The Romantic Manifesto and Music Preferences
I was given The Romantic Manifesto for my birthday, and I was reading the essay "Art and Cognition." As a musician, the section on the nature of music was especially fascinating to me.
"Music is experienced as if it had the power to reach man's emotions directly (41)."
"Music communicates emotions, which one grasps, but does not actually feel; what one feels is a suggestion, a kind of distant, disassociated, depersonalized emotion- until and unless it unites with one's own sense of life (42)."
One of the ideas I was intrigued by most was her statement here:
"Until a conceptual vocabulary is discovered and defined, no objectively valid criterion of esthetic judgement is possible in the field of music (46, italics original)."
This leads me to a question and informal survey for all of you: what is your favorite piece of music (or musician), and what emotions do they inspire in you? How does this unite with your sense of life?
My favorite piece of classical music that I play routinely as a violinist is Bach's E-Major Concerto. It is triumphant, disciplined, and although it goes through some minor sections, it always returns to its wonderful, glorious theme. It makes me feel so alive.
I am expecting a wide range of answers here, since there is no "objective" criterion. (Feel free to discuss this, too - is there, isn't there, how would we define objective criterion, etc.)
"Music is experienced as if it had the power to reach man's emotions directly (41)."
"Music communicates emotions, which one grasps, but does not actually feel; what one feels is a suggestion, a kind of distant, disassociated, depersonalized emotion- until and unless it unites with one's own sense of life (42)."
One of the ideas I was intrigued by most was her statement here:
"Until a conceptual vocabulary is discovered and defined, no objectively valid criterion of esthetic judgement is possible in the field of music (46, italics original)."
This leads me to a question and informal survey for all of you: what is your favorite piece of music (or musician), and what emotions do they inspire in you? How does this unite with your sense of life?
My favorite piece of classical music that I play routinely as a violinist is Bach's E-Major Concerto. It is triumphant, disciplined, and although it goes through some minor sections, it always returns to its wonderful, glorious theme. It makes me feel so alive.
I am expecting a wide range of answers here, since there is no "objective" criterion. (Feel free to discuss this, too - is there, isn't there, how would we define objective criterion, etc.)
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pitch, music has always been spookily important to me.
the "right stuff" can grab you in ways which defy the
ordinary analysis of a rational mind. . try this one:::
http://my.mail.ru/mail/tatyana4710/vi...
as an amateur piano tuner, the Steinway (we had a
Cable baby grand) has always been the most majestic
pre-tuned instrument short of the pipe organ ... for me.
then came Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman and
the synthesizer. . but the essence is the arrangement
of notes -- pitch, rhythm, syncopation. . and the spectrum
of composers, performers, arrangers goes from Rachmaninoff
to the Raspberries, from Saint-Saëns to Mancini.
try this one:::
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgQJV...
when I heard, as a kid, that Rand liked that Saint-Saëns
concerto, I searched for it. . I found a rendition which
was not well-produced;;; somehow, the orchestra
was a tiny bit flat (no kidding) in comparison with the
piano. . but the pianist was first-rate (Grigory Sokolov)
and it gave me a sense of her appreciation of the
idea of Richard Halley. . pensive, precise, triumphant,
grounded in a minor-key foundation (G minor) -- very fine!
I just wish that we had recordings of Paganini. . reputed
to have played like "a man possessed" ... at least,
we have his compositions. . try this:::
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=p...
the emotions, the sense of life, the exaltation of
excellence -- they are all there in music. . it's yours;
it's here; it's now and it's exactly unique ... your "yes"
is all that it takes! -- john
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNrnh...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB3Io...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgrUb...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq1q6... (discussion): music begins @ 6:26
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-DgS...
Another thing that interests me is how a composer who well may be a person that you would never want to associate with, can often write such moving music that it transfixes you. But then, that may well be the case in most art.
Then, there is the music of today. I consider much of it to be anti-music. Rap, for example is considered to be music and writing a few lines of poesy makes you a song writer. As close as it comes to music is when in some cases, you might call it a rhythmic chant. We've fallen far from Gershwin, Kerr, and Porter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMtRo...
