In a typically thoughtful contribution to my post Why not play the premier league composers more often? Richard Bratby - who is professionally involved in classical music - mused "speaking solely from my own experience - there is a very noticeable falling-off in ticket sales when a symphony orchestra programmes pre-Beethoven repertoire, irrespective of the quality of the performance or the music, or the energy with which it is marketed. But why?" Now Kea has answered Richard's question with the following comment: Wagner, Mahler, Shostakovich, etc, all sound more or less like film music (or -- more accurately -- film music sounds more or less like recycled bits of Wagner, Mahler, Shostakovich, etc) and therefore don't require any intellectual involvement or serious effort to listen to. Understanding the music of Bach, Mozart or Haydn, etc (or for that matter Schumann, Brahms, Webern, Cage, etc) actually requires people to listen actively rather than being pulled alo...
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That's for sure--but wow, that would be quite an experience if they do.
I've heard that Stockhausen was not adverse to taking LSD in the late 60's/early 70's. That interview seems to confirm it! :-)
I heard Stockhausen's Oktophonie (1991) at Berlin's New National Gallery in 2003, and I have little recollection of it (though I have an extensive, beautiful little program booklet from the evening). While before reading the Guardian interview, I had recalled that the work involved 8 loudspeakers situated at the corners of a darkened cube, I had forgotten about the theatrical sliver of moonlight and Stockhausen dressed all in white.
That evening before the concert in 2003, I spoke briefly with Stockhausen downstairs at the Museum. He looked distracted (in his white costume), and I thought to myself "Oh my", the two years since his 9/11 comment must have been disturbing for him. However, once on stage, he commanded the evening's audience with his charisma and spoke clearly and crisply for 25 minutes about the technology of the work and its "vertical" sound innovation. He struck me then as a composer-engineer, and not the distressed shaman that he had appeared an hour earlier. Again, I recall little of the evening's music, though I will say that I do continue to respect Mr Stockhausen for his contributions as an experimental sound and musical artist.
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(I recall much stronger, Jenny Holzer's huge LED installation on the ceiling of Berlin's New National Gallery, the previous year.)