Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
San Diego Symphony 2nd concert: Carlos Simon, Mozart, Tchaikovsky
Composers of orchestral music have to trust the audience
Carlos Simon’s music spoke for itself.
The San Diego Symphony streamed its second concert of the year on Friday, February 26. The concert presented three contrasting pieces of music.
The first piece, by Carlos Simon, was entitled Elegy, A Cry from the Grave. This composition is a reflection upon the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown. I found it to be a beautiful piece of music that had a comforting quality.
I think the piece would be better served if it was simply entitled Elegy. The word “Elegy” carries with it the idea of remembering the dead. “A cry from the grave” exceeds even 19th Century emotionalism when it comes to giving pieces of music monikers.
As is the current practice, we were given a specific interpretation of the piece, by the composer, before it started. As I’ve mentioned, before, I do not enjoy this practice and I get absolutely nothing from it. In fact, I find it to be a distraction from the music itself.
Instead of simply listening to the music, I found myself trying to work out its relationship with Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown.
Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown were shot and killed, Brown by a police officer and Martin by neighborhood watch participant named George Zimmerman. Eric Garner died in the hospital an hour after being choked by the police. How did these go together? They were all young black men who died under tragic circumstances.
Had Carlos Simon said that this piece of music was inspired by and dedicated to those who have died under such circumstances, that would have been much better. Ideally, he would have said nothing and allowed the audience to find its own experience of his wonderful music.
Composers of orchestral music have to trust the audience and trust themselves. Carlos Simon’s music spoke for itself.
We often talk about a composer finding his or her voice. That used to mean the composer found the grammar of expression that is identifiable in all of their most important pieces. Apparently, that now means the composer’s literal voice spoon-feeding the audience.
I understand that I sound like an absolute curmudgeon, or worse, but I have never once had a profound musical experience by feeling the composer’s feelings and ideas. I have had profound musical experiences by having my personal feelings and ideas opened up by the music of a composer.
Elegy: A Cry from the Grave is a piece of music that can open us up to our feelings and ideas but only if we are allowed the experiential freedom to be opened. Telling us exactly what the music is about removes that opportunity.
The next piece was a lovely performance of Mozart’s Serenade No 12 for Winds and the final piece was Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, the Russian master’s homage to Mozart.
I have made a habit of listening to Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings and can honestly say I have never heard it performed better either live or on record. Rafael Payare led a performance that can stand on its own with the greatest to ever do it.
Here's something you might be interested in.
San Diego Symphony 2nd concert: Carlos Simon, Mozart, Tchaikovsky
Composers of orchestral music have to trust the audience
San Diego Symphony 2nd concert: Carlos Simon, Mozart, Tchaikovsky
Composers of orchestral music have to trust the audience
Carlos Simon’s music spoke for itself.
The San Diego Symphony streamed its second concert of the year on Friday, February 26. The concert presented three contrasting pieces of music.
The first piece, by Carlos Simon, was entitled Elegy, A Cry from the Grave. This composition is a reflection upon the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown. I found it to be a beautiful piece of music that had a comforting quality.
I think the piece would be better served if it was simply entitled Elegy. The word “Elegy” carries with it the idea of remembering the dead. “A cry from the grave” exceeds even 19th Century emotionalism when it comes to giving pieces of music monikers.
As is the current practice, we were given a specific interpretation of the piece, by the composer, before it started. As I’ve mentioned, before, I do not enjoy this practice and I get absolutely nothing from it. In fact, I find it to be a distraction from the music itself.
Instead of simply listening to the music, I found myself trying to work out its relationship with Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown.
Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown were shot and killed, Brown by a police officer and Martin by neighborhood watch participant named George Zimmerman. Eric Garner died in the hospital an hour after being choked by the police. How did these go together? They were all young black men who died under tragic circumstances.
Had Carlos Simon said that this piece of music was inspired by and dedicated to those who have died under such circumstances, that would have been much better. Ideally, he would have said nothing and allowed the audience to find its own experience of his wonderful music.
Composers of orchestral music have to trust the audience and trust themselves. Carlos Simon’s music spoke for itself.
We often talk about a composer finding his or her voice. That used to mean the composer found the grammar of expression that is identifiable in all of their most important pieces. Apparently, that now means the composer’s literal voice spoon-feeding the audience.
I understand that I sound like an absolute curmudgeon, or worse, but I have never once had a profound musical experience by feeling the composer’s feelings and ideas. I have had profound musical experiences by having my personal feelings and ideas opened up by the music of a composer.
Elegy: A Cry from the Grave is a piece of music that can open us up to our feelings and ideas but only if we are allowed the experiential freedom to be opened. Telling us exactly what the music is about removes that opportunity.
The next piece was a lovely performance of Mozart’s Serenade No 12 for Winds and the final piece was Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, the Russian master’s homage to Mozart.
I have made a habit of listening to Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings and can honestly say I have never heard it performed better either live or on record. Rafael Payare led a performance that can stand on its own with the greatest to ever do it.
Comments