tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post6598630508521829249..comments2024-03-26T15:57:13.443+00:00Comments on On An Overgrown Path: If classical music is not live it is deadUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-85674320853390462192011-04-23T18:03:00.684+01:002011-04-23T18:03:00.684+01:00Your post and those linked that brought it to my a...Your post and those linked that brought it to my attention make the case for the power of live performance and why it is so vital and necessary. It is incredibly frustrating to see the institutionalized b.s. that often passes for marketing or publicity efforts that have ghettoized the classical concert experience among certain demographics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-90637481173070856672011-04-20T17:26:18.592+01:002011-04-20T17:26:18.592+01:00Nice linked post here -
http://musicalassumption...Nice linked post here - <br /><br />http://musicalassumptions.blogspot.com/2011/04/wise-thoughts-from-on-overgrown-path.htmlPliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-30283910254186192912011-04-20T10:11:55.540+01:002011-04-20T10:11:55.540+01:00Billoo, I have responded to your thoughtful commen...Billoo, I have responded to your thoughtful comment with a separate post - <br /><br />http://www.overgrownpath.com/2011/04/we-are-children-of-universal-landscape.htmlPliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-32419636837485813282011-04-20T09:05:39.975+01:002011-04-20T09:05:39.975+01:00As a composer I'm keenly aware of the differen...As a composer I'm keenly aware of the difference between a live performance and a recording - even the best recording doesn't carry half the value of the live performance. For me music is a social interaction; sure there are huge problems with the way it is presented in most concert halls, but I don't subscribe to Glenn Gould's view, I think if classical music reached the stage where it only existed within technology/recording it wouldn't last very long at all. ie I subscribe to your view that "if it's not live it's dead".<br /><br />I love the idea of landscape changing your taste, but I would suggest it's music in general, rather than specifically classical music that is "surprisingly sensitive to external circumstances". I don't think the fact that you stopped wanting to hear classical music during your travels signifies anything about the sensitivity of classical music itself, it merely reflects how you felt on the trip. Another person might just as likely go to Morocco and suddenly stop wanting to hear pop music and only want to hear classical music. It's music in general that is sensitive to our situation and mood, because it's so intimately connected with them.<br /><br />Thanks for a beautiful and thought-provoking post.fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10935637154556503803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-56014473961878239762011-04-20T06:20:31.752+01:002011-04-20T06:20:31.752+01:00Pli, thought the most interesting part of that was...Pli, thought the most interesting part of that was *why* you think Bach transcends landscape? And why do people from different cultures/landscapes appreciate classical music (or, slightly tangentially, popular music)?<br /><br />Khair..thought you might like this: <br /><br />"But there is real pathos in this dying people. These are my people-my own father, brother, mother, aunt and uncle...Yet I have no illusions: the death of these archaic, unprofitable, businesses is inevitable..But it is also the case that something rich and timeless that bids us to our roots and past, something central to our cultural imagination..is being lost"<br />---G.Bowley, on the decline of farming in England (Prospect magazine)<br /><br />salams,<br /><br />b.billoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10716970909272480118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-34233351586637049172011-04-19T23:48:26.768+01:002011-04-19T23:48:26.768+01:00Pliable,
"So we are singing from the same hy...Pliable,<br /><br /><i>"So we are singing from the same hymn sheet. Even if it is not in the Albert Hall"</i><br /><br />Excellent.<br /><br />:-)<br /> <br />As an aside:<br /> <br />In chapter 4 of <i>Music and the Mind</i> we read the following:<br /> <br /><i>"Mr. Gould believed that personal display was corrupting, deplored applause at concerts, and thought that the concert hall would disappear by the year 2000 because of progress in the technology of recording. He claimed that the listener to recordings at home, by adjusting controls to his or her personal taste, could come closer to an ideal performance and <i>reach a depth</i> of musical experience unattainable at a live concert"</i> <br /> <br />*******<br /><br />Amen.The Wistful Pelleastrianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391989065502028363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-1645953471504423862011-04-19T21:28:06.538+01:002011-04-19T21:28:06.538+01:00TUP - we are actually in agreement. My post is not...TUP - we are actually in agreement. My post is not about the benefits of the communal listening experience. It is about classical music being "surprisingly sensitive to external circumstances".