Well- what heights, exactly was it up to; and where precisely has it slipped today? Is there some higher orbit that it was "supposed" to attain, other than where it is now? It seems to me that it went from close to nowhere (early 20th century) and finally reached a proper level, (Thank you, Tarrega, Miguel Llobet, Andres, Julian, Alirio Diaz, et al) at which point things level out- very logical in the normal course of events. Hell, it's not supposed to be a real-estate or other such bubble- those things just crash and burn. That's not happening by a long shot. And where is the lute world today by comparison, if this is not too much of an attempt to measure apples against oranges? (Maybe it is.) As to bland, I disagree- listen to David Starobin's stuff, he's not the only one, either.
Me, I simply prefer the lute & its entire milieu as a matter of who I am musically; but for my listening pleasure all good guitarists of all genres hold up very well- Jazz, blues, Gypsy jazz, Latin American, even Classical. Recently I heard some Astor Piazzola (some original guitar, some very well transcribed pieces) that I love so much I may try to get and desecrate on the Renaissance lute. First time since I did Dave Van Ronk's "St. Louis Tickle" in 1976 on an 8-course lute at an LSA Seminar that I've even wanted to play relatively modern guitar music. Incidentally, Villa Lobos' Etude #1 is a dynamite arpeggio exercise for the bass viola da gamba (OT- Sorry!) Dan > I don't know why the world of classical guitar is of such interest to > this list - although I believe it's natural to be interested and a > little envious of a more sucessful and accomplished cousin. > > Joseph Mayes > > <chriswi...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > Sorry to be a > > downer but I'm afraid, despite the awesome technical > > abilities of many performers today, that the CG world > > is slipping from the heights it attained in the mid > > 20th century once more into the cultural wasteland of > > vapidity. > Just goes to show that awesome technical ability doth not culture make. > I don't think it's just the guitar players (although I agree that the > CG world is more bland nowadays than it was in the old days). I > think classical music in general has slipped from the "sad heights" > it occupied in the early to mid 20th C. IMO the more that > traditional culture slips through our fingers, the more we rely upon > note machines, human or otherwise, to carry our music for us. > It's a sad state of affairs. Personally, I blame Paganini. ;-) > DR > dlu...@verizon.net -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
