That's interesting that you mention that, because I thought the same thing one day in class listening to Verklerte Nacht. I listened to a decent amount of the 2nd Viennese school this past year, as I took a class about Freud and Fin De Siecle` Vienna (pardon that if it's horriblely missppeled), and we talked a lot about expressionist musicians, architects and artists etc. and I enjoyed a lot of things I heard. I noticed that some performances I listened to were very, as you put it, cold and intellectual, but others were very organic and expressive. It was the latter performances that I was able to relate to much more than the former.
Of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, Berg is usually considered the most "accessible" and I agree. I personally enjoyed Wozzeck a lot as I thought it was a combination of new, yet good music. None of the non-standard things, like sprechestimme sound like effects. They, to me, are merely different sounds. I remember listening to a lot of Strauss and Mahler the summer before I took that class, so at least aurally, I was pretty much going in chronological order, so noticing the progression was possible. I think most people first hear the 2nd Viennese school in music history(myself included) and it usually is very difficult to comprehend because of the gaps in our own listening. I know for me personally, the earliest music that i know is Monteverdi's Orfeo, but then I essentially skip over most of the baroque(which obviously I should not) until a bit of Handel and from Mozart to the 2nd Viennese school i'm fairly well rounded. I have to admit that I have many gaps in the 20th, 21st century when it comes to listening. I'm young, i have a whole life to patch up my ears. Chris --- Robert Ward <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi all, > > Was moved to write by Hans comment below - over the years, my thinking > on Schoenberg and his buddies has changed - when I was a student and > then as a young professional, I used to think of that style of 12-tone > music as very intellectual and cold - but now, I have realized that the > key to having it sound right is to approach it and interpret it as a > Romantic style, since that is the genesis of this genre of music. > There are many more modern composers that I do think are excessively > academic and largely devoid of emotional content, but Schoenberg and > Berg are not among them, in my opinion. > > All the best to you, worldwide, > > Bob > > > On Saturday, October 18, 2003, at 12:30 AM, Hans Pizka wrote: > > > For Schoenberg: you just need to play the written notes as exact as > > possible. Do you really enjoy Schoenberg ? > > **** > Bob Ward > Acting Principal Horn > San Francisco Symphony > http://home.earthlink.net/~rnward > > _______________________________________________ > post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/tedesccj%40yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
