Klarinet Archive - Posting 000176.txt from 2005/06

From: "Benjamin Maas" <benmaas@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] re: Somehow I passed my own test
Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2005 11:50:48 -0400

Well, it looks like Joseph beat me to the punch, but I must say I get tired
of this elitist, "holier than thou" attitude that is displayed to
contemporary music on a regular basis. Not everything is Mozart or Brahms
and personally, I'm happy about it. Even Stravinsky's stuff is fast
approaching a century old (we're only 5 years out from 100 years since
Firebird).

We, as players, need to continue to support our composers of today.
Obviously, some pieces will be better than others, but we haven't had the
filter of time to week out the crap and keep the good stuff. There was
plenty of crap back in the classical era, too... We just don't usually hear
it because it has been lost over time. If we don't support today's
composers, we won't get to choose between the good and the bad stuff because
it won't be there at all...

Just because something is atonal/12-tone or serial doesn't mean it is a bad
piece. I happen to really like Gnarly Buttons as I do a number of other
contemporary concertos. To see it performed live is quite exciting (and the
cow's moo is pretty cool, too... I love to see an audiences face when they
hear that). John Adams is one of the great minimalist composers (actually,
he self-describes himself as post minimalist).

Also, I have noticed that there has been a rather major shift in writing
over the past 15-20 years away from the Milton Babbitt "who cares if you
listen" school of writing. We have a generation of composers who grew up on
rock and roll and it is definitely reflected in their music. Also,
composers are writing more on the emotion of the music rather than the math
of music and because of that, you have music that is much more accessible to
a general audience. They still rely on many 20th century techniques, but
frame them in a way that an audience can accept much easier..

Folks- there are a lot of very educated people on this list that impart
great knowledge. However, let's try to be a bit more tolerant of music that
is other than the "classics."

--Ben

Benjamin Maas
Fifth Circle Audio
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.fifthcircle.com

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