Comments for opus111

Comment on Carissimi’s Classical Composers Poster: Inspiration Information by melky

melky — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:17:30 +0000

I grew up hearing both lots of 50s rock n’ roll (my Dad’s teen years) but also classical, bc of his listening habits. I also grew up playing classical violin but tended to listen mostly to the rock stuff probably bc it’s so immediately accessible. (and maybe Perceived as being more ‘emotionally accessible’? mistakenly or not). i think it’s also simply a feeling of being overwhelmed, ‘where to start?’ when it comes to listening to classical composers and i know for me, a feeling that i’ve been afraid to delve too deeply bc i do love classical music and will want to obsessively listen to a billion things and that can be an overwhelming feeling when you’re already obsessed w other genres; i dunno

Having said all that i toad-ally am getting a couple of those posters.
Thanks for this thoughtful post!! ..sorry i’m so late to catch up, here. I will have a lot to pore through..!

Comment on Alban Berg’s Piano Sonata, Op.1: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Innervisions: Arnold Schoenberg, the Painter « opus111

Innervisions: Arnold Schoenberg, the Painter « opus111 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 23:45:39 +0000

[...] piece on Alban Berg (1885-1935) I pointed to a 1910 painting of the composer. (You can click here to view it.) The painter was Berg’s composition teacher, Arnold Schoenberg. The idea there [...]

Comment on Arnold Schoenberg: Brilliant Corners by SK

SK — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:29:19 +0000

Thanks for the reply opus111, & for clarifying Schoenberg’s thinking for me. I respect this about Schoenberg’s agenda, his interest in challenging us, getting us to rethink what music means. Have you read Alex Ross’ _The Rest is Noise_? Lots of great meaty passages in there that further outline how rigorous Schoenberg was in really turning the tables. I appreciate him in this mode, as a kind of stern cranky builder of intellectual obstacle-courses — helping us become aware of if not rise up out of the comfy sofas of our cultural inheritances & preconceptions — even if I don’t often love him so much as a musician or artist (using ‘musician’ and ‘artist’ here in ways Schoenberg probably would wince at ). Cheers! -C

Comment on Arnold Schoenberg: Brilliant Corners by opus111

opus111 — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:49:14 +0000

Thanks for your thoughtful reflection. (A friend mentioned it at a New Year’s party and made me realize that I should respond.) Your thoughts remind me of a couple of points worth relaying: Schoenberg often said that he was not interested in making people feel the beauty of his music. It was more about getting people to think differently about (or hear) music differently. (Those are paraphrases – and slightly off the mark.) You are right in another way, too: Schoenberg himself once spoke about tonality as something that he would never attempt to trample out of his music – on principle alone. The “inner urge,” as he called it, was paramount – whether it be tonal or atonal. Real thanks, again!

Comment on Arnold Schoenberg: Brilliant Corners by Professor Polymath (@profpolymath)

Professor Polymath (@profpolymath) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:10:25 +0000

Great work. Almost inspired me to listen to some Schoenberg, but I caught myself just in time.

Comment on Arnold Schoenberg: Brilliant Corners by SK

SK — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 04:41:49 +0000

Great post as usual Opus111. I took a listen to the linked youtube recording of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto. I liked a lot of the writing for strings in it right off the bat, but little else moved me about it several minutes in. I found it lively and muscular and jagged but in a way that left me cold (let me say at this point that the only Schoenberg work that’s ever moved me was Moses und Aron). But the longer I let it play the more I was drawn to it, the more I hung on the bars to see what happened next. It has a relentless obsessive athletic push that won me over. I was surprised at this. It happened in the course of writing this comment actually, and I had to go back and rewrite it.

It’s fascinating to consider coming to the world of organized sound, like the theoretical Gould’s child you cite, without any preconceived notions of dissonance or consonance, and while I support every effort Schoenberg made to explore music from that vantage point (if we want to consider his music point from that vantage point), in practice I rarely ever found myself seeking his music out, craving it, hungering for it. I was intrigued by the musico-philosophical waters he stirred up, but that’s it, and that’s of course not the same as *wanting* the music, being stirred by it. I always avidly supported what he explored, the paths he paved, his singlemindedness of vision, but didn’t love the actual fruits of his labor.

BUT — and I’m delighted to say this — this piano concerto has changed my mind, opened my ears. Thanks for this post.

Comment on Edwin Fischer’s Bach: Dropping the Curtain of Memory by opus111

opus111 — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:54:06 +0000

Vielen Dank fuer den Kommentar – sehr nett von Ihnen. You’re right: Bach’s music is still fresh today. Sometimes I think this is what Landowska meant when she referred to Bach’s as “absolute music” – it’s both international and timeless. All the best to you in Germany! Alles Gute!

Comment on Edwin Fischer’s Bach: Dropping the Curtain of Memory by SW

SW — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:45:47 +0000

Thank you for the posting. The Fischer recording sounds fresh as an interpretation, from my perspective here in Germany. Your curtain draws between today and Düsseldorf, mine between Berlin and Leipzig of another time. Is it not wondrous what our Papa Bach accomplished, that allows such freshness today?

Comment on Landowska and Tolstoy – Landowska and the Sounds of War: Two Historical Snapshots by David Airth

David Airth — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:06:59 +0000

Never heard of Edwin Fischer before, until this moment.

Comment on Landowska and Tolstoy – Landowska and the Sounds of War: Two Historical Snapshots by Agnieszka Wildish

Agnieszka Wildish — Tue, 31 May 2011 02:23:11 +0000

a terrific piece about Landowska and Tolstoy-what an interesting and unexpected connection!