<br /><br />You say that for you "there is just something very special about being alone with the music". I have no problem with that at all - it means you are sensitive to external circumstances and that solitary listening suits you best.<br /><br />So we are singing from the same hymn sheet. Even if it is not in the Albert Hall.Pliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-18263255025052350052011-04-19T21:13:46.833+01:002011-04-19T21:13:46.833+01:00Pliable,
"If you ever have the chance to att...Pliable,<br /><br /><i>"If you ever have the chance to attend, for instance, a Promenade concert in the Albert Hall you may well change that view"</i><br /><br />No, that will not alter my perspective or my feelings.<br /><br />Listening and studying the great masterpieces in the privacy of my home was (and continues to be) for me the most thrilling activity. <br /><br />As a native of northern New Jersey of course I enjoy going to Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera once every few months and donate what I can, but that never compared to being able to get to know so many masterpieces in such detail at home... I cannot begin to describe how many times solitary listening lifts me to <i>the heights</i> of aesthetic experience. <br /><br />Is live performance better? I think the most renowned orchestras tend to be so precise, well-rehearsed and consistent that they sound "inhuman" in live performance as well. Not that I'm complaining, I actually admire that. But I simply don't see why the communal experience should automatically be viewed as 'better'.<br /><br />There is just something very special about being alone with the music as far as I'm concerned.The Wistful Pelleastrianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391989065502028363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-46250156924479762032011-04-19T20:59:52.366+01:002011-04-19T20:59:52.366+01:00TUP - "The fact that there are many other peo...TUP - <i>"The fact that there are many other people sitting in the same room with you (or any other environmental detail) doesn't add anything to the experience"</i> - if you ever have the chance to attend, for instance, a Promenade concert in the Albert Hall you may well change that view. And incidentally, please can we keep block capitals and bold type for funeral invitations?<br /><br />ACD - thanks for clarifying that point. In fact the clarification makes Bell's theorem more relevant to the post and I have amended the text accordingly.Pliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-50055563966591845932011-04-19T20:29:45.952+01:002011-04-19T20:29:45.952+01:00An earlier post touched on Bell's theorem, whi...<i>An earlier post touched on Bell's theorem, which asserts that one subatomic 'object' can affect another such object without even the slightest interval of time or space separating them.</i><br />----------------------------<br /><br />I'm afraid you've got that "theorem" more than a little confused. Bell's experiments confirmed that, at the subatomic (i.e., quantum) scale and under certain circumstances, doing something to a subatomic particle at one location could *instantly* affect another subatomic particle of the same sort no matter how physically *distant* the two particles were one from the other. The phenomenon is called "quantum entanglement".<br /><br />ACDA.C. Douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12090447201234367871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-79316792123772471832011-04-19T20:27:17.273+01:002011-04-19T20:27:17.273+01:00Pliable,
It seems classical music's ability ...Pliable,<br /> <br /><i>It seems classical music's ability to make the essential connection with inner life is surprisingly sensitive to external circumstances<br /> <br />[....]<br /> <br />In classical music the composer, performer, audience, instruments, hall acoustic, physical performance space, climactic and environmental conditions, in fact every aspect of physical and cultural landscape, are connected more deeply and subtly than is currently thought.</i><br /> <br />********<br /> <br />Yikes. <br /> <br />With all due respect, I VEHEMENTLY DISAGREE with all of that.<br /> <br />At its best, classical music is a <b>solitary and personal experience</b>... It's between just you and the sound coming from the orchestra or quartet or opera house.<br /> <br />The fact that there are many other people sitting in the same room with you (or any other environmental detail) doesn't add anything to the experience.The Wistful Pelleastrianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391989065502028363noreply@blogger.com