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Ian Pace
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« on: 13:00:19, 12-03-2007 » |
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'How could one educate the public for modern music? It will be no more possible now than it ever was to educate the whole of the public for modern, or to put it better, serious art-music. Rightly or wrongly, it is not everyone's business to concern himself with difficult and profound things, just as these things are not thought of with everyone in mind. But the part of the public that is to be won over could and should be won over as soon as possible. The way to do this: many, frequently repeated performances, as well prepared as possible. I have long been pleading that an hour should be given over to modern music, at a time when its opponents will not greatly begrudge it; for example, an hour late at night, once or twice a week, perhaps after eleven. That could be handed over to modern music with no envious reactions.' (Arnold Schoenberg - from 'Modern Music on the Radio' (1933))
Was Hear and Now (and its predecessor Music in our Time) designed with Schoenberg's prescription in mind? We used to have two hours, once a week, after 10:30, now it's just an hour-and-a-half (perhaps in a response to 'envious reactions'?). Surely, 74 years after Schoenberg's short article, Radio 3 can do better than that?
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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David_Underdown
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« Reply #1 on: 14:09:24, 12-03-2007 » |
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And if not Schoenberg, what about Newman (the man who picked Wood to conduct The Proms):
"I am going to run nightly concerts and train the public by easy stages. Popular at first, gradually raising the standard until I have created a public for classical and modern music".
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David
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xyzzzz__
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« Reply #2 on: 16:25:47, 12-03-2007 » |
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This morning I ws re-reading Charles Rosen's Pocket book account of Schoenberg, specifically the sections up to 'Serialism', one of these includes a short account of 'The Society for the Private Performance of Music'.
Even though Radio 3 could say there is more modern music readily available to purchase, it would be really great to get repeat performances of various works that just haven't seen the light of day on record, discussed in a way that would allow anyone new to this stuff 'in'.
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reiner_torheit
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« Reply #3 on: 17:29:12, 12-03-2007 » |
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"Who is Sherl Berg, and when was he appointed a BBC Trustee? He'll have to make an appointment, as I am very busy deleting impertinent questions from our website messageboards at the moment."
M.T. Suit, Head of Audience Interactivity (Listeners), BBC Management, Penpushers House, Wright's Lane, London W8.
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They say travel broadens the mind - but in many cases travel has made the mind not exactly broader, but thicker.
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aaron cassidy
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« Reply #4 on: 17:55:29, 20-03-2007 » |
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Was Hear and Now (and its predecessor Music in our Time) designed with Schoenberg's prescription in mind? We used to have two hours, once a week, after 10:30, now it's just an hour-and-a-half (perhaps in a response to 'envious reactions'?). Surely, 74 years after Schoenberg's short article, Radio 3 can do better than that?
Ian et al., you might be interested to see this program, which broadcasts from, of all places, Oklahoma City: http://www.thecomposernextdoor.org/I about fell out of my chair laughing when my bass clarinet piece came on the air (played (brilliantly!) by one Oliver Sudden) just imagining unsuspecting classical music listeners tuning in on a Sunday afternoon riding around in their pick-up trucks running errands in central Oklahoma (how's that for stereotyping?). Rob's broadcast choices tend toward a particular brand of mainstream Americana, but his heart is most definitely in the right place. What surprises me most about the program is that it's broadcast in mid-day on a major classical music station dead-smack in the buckle of the Bible Belt. |
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pim_derks
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« Reply #5 on: 18:43:40, 20-03-2007 » |
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you might be interested to see this program, which broadcasts from, of all places, Oklahoma City: http://www.thecomposernextdoor.org/I about fell out of my chair laughing when my bass clarinet piece came on the air (played (brilliantly!) by one Oliver Sudden) just imagining unsuspecting classical music listeners tuning in on a Sunday afternoon riding around in their pick-up trucks running errands in central Oklahoma (how's that for stereotyping?). Rob's broadcast choices tend toward a particular brand of mainstream Americana, but his heart is most definitely in the right place. What surprises me most about the program is that it's broadcast in mid-day on a major classical music station dead-smack in the buckle of the Bible Belt. Thanks a lot Aaron. I'll listen to it when I have the chance. At the moment, they're playing Lully's Te Deum: I'm afraid I'll be thinking of pick-up trucks in central Oklahoma whenever I'll hear this piece in the future  |
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"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
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aaron cassidy
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« Reply #6 on: 18:49:38, 20-03-2007 » |
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At the moment, they're playing Lully's Te Deum: I'm afraid I'll be thinking of pick-up trucks in central Oklahoma whenever I'll hear this piece in the future Ha. And there I go falling out of my chair again. |
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lovedaydewfall
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« Reply #7 on: 10:12:23, 27-03-2007 » |
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Radio 3 have certainly heeded Scoenberg's words, ever since the 1960s when the "Controllers of Music" wanted to show how much they were at the "cutting edge". // But wasn't it Sir Arthur Bliss who sometime in the immediate post-WWII period predicted that broadcasting would degenerate into a "dirt track of noise and nonsense"? I forget where I heard this quote, but it was something like that. I take it that "noise and nonsense" refers to pop music, and we are certainly inundated with that now. However, the serious music channels also have their share of "noise and nonsense", masquerading, as I have hinted elsewhere, as music! You can't blame the composers - they will write whatever the establishment wants and will promote. But here is where the "heroic" Beethovenian figure can operate. The real creative artists who know what they want to produce and produce it irrespective of the opinions of the establishment, and irrespective of whether it is performed or not. And the judgment of history will show who was right.
