missing the damned point...again...

[acroyear]

On An Overgrown Path: Classical music and the mass market fallacy:

Could it be that when classical music is homogenised for the elusive mass market it loses its essential appeal? Could the mass market fallacy explain why so much classical music today is bland and unappealing? Could it also explain why creativity continues to flourish in genres such as world music and jazz which have shed their mass market pretensions?

By mentioning jazz, and improvisational (world) music, you've definitely invited an apples to oranges comparison.

What makes the other worlds of music different from classical is the that in the other worlds, and this includes rock and pop, the *recording* comes first.

Robert Fripp has even expressed this in discussing (recent) King Crimson releases: the CD is the "score", which is then performed live.

In order to "compete" in this market, the contemporary composer (and the label itself) needs to stop thinking about the score and prioritize getting premiere recordings out the door. Nobody "talks" about a score, because nobody can read a score except those few whose training it is to bring that score into life through performance.

The layman world can't discuss, debate, and enjoy orchestral music so long as it only exists on paper.

The rest of the music world works by 1) artist "writes" the material. 2) artist records the material. 3) artist releases the recording for feedback. 4) artist performs the material.

The classical (especially orchestral) world has this backwards - the performances come first and then...nothing...it may take *years* after a premiere for a work to finally be released, by which time it is forgotten or there's really no momentum to promote it by the artists involved (except maybe the conductor...maybe...) because they've gone on to different things. It is too late to ride that momentum that the rest of the industry rides when that CD is able to get in the hands of the public.

So THAT is (to my mind) what needs to change to rebuild a market for contemporary classical - getting the music released as "music" that people can listen to and enjoy and build up a buzz about, and not just as a piece of paper nobody can read and a rare concert in some obscure town nobody can get to...

Comments

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

people make contemporary music involving chamber instruments and full ensembles, that ends up in the "classical" category for lack of anywhere else to put it.

musically, it has moved so far beyond Beethoven as to be almost incomparable, but there you go.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't understand the distinction. I am the example of all the people who are, for whatever reason, totally un-knowing about the musical genre you are speaking of. If the model doesn't change somehow, I will continue not to know anything about it.

I have 1200 songs on hard disk in my car, and the only stuff in there that even vaguely resembles what I (not you) would call classical music is a chello quartet. The right sort of instrument, but they are playing metallica. I have wondered what someone who understands chello, but has never heard metallica would think of that stuff.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

depends on how much they are involved in the classical scene. most classical players can't stand "crossover" stuff. Metallica is painfully "tonal" - pure 3-chord rock, give or take the guitar solo bridge, rarely even attempting modes beyond major/minor/dorian. yeah, you're not sure what i mean, but suffice to say, contemporary "classical" music is something different entirely.

take http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G34poeKMjrQ for an example.

in the film score world, most hollywood scores are of the "neo-romantic" - they owe most of their sound to the big Wagnerian sounds of the 19th century (John Williams, Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings). Still others experiment with 1960s minimalism (scores by Thomas Newman, like Leminy Snicket).

Those that followed the trend of modern "classical" are the really tough ones, like the original Planet of the Apes (Jerry Goldsmith).

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

I tried to listen to your example. With no rythm and no melody, I couldn't get into it. I'll take your word for it that there's something happening there, but I'm not hearing it.

I like stuff that sounds wagnerian. There's a reference I know and like. I do have some movie soundtrack stuff in my collection, at home. Come to think of it, the theme from the good, the bad and the ugly may be in the car.

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

Ah, Thomas Newman. Lemony Snicket was my introduction to him and it is still one of my favorite film scores. I like his use of percussion instruments.