Klarinet Archive - Posting 000566.txt from 2003/07

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] RE: ClarinetFest
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2003 14:12:05 -0400

At 09:13 AM 7/19/2003 -0400, Michael Norsworthy wrote:
>Whilst everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I must say that I'm
>shocked by the remark below. Shall we continue playing the same handful
>of pieces at EVERY ClarinetFest? Should the art NOT move forward and
>remain stuck in the 18th-19th centuries? Should composers continue to
>write unintelligent Neo-Romantic crap like so many American composers
>have taken to doing in the last 10-20 years or so? Or perhaps we should
>ask Brittany Spears for a new clarinet concerto...
>
>As someone who makes his living largely by doing contemporary music by
>composers such as Berio, Donatoni, Boulez, Cage, Zorn, Feldman,
>Sciarrino and many others, I'm usually appalled by other players'
>unwillingness to learn and try new things and types of music. When
>perfect authentic cadences are taken out of the mix, people's ears
>usually turn off rather than on, thus perpetuating a cycle of ignorance
>and backstepping in the art we profess to care about so much.

Audiences in the main dislike the modern atonal music because it is ugly
and difficult to listen to. Many musicians would like to do more of the
newer music (since they DO understand it and crave the variety) but, since
it drives audiences away, it cannot be programmed much for purely financial
reasons. Of course, Beethoven's music was considered to be ugly and
dissonant in HIS time, too. Maybe all the new music needs is more time to
be digested. Then again, maybe it really IS just noisy garbage! The way I
see it, if art does not communicate with the people, it FAILS as art, and
deserves to disappear from the repertoire. And no, it is NOT the fault of
the people who fail to understand. It is the fault of the artist, who may
very well have something important to say, but cannot find the proper means
of expressing it. Earlier composers did it and did it well-- their works
STILL speak to us today!

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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