Travis Tritt, T R O U B L E, reminds me of my wife. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS06R...
Additional favorites are Respighi’s “Pines of Rome”, but especially the last segment “Pines of the Appian Way”. (I have a tendency to like bombast.) More favorites are Ravel’s “La Valse”, the wonderful double fugue from “Schwanda the Bagpiper”, Dukas’ “Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, and the opening to R. Strauss’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra”. This last I consider, from a musical analytical standpoint, one of the treasures of Western music, truly embodying “multum in parvo”, being the simplest of themes with the maximum of effect. It’s a travesty that it is used so much in the popular culture for the most banal reasons.
Not to be forgotten is Rachmaninoff’s FIRST symphony, part of the last movement of which always conjures up the scene from AS where Dagny is racing to the oil fields, only to find them in flames, and her first view of what became known as “Wyatt’s Torch”.
One must also consider the performance of the music: The first time I heard an old recording of Luisa Tetrazzini singing “Caro nome” it brought me to tears. The aria itself is again the simplest of themes: a descending major scale. This wasn’t even original to Verdi, the old carol “Joy to the World” does the same thing. But her accuracy, beauty, and artistry elevated it far beyond anything commonplace.
I’ll close now, or I’ll go on for another ten pages. Thanks for introducing one of my favorite topics!
Beethoven 3, 6, 9; most of his overtures
Hallelujah Chorus from "Messiah"
1812 Overture
Theme from "Starman", esp end music
Much of Herb Ernst
piano boogie woogie in the vein of Jerry Lee Lewis
Glenn Miller big band sound
Frank Sinatra et al
I guess you could say I'm eclectic.
Baroque Classical
but Sibelius Finlandia is still in the top ten.
Good Jazz, Blues, Folkloric and a plethora of world music Flamenco and Fado come to mind rapidly.
Some country and I have a complete collection of rock'n'roll long with R&B. But that's pretty much died out since MTV killed music.
And I'm now learning to love a lot of Latino music.
There is a lot more but for me it's generational so I pick and choose the best
All of Bob Dylan and no rap. If it needs the F world to survive it's garbage
and finally we get to X+Y=Zero Millennial whatever loser crooners which I call Clone Music. Heard one song you heard them all.
I'd rather listen to Sesame Street or Lawrence Welk than Clone Music.
Classical:
Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto
Dvorak New World Symphony
Why? Both pieces speak for themselves in this audience
Runners up are the Ride of the Valkyries and the Main Theme of Swan Lake. The music stirs my emotions.
Just to bring it, two of the best soundtracks I've ever heard are Blade Runner and the original Conan the Barbarian of the early 80s.
Now I'm thinking of other worthy contenders. Same goes for other classical pieces I'm beginning to recall from way on back. Yike! I could be here all day.
Edvard Grieg's First Piano Concerto
Beethoven's Fifth and Ninth Symphonies
Beethoven's Appasionatta Sonata (23)
Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto
Borodin, Polovtsian Dances, In The Steppes of Central Asia,
Rimsky_Korsakov, Scheherazade
Scubert, Piano Trio # 2 in E Flat, 8th (Unfinished) Symphony
Dvorak Symphony for the New World
Strauss, Overture to the operatta "Die Fledermaus"
Prokoviev, Romeo and Juliet, Dance of the Knights
Rand goes on to elaborate later her hypothesis of music and how one would go about defining an objectively valid criterion for music appreciation. She meant that there wasn't one yet, and I apologize if I was unclear in that regard.
I'd say that admiration of Bach is truly Objective by using recall and intellect to place phrases in a designed structure in contrast to music derived only from experience that appeals to sensual stroking or stimulation.
Another contrast is with improvisation. Now I am a fan of the Modern Jazz Quartet, yes going back a few years! but much of their work had a plan. Bach relates more to architecture than to the Romantic school (Wagner...) that came after him.
Now this may contradict that quote 'no objectively valid...'. But consider that there may be good evidence for such existence even tho' an objectively valid criterion has not yet been proven/accepted.
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