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From: cbf@allegra.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Music, real, discussion of
Message-ID: <2094@allegra.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 14-Dec-83 10:23:29 EST
Article-I.D.: allegra.2094
Posted: Wed Dec 14 10:23:29 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 16-Dec-83 01:44:49 EST
References: <188@astrovax.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 66

O.K.  A few personal thoughts.

Concerning Recordings and Del Tredici's "Final Alice":
  Del Tredici is one of the "New Romantics" (it's not yet called
neoromanticism), meaning that his music departs from the Eastern
Academic Establishment's infatuation with "intellectually correct"
dodecacophony [:-)] and other atonal abstractions.  Consequently, his
style is less forbidding than that of most contemporary composers.  His
"Alice" works, which have been compared favorably to late Strauss, are
actually very appealing and don't require too much effort on the
listener's part.  The Solti recording of "Final Alice" is definitely
worth investigating, if only because it's a rare instance of a major
record company (Decca) endorsing a contemporary work immediately after
its premiere.  However, I've found that the extensive narration and the
sustained lack of tonal variety throughout this one-hour (with cuts)
work gets in the way of repeated listenings.  Still, I cannot praise
Barbara Hendricks' contribution to the proceedings highly enough.  As
usual, she is superb.  She's one of the world's great lyric sopranos
and one of my two favorite singers.  Jessye Norman, my other fav,
also sings soprano, but I prefer her awesomely opulent mezzo range.
I just found out that the TWO of them will be singing Mahler's
"Resurrection" under Leonard Bernstein (one of the great interpreters
of that work) and the NYPO in January.  I can't wait!  Get a ticket
if you can.

Terminology and what to call "classical" music:
  I remember when I took my first music course, one of the first things
our teacher did was to carefully define that term as "Traditional
Western Art Music", and it has stuck with me since.  So how about a
net.music.twam?

Real Art and post-1955 masterpieces:
  Let's put it this way.  Mahler's music was ignored for a good forty
years after his death, and now I can't imagine life without it.  In
good time, the true masterpieces will show themselves as such.
Immortality is the name of the game.  Off the top of my head, I would
propose Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem" as a good candidate, but I'm
not sure about the composition date.  I also imagine that some of
Olivier Messaien's output will survive -- his opera "Saint Francois
d'Assises" had a grand premiere in Paris a couple of weeks ago and his
"Quartet for the End of Time" is well established, but that was
composed during WWII (in a concentration camp). As for which music is
performed regularly, smaller-scale works, e.g. chamber works, tend to
have more advocates than others.  Music students in particular thrive
on them.

More Real Art and Schoenberg's "Verklaerte Nacht":
  I once decided to find out what the fuss was all about and invested
in the Karajan recording (apparently the finest ever made) of that work.
To my own suprise, I found myself responding to it, and I've even grown
to, well, sort of like it...!?  I won't flame, though.  My feelings
aren't that strong about it.  Come to think of it, my feelings aren't
that strong about much that was composed after Mahler.  I'll let
Jeff Winslow (sp?), our resident Schoenberg expert make a better case
for that work.  If anyone is interested by the way, the Karajan
recording has just been re-released on the cheaper DG Signature label.
Another great DG Signature is Abbado's Tchaikovsky's Fourth.

The Great Music Quiz:
  If you haven't sent in your answers, it's probably too late by now.
I'm posting the results, then the answers later today...

Thanks to astrovax!tss for getting the ball rolling.
--
"Yes, but is it art?"
Charles B. Francois (decvax!allegra!cbf)