In praise of the unspectacular

The effort to universalize human history has ended with the pursuit of the spectacular to enliven human understanding.
That observation is key to understanding l'affaire Sokolov and much else. It comes from Earle H. Waugh's Memory, Music and Religion, a book that also sparked my post 'Music and memory'.

The full title of Earle H. Waugh's book is Memory, Music, and Religion: Morocco's Mystical Chanters, and the photo was taken by me in Morocco close to the shrine of the Sufi saint Sidi Ali Ifni. Any other copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use" for critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). No review samples used. Also on Facebook and Twitter.

Comments

Recent popular posts

All aboard the Martinu bandwagon

Whatever happened to the long tail of composers?

Can streamed music ever be beautiful?

Programme note for orchestra touring China

Master musician who experienced the pain of genius

Who are the real classical role models?

Great music has no independent existence

He was not an online kind of person

The Berlin Philharmonic's darkest hour

Nada Brahma - Sound is God