Gin and Zilbertronic

last week, and at various points over the last 5 years, i’ve often been caught in conversations and arguments about what the role of modern composers ought to be, why they are doing what they are doing, and why they seem to fall so easily into the categories of “audience-hating” or “audience-pleasing,” and unfortunately rarely into the category of “inspired and original and risk-taking.”

which is why a lot of people are rightly drawn to other venues of music outside classical music. given a narrow random exposure to the genres of classical music, indie rock, and electronic, i’d say a person couldn’t be blamed for finding more originality, unabashedness, and innovation in indie rock and electronic. they’d also hear some stuff they wouldn’t like, but often-times those genres will provoked a reaction whereas classical music sometimes induces boredom. oversimplification? yes! but the broader point holds, in that we in classical music don’t spend a lot of time examining why people ought to want to listen to our music. and how the same things we value in classical music can be expressed elsewhere, with slight modifications, yet increased creativity.

now this is a philosophical rant, but as an example, here is a track i’ve been listening to with awe lately, an 18-minute charles mingus fantasia entitled, “Stop! Look! And Sing Songs of Revolutions!/Saint and Sinner Join in Merriment on the Battle Front/Of Love, Pain And Passioned Revolt, Then Farewell, My Beloved, ‘Til It’s Freedom Day.” My point is that this is a track that would be laughed at or ignored by a lot of classical musicians, but which has a density, complexity, and fascination with sound that is sort of the reason we tend to be drawn to classical music. Check out that guitar entrance at 1:40, and if you don’t get goosebumps, try again!