From: Phil Daley
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 9:54 AM
Subject: Re: [Finale] OT: John Cage's first national TV appearance (1960)
Phil wrote:
My favorite composer is JS Bach.
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And while I (Les) don't wish to jump onto any bash-Phil-o-rama, I've felt
provoked to say this:
1) Phil - that really isn't relevant to much of this thread; whether on the
philoso-theolo level, or much else. Congratulations, your favorite composer
is Bach.
2) Does that mean you dislike - or worse, simply write off any composer who
breaks down walls? Who ISN'T Bach? Who was born after 1750?
3) I really try to keep mind, eyes AND ears open to everything. I'll admit
Cage (and Pollock) might be off-putting, but only to the closed mind; the mind
which has pre-set perceptions of what is - and ISN'T art. Cage isn't my
'favorite' composer; I have one helluva lot of compositional styles, voices,
approaches and musical works which might be described as favorites. My
students have asked me who/what is my favorite music; I usually answer
'whatever I'm playing or conducting at the time.'
and:
4) Perhaps most important of all: if some work of art strikes me VERY
negatively - in whatever discipline, I make the very forceful effort to return
to that art, over and over, with time as the refresher, to really try to
determine a) what it is that doesn't communicate with me b) why c) is it the
piece or is it me and d) have I personally GROWN or do I feel the same way NOW
as I did when the initial reaction hit me?
The answer has always been - time changes all. Including perception, most of
all. Reactionarism is truly the enemy of so many things, but none more so
than art.
Best,
Les
Les Marsden
Founding Music Director and Conductor,
The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra
Music and Mariposa? Ahhhhh, Paradise!!!
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://arts-mariposa.org/symphony.html
http://www.geocities.com/~jbenz/lesbio.html
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