B flat minor on the 3rd beat of the 4th bar!
August 19th 2008 05:51
When sitting down to lunch the other day with the intention of reading a favourite periodical music magazine, I realised it had been quite some time since I last perused this particular publication - so looking forward I was to getting comfortable with my sausage roll and cup of coffee and catching up with all the latest music news. I was delighted to see that a composer/sound artist that I admire was about to release a new recording so immediately plunged into the article with enthusiasm. Within moments I was reminded (with irritation) why I just can’t be bothered reading critiques anymore: One track was described as to “… spurt spider’s kneecap-sized particles in a fury of straight lines and intricately patterned intervals…” Another writer, a few pages on, gushingly lets us know that a certain European composer “…nestles between genres, counterbalancing immersive swathes of ambient sound with astringent textural challenges…” And that’s when they’re feeling amicable – god help you if a critic decides he/she “wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire!”
I have no doubt that all these writers are most talented and articulate when handling their pen… And I’m sure it is a difficult task trying to translate an abstract medium, that is dependent on one set of senses, into the coded medium of the written language and the senses that are required of that, but I can’t help wondering how much the author wants us to think how skilled they are at their craft as oppose to the craft of whom they’re writing about. Oh dear – it’s that dreary mediums-being-messages stuff again, isn’t it…
...I am thinking of a certain composer who finds a satisfactory approach to dealing with critics of his work. Whenever one crops up he says he will read it “while sitting in the smallest room of the house then immediately put it behind me”…
...I am thinking of a certain composer who finds a satisfactory approach to dealing with critics of his work. Whenever one crops up he says he will read it “while sitting in the smallest room of the house then immediately put it behind me”…
oow er - that was a dodgy curry last night
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