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #8 on: 11:54:14, 27-03-2007 » |
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Incidentally, has anyone read Jenny Doctor's The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music 1922-1936: Shaping a Nation's Tastes? I haven't, I wondered what it was like.
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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pim_derks
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« Reply #9 on: 15:04:55, 27-03-2007 » |
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But wasn't it Sir Arthur Bliss who sometime in the immediate post-WWII period predicted that broadcasting would degenerate into a "dirt track of noise and nonsense"? I forget where I heard this quote, but it was something like that. Interesting quote, love. Thank you. Bliss was a wonderful composer. I was listening to his Cello Concerto just a minute ago. Incidentally, has anyone read Jenny Doctor's The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music 1922-1936: Shaping a Nation's Tastes? I haven't, I wondered what it was like. Thank you for mentioning this book, Ian. It seems very interesting to me. |
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"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
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lovedaydewfall
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« Reply #10 on: 21:44:54, 30-03-2007 » |
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But wasn't it Sir Arthur Bliss who sometime in the immediate post-WWII period predicted that broadcasting would degenerate into a "dirt track of noise and nonsense"? I forget where I heard this quote, but it was something like that. Interesting quote, love. Thank you. Bliss was a wonderful composer. I was listening to his Cello Concerto just a minute ago. /////<<<< Grrrrreat! I have been listening to the Bliss Cello Concerto quite a lot lately, and also several other of his works. I can't understand why it has taken me so long to come to a realisation of just how good a composer he was. The Metamorphic Variations are superb, as are the Meditations on a Theme of John Blow. There is a fine Introduction and Allegro for orchestra, and the Colour Symphony is good, as well. Do you know his Piano Concerto in B flat - one of the more successful examples of that genre in the 20th century, I think. Incidentally, has anyone read Jenny Doctor's The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music 1922-1936: Shaping a Nation's Tastes? I haven't, I wondered what it was like. Thank you for mentioning this book, Ian. It seems very interesting to me. |
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pim_derks
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« Reply #11 on: 21:54:32, 30-03-2007 » |
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Grrrrreat! I have been listening to the Bliss Cello Concerto quite a lot lately, and also several other of his works. I can't understand why it has taken me so long to come to a realisation of just how good a composer he was. The Metamorphic Variations are superb, as are the Meditations on a Theme of John Blow. There is a fine Introduction and Allegro for orchestra, and the Colour Symphony is good, as well. Do you know his Piano Concerto in B flat - one of the more successful examples of that genre in the 20th century, I think. My favorite piece by Bliss is his ballet Adam Zero. A wonderful score, in every respect. It never became popular as a ballet, like Checkmate, and it never became a popular piece in the concert hall. I really don't understand why. There are some beautiful melodies, strong rhythms, the orchestration is superb and although it is a piece of 45 minutes, there's never a dull moment. Truly one of the most neglected pieces of English music of the twentieth century. |
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"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
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SusanDoris
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« Reply #12 on: 15:30:31, 31-03-2007 » |
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My favorite piece by Bliss is his ballet Adam Zero. A wonderful score, in every respect. It never became popular as a ballet, like Checkmate, and it never became a popular piece in the concert hall. I really don't understand why. There are some beautiful melodies, strong rhythms, the orchestration is superb and although it is a piece of 45 minutes, there's never a dull moment. Truly one of the most neglected pieces of English music of the twentieth century.
I have just rung HMV in Southampton and they have it in stock, so it (a Naxos CD) has been put by for me when I go to collect 'Les Sixes' CD. |
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #13 on: 15:37:57, 31-03-2007 » |
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The Adam Zero is coupled with a decent version of his Colour Symphony. I think you'll enjoy it, pd.
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pim_derks
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« Reply #14 on: 15:39:41, 31-03-2007 » |
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I have just rung HMV in Southampton and they have it in stock, so it (a Naxos CD) has been put by for me when I go to collect 'Les Sixes' CD.
Yes, I also have that Naxos disc. A wonderful recording. The Color Symphony on that disc is also an excellent performance. |
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"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
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