A discussion of the globalization of music permeates his article, how this generation is exposed to much more and different music than the older generations have been. This leads me to wonder about the localization of music. Globalization has led to localization as an counter movement, particularly in agriculture. This leads one to wonder if the same will be true of music. Will composers seek to revert back to the local idioms of sound? How would they do this and what would they be? Would this be a cultural movement? Composers investigating and pushing the music of their lineage? It will be an interesting process to watch. I don't have any answers, just couldn't help but muse.
Postmodernism in music recalls the western classical tradition. Dr. Kramer seeks to put postmodernism in a box into which everything falls, a music defined as that following what has come before, with certain aesthetic tendencies, listed as such:
1. is not simply a repudiation of modernism or its continuation, but has aspects of both a break and an extension;
2. is, on some level and in some way, ironic;
3. does not respect boundaries between sonorities and procedures of the past and of the present;
4. challenges barriers between "high" and "low" styles;
5. shows disdain for the often unquestioned value of structural unity;
6. questions the mutual exclusivity of elitist and populist values;
7. avoids totalizing forms (e.g., does not want entire pieces to be tonal or serial or cast in a prescribed formal mold);
8. considers music not as autonomous but as relevant to cultural, social, and political contexts;
9. includes quotations of or references to music of many traditions and cultures;
10. considers technology not only as a way to preserve and transmit music but also as deeply implicated in the production and essence of music;
11. embraces contradictions;
12. distrusts binary oppositions;
13. includes fragmentations and discontinuities;
14. encompasses pluralism and eclecticism;
15. presents multiple meanings and multiple temporalities;
16. locates meaning and even structure in listeners, more than in scores, performances, or composers.
This list seems to encompass very little music, but also seems to exist without frame of reference to time (with the exception of no. 7), and this seems to be a realm in which music has gone since recorded music. Some composers in every period have sought to break the mold, change the system and interact with music in a different way, that's why music grows. Thus, Postmodernism can be defined as that which follows whatever it is that happens to be modern.
Listening this week was also worthy of note.
The Bolcom Songs of Innocence left me confused. After several listenings of the first and third I was still searching for the text itself. Some mix of opera, western twang, and americana, Bolcom does not restrict himself to stay in one cultural or even instrumental norm.
At this point, genres don't matter. I would as soon evaluate a composer on his own level. The Songs of Innocence transcend what I expected to hear, I know not why I have expectations at all. I believe the idea here is innocence across cultural boundaries. First the classical tradition as we all know it from our backgrounds. Next comes the innocence from out west in the eyes of a 'little black boy.' This was, by far, the most interesting of the three.
Bolcom's music (so far as I know) is energetic, moving, sensitive, and sometimes even powerful. A composer who can move emotion and thought this much in such a short amount of time deserves attention. If we consider the point of music being that to stir the soul, then Bolcom succeeds well. Though it does not speak to me specifically, it certainly carries the air of emotionality throughout.
Foss
The first of the Time Cycle sounded like an aria from Berg's Wozzeck. Quirky and atonal, it never settled. I enjoyed it tremendously. The unexpected chromaticism covered by emotional, even explosive text, accompanied by traditional orchestral instruments. We're late, but for what?
1a. Interlude 1 is quiet, unnerving. This I could really get into. Tense, confident and meticulous, foreboding even. I can't get Wozzeck out of my head, I think I will be listening to t after this blog is finished. After the totalism reading/studying, I think my expectation of this listening was to be more instrumentally varied.
All this traditional instrumentation speaks to me as really intense and unrestrained. Full and powerful, it's unyielding force sets me on edge and focuses my thought patterns and very nearly articulates my thoughts before I fully comprehend them. It makes me feel so lucid, like my teeth are on edge. Music can be the most intense drug, although now I fear I have said too much.
through the next one.
When the Bells Justle. The only problem I have thusfar is not understanding the text. Still, this powerful, intense music really speaks to me. I want to be there, in the seat, watching, playing, experiencing this for myself rather than on a recording.
Interlude II left me drawing a ______. The use of silence was much more extreme than most things we listen to as musicians, with 4'33" being an obvious exception. Really the absence here speaks more, anticipating and on edge, the audience quietly waits for these little interludes that come and go quietly for much of the movement. I still don't know what to think of this one, except to say that this is much more of what I anticipated with regard to instrumentation.
