Dave Hardman wrote:
>I cannot understand why Americans don't boast loudly about Elliott Carter.
I'm impressed, once again we have a situation were a person can praise the
work, and completely miss the lesson in his own life. Carter makes a case
for the expressive individual and the evils of the mass. Here we have
someone praise the concerto, and then declare in strong terms that he is in
favor of the mass, that everyone should behave as he wants them to behave.
If the work is expressive, its expression has clearly been lost on Mr.
Hardman...
- - -
All of this gets back to the bleeding sore of classical music, people want
to have their taste confirmed by the adulation of others. As a result, I
read much more about "how can we make thoise stupid idiots who disagree
with us understand that *we are always right*!"
It is not a problem limited to style, it is as easy to pull examples of
people who act as if Atonal music is the end of civilised life and so on.
But each time I read one, I fear for my position as an artist, because
this is, fundementally, an anti-artistic argument. It reduces artworks to
banners, and it means that a composer cannot say something without it being
subverted to being more ammunition for the partisan wars.
Over and over again I read people talking about how classical music
is disliked by the outside because it is too intelligent, requires too
much thinking. I wish I could agree, but instead when one examines the
quality of thinking, very often the loudest of partisans make the worst
case for their side. I am thinking particularly of on S*** W***** on the
unmoderated list who preaches for the rationality of the Western Canon, and
then procedes to demonstrate the most astonishingly virtuosic ignorance of
its basic precepts. His a traditionalist for those people keeping score.
I'm not a big fan of the sound of Carter's music, won't go out of my way
To listen to most of it other than the String Quartets, however, he, as
an artist, has the right to be taken for what he is doing and what he is
saying. This has been denied to him. The people who have been openly and
honestly puzzled are giving him more of his due than this previous poster
was, because they, at least, were concentrating on trying to understand
what he said...
Stirling S Newberry
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