Tentative hypothesis: people mostly get hooked by melody and rhythm, but classical has been exploring timbre (to the extent that it’s exploring anything) for quite a while.
Greenberg on the lack of anything really new in classical music.
If he can’t find the avant-garde, then that means that either (a) he has completely absorbed the musical contributions of the most advanced composers of today into his subconscious, and thus he himself is the avant-garde, or (b) the level on which he is listening to things is so superficial that only novel surface gimmicks and “effects” qualify as “revolutionary” (in which case, yes, the 20th century probably exhausted that).
His available music indicates that he is not the avant-garde. On the other hand, (b) is an exceedingly common syndrome.
Were those tons of composers like Greenberg doing that sort of work at age 14?
Some were, of course (even I wrote symphonies at 14, though never published or performed). But what does it matter what age they were, unless you’re talking about the ability to generate publicity? If someone’s music is considered interesting only because of their age, does that really count?
Unless you mean that the fact that Greenberg wrote such pieces at 14 means that he has great potential for the future; sure, I’ll grant that. But then something like the Fifth Symphony should be considered a student exercise, like the inventions and fugues he’s probably been required to write in music school. (Who knows, maybe that’s exactly how he thinks of it.)
Tentative hypothesis: people mostly get hooked by melody and rhythm, but classical has been exploring timbre (to the extent that it’s exploring anything) for quite a while.
It’s been exploring everything, melody and rhythm perhaps above all.
Were those tons of composers like Greenberg doing that sort of work at age 14?
That’s not necessarily fair. As I was taught, “nobody composes in a vacuum.” Art and Science constantly evolve so you need to learn what came before, which means it will take longer and longer for prodigies to flourish.
Were those tons of composers like Greenberg doing that sort of work at age 14?
Greenberg on the lack of anything really new in classical music. I think this is publicly available—let me know if it isn’t.
Tentative hypothesis: people mostly get hooked by melody and rhythm, but classical has been exploring timbre (to the extent that it’s exploring anything) for quite a while.
If he can’t find the avant-garde, then that means that either (a) he has completely absorbed the musical contributions of the most advanced composers of today into his subconscious, and thus he himself is the avant-garde, or (b) the level on which he is listening to things is so superficial that only novel surface gimmicks and “effects” qualify as “revolutionary” (in which case, yes, the 20th century probably exhausted that).
His available music indicates that he is not the avant-garde. On the other hand, (b) is an exceedingly common syndrome.
Re-reading Greenberg’s article makes me want to compose some classical dubstep.
Some were, of course (even I wrote symphonies at 14, though never published or performed). But what does it matter what age they were, unless you’re talking about the ability to generate publicity? If someone’s music is considered interesting only because of their age, does that really count?
Unless you mean that the fact that Greenberg wrote such pieces at 14 means that he has great potential for the future; sure, I’ll grant that. But then something like the Fifth Symphony should be considered a student exercise, like the inventions and fugues he’s probably been required to write in music school. (Who knows, maybe that’s exactly how he thinks of it.)
It’s been exploring everything, melody and rhythm perhaps above all.
That’s not necessarily fair. As I was taught, “nobody composes in a vacuum.” Art and Science constantly evolve so you need to learn what came before, which means it will take longer and longer for prodigies to flourish.
Nobody performs in a vacuum either, for obvious reasons. Unless they are performing Mister Holland’s Opus.