When I was a young musician, I frequently heard references to “the test of time,” the way compositions were judged worthy if they continued to be programmed and enjoyed years after they were created. The test of time was never considered infallible: every once in a while a lost gem would resurface: a piece that nobody thought worth a second listen proved to reward frequent hearings. And, … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2015
Golden Meanness
Scholars have long argued about the properties of the Golden Ratio (1.618) as applied to music, some finding evidence in everything from folk music to contemporary compositions. Many cite the occurrence of musical climaxes, both micro and macro, at .618 of the way through phrases, sections and entire compositions. .618 of the way through the concert season and the academic calendar falls sometime … [Read more...]
The Window
A joke that circulates from time to time among colleagues: “Honey, why are you staring out the window?” “I’m composing.” Well, to be fair, it’s a half-joke. Maybe even less than half. Staring off into space happens to be a great way to focus on musical ideas. Looking at nothing in particular, hearing sounds. Spend enough time with a composer, and you will be treated to a lot of blank … [Read more...]
Love Feast
We’re celebrating Valentine’s Day here with a three-day festival dedicated to the thing we hold most dear, namely new music. On Friday we have a seminar with guest Bruno Louchouarn, a French-Mexican composer whose background in cognitive science and interest in interdisciplinary arts has lent his work an unusual perspective. Saturday night we have chamber music from France and Finland by … [Read more...]
The latest track
Matthew Guerreri, whose writings on music I always enjoy and look forward to, heads his latest NewMusicBox column with a quote from 1842: [Richard Monckton] Milnes brought [Thomas] Carlyle to the railway, and showed him the departing train. Carlyle looked at it and then said, “These are our poems, Milnes.” Milnes ought to have answered, “Aye, and our histories, Carlyle.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson, … [Read more...]
Twixt
The Medieval church. The 18th-century court. The 20th-century university. Artists have to eat, and the ways they have found to put food on the table throughout the ages have provided equivalent fodder for their inspirations. Whether their goal is to elevate a divine entity, a royal personage or scientific inquiry, these arts patrons have dictated, either directly or through habituation, the … [Read more...]
Out With the New
Who needs a new blog? Certainly I don’t – I have no intention of starting a new one. This new blog is an old blog that’s been around since 2005, right around when blogging was becoming ubiquitous. For 9+ years, it resided comfortably on a site devoted to new music. Then, this past fall, it got attacked and destroyed by bots, which are, if you haven’t encountered them, little automated repetitions … [Read more...]