[pianotech] Prepared frickin'piano and damaged bass strings (going OT)

David Boyce David at piano.plus.com
Wed Feb 20 12:10:15 MST 2013


This extract from an interview with Earl Wild by George Bedell of SHUMEI 
magazine is apropos:

"Well let's face it: Schoenberg was a sour pickle. His early works were 
wonderful. I love them. But when he decided to put his foot down on all 
that had been done before, when he got into that 12-tone serialism it 
was the great mistake of his life. The composer Korngold said that 
Schoenberg played the dirtiest trick on music that had ever been done. 
That's never been in print, but I can tell you that that is what he said".

Bernard Herrman in an interview on a CD I have of his film music 
mentions the same comment by Korngold.

Personally, I am a sucker for a "chune".  There is surely some merit in 
the argument by John Mauceri of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, that it 
was Broadway and movies that kept decent composing alive in the decades 
following the first world war, when so-called "serious" composers got 
into twelve-tone stuff.

There was also the comment by conductor Sir Thomas Beecham. Asked "Did 
you ever conduct any Stockhausen?" he replied "No, but I once trod in some".

Best regards,

David.
www.davidboyce.co.uk


On 20/02/2013 15:17, pianotech-request at ptg.org wrote:
> David, I agree with you 100%! And when you hear the dread words "World
> Premier" preceding a symphony orchestra broadcast on NPR these days, have
> your hand ready to turn it off, or suffer! (Many "Serious Music" 
> composers
> now have the same cacophonous malevolence toward humanity as "punk 
> rockers",
> apparently.
> Perhaps "getting back" at everyone, because, despite high grades, they
> couldn't get a date in High School.)
>
> Thumpe 

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