At 11:43 PM -0600 1/29/06, Noel Stoutenburg wrote:
Andrew:
When I read my comment
There is in the U.S. a dogmatic divide between "contemporary" and
"classical" music that just does not exist in Europe.
and your reply
I reiterate (for the third time now in this thread, so far w.o
rejoinder) that this is no longer the case in Philadelphia.
I suspect that we may not mean the same thing by "contemporary",
that is, that I suspect you are using the word in a way that
includes the late Alan Hovhaness, and I am not using the word in
that same way.
I think that Noel is correct in this, and I have noted that other
writers have also confused the two.
"Contemporary" means something that is happening today. But clearly
there is more than one thing happening today in music, and I suspect
there always has been. One can speak (correctly!) about contemporary
classical or "art" music, contemporary country music, contemporary
rap music, contemporary jazz, contemporary Christian, etc., etc.,
etc. Contemporary is not a style; by definition it is many different
styles. And in the classical world, Honneger or Hovhaness are hardly
contemporary, since the term implies living composers.
Now as to Noel's comments on collaborations between the symphonic and
pop worlds, I have been involved in a great many of these over a
period of many years. In almost every case (and I can't remember any
exception), it is never a true collaboration, but a headline act for
which the symphony serves as a backup band. Symphonies do it not
because they embrace pop, country, or rap "artists," but because they
want to bring new people into their concerts, and it does work, but
those new people will almost NEVER come back to a symphony concert
because they were there to enjoy the headliner and nothing else.
This is an interesting part of the music business, but let's not
forget that it is a business. The artists who are interested in
appear with orchestras have to make a considerable investment in
symphonic arrangements and provide copies to the orchestras. The
orchestras have to pay the headliners their current rates and hope to
recoup the cost from increased ticket sales.
An artistic statement? Can't see it that way, and I've been involved
on both sides of the fence, both as a member of a headline group and
as an orchestra member playing an uninspiring series of whole notes,
interrupted by moments of sheer panic written by someone who does not
grok string technique!
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
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http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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