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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #30 on: 18:45:38, 27-11-2007 » |
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Today, of course, one is more likely to be taught about the work of Girls Aloud than John Adams, say.
Not quite true: my daughter's GCSE course has included Adams, as well as Cage and Cardew - although all are skated over (the teacher did choose to dismiss The Great Learning as pretentious rubbish - and in these days of PFI, if you want to prepare a school piano - even an old one - you have to realise that you are dealing with the PFI company's asset and you have to make a "business case" for doing so!) |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #31 on: 18:57:03, 27-11-2007 » |
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I suppose we all have our heroes and ogres amongst our former teachers. My own school had two music teachers, and both were former cathedral organ-scholars who had become organists of London parish churchs. Both gave regular recitals (which one was supposed to attend) of Reger and Karg-Elert (who apparently were major composers). One also regularly directed either the St John Passion or the St Matthew Passion (in alternating years) and once again, attendance was compulsory (I was even cajoled into taking money at the door, my first involvement in Concert Mismanagement). (One small detail - they hated each other and refused to speak to each other). From them I learnt many useful and valuable things: - Sir Edward Elgar was Britain's greatest composer
- The finest work of the C20th was A CHILD OF OUR TIME
- Shostakovich was a talentless author of pinko cacophony
- John Cage will soon be locked up and sent to the electric chair
- If you listen to Wagner your penis will shrivel up and you will go blind
- All music written before Bach was written in modes, because the composers were incompetent
- Percussion, with the exception of timpani, is not a genuine group of musical instruments
- If no organ is available, an orchestra may be used as a substitute for it
- John Rutter is the greatest living composer
- St David Willcocks is a finer conductor than any of those Krauts or Eyeties
- Hiawatha's Wedding Feast is one of the finest compositions known to man
That's what I learned in School. So it must be right. |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #32 on: 19:45:05, 27-11-2007 » |
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Sounds depressingly familiar - I remember being told that the Tudor church music tradition was musically "more important" than the Viennese classical tradition; that Britten and Tippett's personal lives (and both were still alive at the time) were unbecoming to those aspiring to the hallowed rank of composer (and part of the reason why they never wrote anything to match Tallis, or Byrd, or even Weelkes, for God's sake); and that the highest musical ambition to which a boy could aspire was an Oxford choral or organ scholarship. But the greatest bugbear of all was - opera. Not proper music at all. I well remember that in the Fourth Form, boys were expected to write a project on a composer - influenced by the fine things I heard at home, as I began to rifle through my father's extensive record collection, I chose to do mine on Verdi. I was taken aside and told that Verdi wasn't really a proper composer at all, a purveyor of sensationalist trash to the nineteenth century Italian masses, not worthy of serious study, and I should reconsider if I wanted to get a decent grade. I didn't (reconsider or get a decent grade). A bit after that, I discovered Wagner. And it's been musical turpitude ever since  |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #33 on: 19:51:02, 27-11-2007 » |
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You didn't go to my school too, did you, PW?  |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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autoharp
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« Reply #34 on: 20:39:01, 27-11-2007 » |
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The status of music is not something which admits of being decided by persons. Oh no! It has to be judged against objective artistic standards independent of mere criticism.
In strongly agreeing with, and endorsing Mr Grew's words of wisdom here Er, Baz . . . Have I misunderstood your previous posts re Member Grew's "objective artistic standards" or have you lost your iron-willed determination here? |
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MT Wessel
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« Reply #35 on: 20:53:43, 27-11-2007 » |
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.... Nam June Paik when I first learned about his work -- particularly his performance art consisting of the highly dramatic smashing of a violin ... Dear Chafers. This smashing of the violin at the end of ones performance sounds good to me and indeed it should be encouraged. Smash up your old Strads etc and get some flipping new gear, bearing in mind that some excellent brand spanking new violins can be obtained at £££££'s reasonable from .... Thompson & Son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON Regards MT Wessel Sales Director Thompson & Son The Violin & c. St. Paul's Churchyard LONDON ps. Is this all right Tommo ? |
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lignum crucis arbour scientiae
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autoharp
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« Reply #36 on: 20:59:51, 27-11-2007 » |
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At a Fluxus retrospective back in c.1977 (Air Gallery in London), Keith Potter was witnessed sawing a violin in half. Memorable and impressive!
Ah, those were the days!
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #37 on: 21:00:27, 27-11-2007 » |
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You didn't go to my school too, did you, PW? We were spared the Reger and Karg-Elert. And listening to Wagner was regarded as likely to lead to spiritual and moral rather than physical decline .... |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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C Dish
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« Reply #38 on: 23:19:54, 27-11-2007 » |
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inert fig here
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #39 on: 01:02:21, 28-11-2007 » |
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ps. Is this all right Tommo ?
I heard back from Peter, he said that although smashing fiddles was his idea in Eight Songs, he'd turn a blind eye to it for the usual tenner  |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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Andy D
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« Reply #40 on: 01:15:58, 28-11-2007 » |
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[this post is intentionally blank] |
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C Dish
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« Reply #41 on: 02:56:02, 28-11-2007 » |
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This stare is intentionally blank |
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inert fig here
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increpatio
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« Reply #42 on: 03:20:07, 28-11-2007 » |
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Baz
Guest
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« Reply #43 on: 08:03:15, 28-11-2007 » |
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The status of music is not something which admits of being decided by persons. Oh no! It has to be judged against objective artistic standards independent of mere criticism.
In strongly agreeing with, and endorsing Mr Grew's words of wisdom here Er, Baz . . . Have I misunderstood your previous posts re Member Grew's "objective artistic standards" or have you lost your iron-willed determination here? Hi autoharp. Although I retained all Mr Grew's message, it was really his response to the second quotation that I had in mind - hence what I said about CM and the need to give it time before rubbishing it. That said, my objection to the notion of "objective artistic standards" has only ever been (in Mr Grew's case) the assertion that deciding upon composer rankings was also a matter of absolute objectivity (a notion that I had always argued was illogical). Baz |
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autoharp
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« Reply #44 on: 08:07:14, 28-11-2007 » |
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Phew! Thanks for the clarification, Baz.
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