One can have a lovely program that is a stitch in time that is not just lute solos. I think most entertainments would have had songs and consorts. The lute preludes & ricercars might just be the ideal glue, but not the whole horse. dt
At 07:59 PM 11/29/2007, you wrote: >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
