http://bit.ly/60EiOi Alex Ross discusses Bernstein's Mass. Worth a read, and a wonderful piece worth getting to know.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
How we hear Boulez
From Bis Morgen:
Even a surface sweep over Arnold Schönberg's output shows him to be a romantic at heart, even through the most prickly musical passages. The same can't always be said of Pierre Boulez. What to make of this character? Is this music relevant? We have an expansion of the (a)tonal practices of Schönberg, a development of the rhythmic resources of Stravinsky, but with close links in orchestrations to his French forefathers. (And let us not forget that the very concept of hyper-organization in music which Boulez so epitimizes was virtually invented by Franco-flemish composers, his heritage, over 500 years ago!) . What to make of his music? When asked once about the fact that his music did not seem to share his own very charming personality, his wit and humor, he said of the humor in his music, "it's in there."
When asked how long it would take for people to appreciate his music, he suggested that it would take "about 80 years."
Well, Mr. Boulez, it has been
Even a surface sweep over Arnold Schönberg's output shows him to be a romantic at heart, even through the most prickly musical passages. The same can't always be said of Pierre Boulez. What to make of this character? Is this music relevant? We have an expansion of the (a)tonal practices of Schönberg, a development of the rhythmic resources of Stravinsky, but with close links in orchestrations to his French forefathers. (And let us not forget that the very concept of hyper-organization in music which Boulez so epitimizes was virtually invented by Franco-flemish composers, his heritage, over 500 years ago!) . What to make of his music? When asked once about the fact that his music did not seem to share his own very charming personality, his wit and humor, he said of the humor in his music, "it's in there."
When asked how long it would take for people to appreciate his music, he suggested that it would take "about 80 years."
Well, Mr. Boulez, it has been
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