On Nov 29, 2007, at 5:16 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> ...How can you program a whole concert that > features, for example, "Italian Music, 1538-42" or > "German Music, 1712-20" and have it interest anyone > but diehard specialists? I personally love music from > both of these periods, but I have to confess that a > whole concert of either puts even a fan like me in the > mood to snooze after about 20 minutes. I take your point, Chris, but I can't help thinking that lots of people will happily sit through an entire evening of Andrew Lloyd Webber, or a Wagner opera, or a ballet by Stravinsky. I can sit through entire CD's of Corelli, Handel etc., doing absolutely nothing but sitting listening to the music. I've sat through many concert performances of the big sacred blockbuster requiems, and loved every minute! (Although I'm not sure I could sit through all the Brandenburgs...) > ...Too much artificially academic specialization has > lead to the absolute downfall of contemporary music in > its entirety as a legitimate cultural force. > Contemporary classical music is still present at the > university level were it is supported by grants and > endowments as if it were some kind of research rather > than art. But no one really pays it much attention or > respect. (I've played on contemporary music festivals > where the paid professional performers literally just > barely restrained themselves from laughing during the > performance. On this list, I can't repeat some of the > words used in rehearsals, but the phrase "this piece > makes me want to puke" shows very regularly.) Once again, point taken. But it's not all that way. Consider Piazzolla: he's a cultural force. Listening to L'Histoire du Tango is for me like strolling through a gallery of modern art. It's a bit like a modern-day version of Pictures At An Exhibition. > ...Why draw a line in the > sand about something as trivial as whether having an > extra two strings on your instrument is an offence > against the lute gods or whether you may allow your > eyes to stray forward or back ten or twenty years > along the time line? No reason that I can see. David R [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
