com/face-the-music/
It also shows that Orpheus is of all times and places, and that Jung's idea of 'archetypes' wasn't so bad as has been made-out so often.
Anonymous painter from Antwerp, 1st half of 17th century
Jung's idea of 'synchronicity' still eludes Western rational thought, however. If there exists something like a 'spiritual wave length', still unproven by Western science but equally possible like the notion of radio waves was in the 19th century, there may be an underlying unity hidden in a 'deep structure' of the world, of which humans are a natural part. The Chinese oracle book 'I Ching' - so completely misunderstood by concept artist John Cage - takes this unity as an empirical given, and operates through its connections. Physical nature (the overtone series), human biological proclivity and cultural conditioning may together form a musical receptive framework defining musical universals.
The implications for contemporary music are quite drastic.
http://thesmartset.com/face-the-music/
It also shows that Orpheus is of all times and places, and that Jung's idea of 'archetypes' wasn't so bad as has been made-out so often.
Jung's idea of 'synchronicity' still eludes Western rational thought, however. If there exists something like a 'spiritual wave length', still unproven by Western science but equally possible like the notion of radio waves was in the 19th century, there may be an underlying unity hidden in a 'deep structure' of the world, of which humans are a natural part. The Chinese oracle book 'I Ching' - so completely misunderstood by concept artist John Cage - takes this unity as an empirical given, and operates through its connections. Physical nature (the overtone series), human biological proclivity and cultural conditioning may together form a musical receptive framework defining musical universals.
The implications for contemporary music are quite drastic.
NY Phil's 2016 Biennial: new music
The New York Philharmonic celebrates its biennial in 2016 with lots of new music. On the site of Slipped Disc, this news provoked an interesting discussion where completely opposite and mutually-exclusive views clash in chromatic dissonance, which aptly reflects the fault lines crisscrossing the territory. Who would say that contemporary music is a dull subject?
http://slippedisc.com/2015/10/74-composers-will-get-premieres-in-the-ny-phils-2016-biennial/#comment-85817
Interestingly, such discussions point towards an increasing sense, in music life, that the notion of 'modern music' has entered history and 'avantgardism' has become a mere historical category. But then: what next? One can only applaud the NY Phil for its courageous and idealistic programme policy.
http://slippedisc.com/2015/10/74-composers-will-get-premieres-in-the-ny-phils-2016-biennial/#comment-85817
Interestingly, such discussions point towards an increasing sense, in music life, that the notion of 'modern music' has entered history and 'avantgardism' has become a mere historical category. But then: what next? One can only applaud the NY Phil for its courageous and idealistic programme policy.
Tuesday, 20 October 2015
Wittgenstein on the decline of culture
"Ich habe einmal, und vielleicht mit Recht, gesagt: Aus der fruheren
Kultur wird ein Trümmerhaufen und am Schluss ein Aschenhaufen werden,
aber es werden Geister über die Asche Schweben."
"Once I have said, and perhaps rightly so: the former culture will turn into a heap of rubble and in the end into a heap of ashes, but spirits will be hovering over the ashes."
From: 'Culture and Value'.
It makes me think of a saying by Robert Frost - here slightly paraphrased:
"Art is a way of remembering what it would impoverish us to forget".
"Once I have said, and perhaps rightly so: the former culture will turn into a heap of rubble and in the end into a heap of ashes, but spirits will be hovering over the ashes."
From: 'Culture and Value'.
It makes me think of a saying by Robert Frost - here slightly paraphrased:
"Art is a way of remembering what it would impoverish us to forget".
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