Klarinet Archive - Posting 000178.txt from 2005/06

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] re: Somehow I passed my own test
Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2005 12:35:40 -0400

If one can find an "attitude" in a posting, it is here. I, and
several others, said simply that a particular work of Adams was
not to our liking, and others broadened that posture to include
minimalist music in General. I hope that it is not illegal to
hold an opinion of that nature. And Benjamin comes back and
lectures to us about this being an "elistist" and "holier than
thou" attitude displayed to contemporary music.

Please, Benjamin. I have played as much contemporary music
perhaps as you. No one made a comment that could even vaguely be
interpreted as a swipe at all contemporary music.

You have created a straw man to fight a battle where none
existed, and picked up a gauntlet that was never thrown.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Benjamin Maas [mailto:benmaas@-----.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 8:49 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: RE: [kl] re: Somehow I passed my own test

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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