This is why I always resisited blogging: I knew I had one or two good ones in me an other than that would have nothing interesting to say. That doesn't seem to stop the rest of you though, so I'll once again fill in the uncomfortable silence between us. Heard some contemporary music tonite. For those who don't know, that's the code word for modern day "classical" music. One of the hardest things about being a "composer" is someone asking you what kind of music you write. Clearly, contemporary or modern music is anything recently written so that tells that contemporary music sounds like Nickelback or Andrea Bocelli. Contemporary Music is also still used as a blanket term for music written up to one hunded years ago. "Classical" seems to give people at least an idea that it's not music you can mosh to, but my and those who write this style really sound nothing like Mozart or Haydn. New Music has been kicked around, but that clearly has its own problems. Art music is a little better but sounds pretty freakin pretentious. Oh well, ska has already been taken by something else, so I guess we're stuck with what we got.
Music I heard tonight that I liked and that you may want to check out to get an idea of what "New Music" sounds like:
***some of these pieces were written aone hundred years ago, so here comes our dilemma once again***
Eliott Carter: Enchanted Preludes (for cello and flute)
Olivier Messiaen: Theme and Variations (for violin and piano)
Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question (chamber orchestra)
*** I had heard this piece before but its a good'un and I highly recommend it***
