Klarinet Archive - Posting 000017.txt from 2008/01

From: Laurence Edward Young <klarinette@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] How to Listen to and Understand Great Music
Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:37:37 -0500

I find Greenberg's lectures asinine. While I applaud his efforts to encoura=
ge a wide audience to become engaged with music and music history, his pres=
entations range from being insultingly childish to disturbingly wrong. To g=
ive just two examples;

In one of the early lectures he describes Beethoven's Second Symphony as re=
presenting Beethoven's ongoing gastrointestinal problems. Specifically (say=
s Greenberg) the fourth movement represents Beethoven's own flatulence. Now=
apart from the fact that he cites no sources for this claim, the fact and =
the way he presents it is simply inane. If it were indeed true that Beethov=
en suffered from bowl aliments and subsequently tried to represent this in =
his music (which I find dubious at best), there has got to be a better way =
to present this information than what Mr. Greenberg does. One has the sense=
when listening to this lecture that Mr. Greenberg thinks his audience is s=
till in Kindergarten and still titters uncontrollably at such words as 'sex=
tet', 'fagott', and the composer 'Marcel Poot'. (Okay I still titter at Mar=
cel Poot's name)

The second example is marginally worse as Greenberg takes on the issue of D=
imitri Shostakovitch. In this lecture Greenberg paints Shostakovitch's life=
as paralleling that of the Soviet Union. What really rubs me the wrong way=
is that Greenberg unabashedly takes the 'facts' in Testimony (the book 'by=
' Solomon Volkov) as Gospel truth. Now apart from the issues swirling aroun=
d this book (which surprisingly Greenberg does acknowledge) his approach th=
at this one book holds all of the answers to Shostakovitch's life is simply=
intellectually lazy. Most adults know that all sources are biased in some =
way and that we shouldn't only accept one person's statements (especially i=
n the case of Testimony where the statements of Shostakovitch are filtered =
through someone else) without some critical analysis. Greenberg in his offh=
and dismissal of the disputes over Testimony says that, "Richard Taruskin s=
imply hasn't done his homework." (!) (That's a direct quote from the first =
video lecture on Shostakovitch). Now I don't always agree with what Taruski=
n has to say but I would never (ever) suggest that he hasn't done his homew=
ork. I suppose in comparison to the output of Greenberg, Taruskin does seem=
to have produced less, but Taruskin's work is of a much higher quality and=
what's more it's infinitely more readable even to a novice. (In fact if yo=
u all would really like to use your time wisely and get what is a decidely =
personal but very engaging view of music history, read Taruskin's Oxford Hi=
story of Western Music.)

I should close where I began by saying that I'm not opposed to making music=
and music history 'accessible'. I grew up watching Carl Sagan's _Cosmos_ a=
nd Kenneth Clark's _Civilisation_ on television. What separates these works=
from Greenberg's is that they were never condescendingly reductive. They w=
ere a gateway (for me at least) to an enjoyment of learning and exploration=
of 'the human condition' (even an exploration of contrary views from their=
own! e.g. I find Clark's dismissal of non-european art (amongst other issu=
es), problematic). Robert Greenberg I'm afraid is a cul-de-sac of intellect=
ual impoverishment.

Laurence E. Young
UC Santa Barbara

-----Original Message-----
>From: Mark Charette <charette@-----.org>
>Sent: Jan 2, 2008 10:46 AM
>To: klarinet@-----.org
>Subject: [kl] How to Listen to and Understand Great Music=20
>
>I'm sure many of you already know about this, but for those that don't:
>
>I borrowed the set of 48 lectures by Prof. Robert Greenberg from my local
>library:
>
>"How to Listen to and Understand Great Music"
>
>produced by The Teaching Company. I'm halfway through and having a riot.
>If you're not a music major this is a great intro to the history,
>terminology, structure and construction, along with appreciation of
>Western music. If you _are_ a music major, it still might be worth
>listening to ...
>
>From a lecture using Mozart's Gm Symphony on the Sonata Form and Contrasts
>...
>
>"The only chance a conductor has of getting to heaven is to take all
>repeats."
>
>Mark C.
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>

------------------------------------------------------------------

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org