Sechzehnter Januar waited and waited to build to nowhere. It was confusing, so I went to investigate. Sixteenth note January. Maybe that was the timeframe for this movement. It doesn't make any sense yet though.
Interlude III had the same quiet with silences as heard in the Second Interlude, this time, however, the subversive energy expressed in the piano created some sense of tension. Later the clarinet and some percussion joined in this theme, followed by a soaring violin line. This one never seemed to settle though, it just stayed anxious.
O Mensch, gib Acht, it listened like a grand aria, but after a quiet interlude. Without the contrast of something more powerful or at least something different, it just kind of sat. I was expecting so much better after the beginning of this cycle, what a sad finish.
This list seems to encompass very little music, but also seems to exist without frame of reference to time (with the exception of no. 7), and this seems to be a realm in which music has gone since recorded music. Some composers in every period have sought to break the mold, change the system and interact with music in a different way, that's why music grows. Thus, Postmodernism can be defined as that which follows whatever it is that happens to be modern.
Listening this week was also worthy of note.
The Bolcom Songs of Innocence left me confused. After several listenings of the first and third I was still searching for the text itself. Some mix of opera, western twang, and americana, Bolcom does not restrict himself to stay in one cultural or even instrumental norm.
At this point, genres don't matter. I would as soon evaluate a composer on his own level. The Songs of Innocence transcend what I expected to hear, I know not why I have expectations at all. I believe the idea here is innocence across cultural boundaries. First the classical tradition as we all know it from our backgrounds. Next comes the innocence from out west in the eyes of a 'little black boy.' This was, by far, the most interesting of the three.
Bolcom's music (so far as I know) is energetic, moving, sensitive, and sometimes even powerful. A composer who can move emotion and thought this much in such a short amount of time deserves attention. If we consider the point of music being that to stir the soul, then Bolcom succeeds well. Though it does not speak to me specifically, it certainly carries the air of emotionality throughout.
Foss
The first of the Time Cycle sounded like an aria from Berg's Wozzeck. Quirky and atonal, it never settled. I enjoyed it tremendously. The unexpected chromaticism covered by emotional, even explosive text, accompanied by traditional orchestral instruments. We're late, but for what?
1a. Interlude 1 is quiet, unnerving. This I could really get into. Tense, confident and meticulous, foreboding even. I can't get Wozzeck out of my head, I think I will be listening to t after this blog is finished. After the totalism reading/studying, I think my expectation of this listening was to be more instrumentally varied.
All this traditional instrumentation speaks to me as really intense and unrestrained. Full and powerful, it's unyielding force sets me on edge and focuses my thought patterns and very nearly articulates my thoughts before I fully comprehend them. It makes me feel so lucid, like my teeth are on edge. Music can be the most intense drug, although now I fear I have said too much.
through the next one.
When the Bells Justle. The only problem I have thusfar is not understanding the text. Still, this powerful, intense music really speaks to me. I want to be there, in the seat, watching, playing, experiencing this for myself rather than on a recording.
Interlude II left me drawing a ______. The use of silence was much more extreme than most things we listen to as musicians, with 4'33" being an obvious exception. Really the absence here speaks more, anticipating and on edge, the audience quietly waits for these little interludes that come and go quietly for much of the movement. I still don't know what to think of this one, except to say that this is much more of what I anticipated with regard to instrumentation.
Sechzehnter Januar waited and waited to build to nowhere. It was confusing, so I went to investigate. Sixteenth note January. Maybe that was the timeframe for this movement. It doesn't make any sense yet though.
Interlude III had the same quiet with silences as heard in the Second Interlude, this time, however, the subversive energy expressed in the piano created some sense of tension. Later the clarinet and some percussion joined in this theme, followed by a soaring violin line. This one never seemed to settle though, it just stayed anxious.
O Mensch, gib Acht, it listened like a grand aria, but after a quiet interlude. Without the contrast of something more powerful or at least something different, it just kind of sat. I was expecting so much better after the beginning of this cycle, what a sad finish.
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