Klarinet Archive - Posting 000155.txt from 1995/12

From: OLIVER SEELY <oliver@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: If not the end of music, then...
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 17:23:58 -0500

Yeah, I certainly agree with the spam analogy for
DJ's at weddings. Unfortunately, my daughter may be
marrying one, so I must learn to hold my tongue.
I also agree with the other posting about the irreplacebility
of live orchestras.

A couple of years ago in Paris I went to the Radio-France
building to hear a concert (sigh, free concerts are
about the only ones I can afford when I visit Paris --
and therein lies part of the very problem I'm addressing).
Anyway, l'Officiel des Spectacles said that it was to
be a concert by Ferrari. Well, I like the music of
Wolf-Ferrari and I know that l'Officiel. . always tries
to save space in its announcements, so I was off
to hear some melodic symphonic music. Wrong! I went
into one of Radio-France's big concert halls and was met
by the sight of 52 woofers and tweeters on stage, a single
MacIntosh computer and not a human to be found except in
the audience. And then it started, a horrible period
of grunts, moans and piercing shrieks which lasted about
10 minutes. A baby in the audience began to cry and
his daddy had to take him out to the lobby. The piece
ended and . . . applause. Incredible. To 52 loudspeakers.
It was a bit much for an infidel like me, so I figured
that the kid had the right idea (hey, daddy, can't you
see, the emperor has no clothes!), and I left too.
To be fair to the composer, he was sitting in the first
row and after about 10 seconds of applause, he stood
up to take a bow, so it turns out that the audience
could be said to have been applauding a human being,
but in any case, for my taste, the music was awful.
That it was computer generated only made the experience
worse. It was a commissioned work, too. So much
for French subsidies to the performing arts. (Sorry,
that was a cheap shot. I take it back! 8-)

Oliver