Klarinet Archive - Posting 000939.txt from 2001/10

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Yes We Have No Bananas vs. Beethoven 9
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 19:01:28 -0500

Come on Lacy. I read this every other day on KLARINET. "The Buffet is
the finest instrument," or "The Patricola is the finest instrument."
etc., etc. Clarinet players are the worst examples to choose from when
it comes to making subjective statements as if they are facts.

It's all the same kind of thinking.

Dan

Lacy Schroeder wrote:
>
> I think there is definitely a diferent way. Believe it or not, there are
> individuals out there who have never heard the 9th. I just think that
> music appreciation is subjective, and to say that one piece has a
> superiority over another is purely a matter of opinion. To state your
> opinion as a gospel fact, however, is pompous and absurd. It takes away
> the right of another person to have a difering opinion, because in the
> pompous one's eyes, the other can never be right unless he agrees.
>
> I know that there are some works that I do like much better than others.
> Of course, now that I'm being made to think of it (I don't normally
> categorize things like this, which is why I said that I didn't think of
> one being better than the other, but I see your point), I do think
> Beethoven's 9th is on a higher level than the banana song. But I state
> that as my opinion and not as a fact. But Dan's point is valid, I think.
> We could make similar arguments about almost anything using the proper
> reasoning.
>
> Does that answer the question? Sorry if I came off defensive.
>
> Lacy
>
> Tony Pay wrote:
> > I really wasn't intending to put words in your mouth.
> >
> > I was just asking a question, and I don't know whether you think you
> > answered it, above. The question was:
> >
> > > > So, apart from the fact that you can't stand a musical
> > snob, and that
> > > > you disagree with his assessment of Beethoven IX as the
> > single best
> > > > composition ever written; d'ya really think that "Yes, we have no
> > > > bananas" is superior or equal to Beethoven IX?
> >
> > I just think that that's an interesting question. Why I asked it is
> > that it's a question that occurs to me, in various forms, quite often,
> > and what it speaks to is the background against which we ask such
> > things.
> >
> > I love "Across the Universe" too, and even, "Every breath you take".
> >
> > But, what *do* we want to say about Beethoven 9 and those
> > pieces? That
> > they're all equally 'good'? How about the relationship between "She
> > loves me" and "A day in the Life"? Or between Bruckner 7 and Bruckner
> > 9?
> >
> > > > Or is there some other way to think about it?
> >
> > That's what I wanted to get at.
> >
> > Tony
> >
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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** Dan Leeson **
** leeson0@-----.net **
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