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http://ivancdg.com
I agree that there are pieces which sound pretty quirky, which can put people off a bit. But I have yet to find someone who doesn't like this one (which I can assure you has nothing to do with the playing):
I'm still alive!
Actually it's a brilliant novella and I recommend everyone read it. Biting social critique of bourgeois values:
This is an interesting comment, on multiple levels.
If there is one factor on which Beethoven's reputation rests, it is his claim to being the "universal" composer, whose music speaks to all men and women. Your story seems to confirm this assertion.
From reading music history we know that different music from the past makes an impact depending on current taste and fashions. As an example, the whole paradigm of "historically informed performance practice" was, as musicologist Richard Taruskin devastatingly argued [1], not a return to "authenticity" at all but a completely modern(ist) phenomenon, based on contemporary tastes and opinions.
As I live in France, I can tell you that Beethoven is nowhere near as popular or appreciated here as, say, Mozart or Chopin. Not even close. I'm speaking about both seasoned concert attendees and novices. His music's frequent accents, forcefulness, and occasional brutality is looked poorly upon. So maybe extrapolating your experience to others is dangerous. After all, it's a small sample size :)
I agree that there seem to be composers (or, more accurately, certain works) that appeal to novices, and others which appeal to more experienced listeners or practitioners. Reicha's works seem to often fit into the second category, as his works are generally "learned" and sophisticated. Therefore the subtlety is not always picked up upon by listeners who don't have the experience and/or knowledge to realize what expectations he is thwarting. To put it more bluntly, they don't really hear what's going on, and therefore underestimate the music's complexity. It's like a musical Dunning-Kruger Effect.
The larger point, perhaps, is that your idea of a typical "novice" who would serve as a litmus test for universal music is in fact an intellectual construct which has no corresponding reality in the real world. Because we are all born into a world, and a culture, and therefore our preferences are immediately influenced.
Caveat: I don't want to make the specious claim that if we all grew up listening to Schönberg we would hum his music on the way to school, that's BS. But with experience I've come to believe that assuming Beethoven's place is in our culture is immutable is probably unrealistic. In 100 years it might be someone else...
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Text-Act-Essays-Music-Performance/dp/...
“I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition." (said to Leopold Mozart, Mozart's father) ― Joseph Haydn
Also: ". . . scarcely any man can brook comparison with the great Mozart. . . If I could only impress on the soul of every friend of music, and on high personages in particular, how inimitable are Mozart's works, how profound, how musically intelligent, how extraordinarily sensitive! (for this is how I understand them, how I feel them) - why then the nations would vie with each other to possess such a jewel within their frontiers." ― Joseph Haydn
Also, a letter from Mozart to Haydn: "A father, having resolved to send his sons into the great world, finds it advisable to entrust them to the protection and guidance of a highly celebrated man, the more so since this man, by a stroke of luck, is his best friend. - Here, then, celebrated man and my dearest friend, are my six sons. - Truly, they are the fruit of a long and laborious effort, but the hope, strengthened by several of my friends, that this effort would, at least in some small measure, be rewarded, encourages and comforts me that one day, these children may be a source of consolation to me. - You yourself, dearest friend, during your last sojourn in this capital, expressed to me your satisfaction with these works. - This, your approval, encourages me more than anything else, and thus I entrust them to your care, and hope that they are not wholly unworthy of your favor. - Do but receive them kindly, and be their father, guide, and friend! From this moment on I cede to you all my rights over them: I pray you to be indulgent to their mistakes, which a father's partial eye may have overlooked, and despite this, to cloak them in the mantle of your generosity which they value so highly. From the bottom of my heart I am, dearest friend, Your most sincere friend, W. A. Mozart
I second the recommendation for Richter's book, which is a fascinating look into the mind of a pianist who musicians pretty much unanimously consider to be the greatest of the 20th century:
https://www.amazon.com/Sviatoslav-Richter-Conversations-Brun...
(not an affiliate link)
Haydn's output is huge and varied. It can take time to find the right recordings and pieces to convince you, as sometimes interpretations can be a bit pedestrian. French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is in the process of recording all of Haydn's Piano Sonatas for British label Chandos Records, and the latest Volume (no. 7) is superb.
To what extent the composers you mentioned broke completely with Beethoven (and/or the past) is arguable. All of them wrote works in sonata form, all of them wrote fugues, all of them studied counterpoint carefully. Liszt idolized Beethoven, and many of the key works of all four are unthinkable without Beethoven's example. Not to diminish the originality of their respective contributions. But the Beethoven myth was already in place when they were growing up and the legacy can be traced in all of their works.
Received wisdom dictates that every century or so, composers break with the past and do something completely new. The reality is a lot messier.
Beethoven himself is a good example. He is held up as the paragon of artistic fearlessness, not catering to audience's whims, pursuing a vision of the future, etc. In fact he was very well versed in the music of the past, including JS Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, and others whose names have been forgotten. He also did everything he could to ingratiate himself with the aristocracy who commissioned his works: i.e. his market. He followed the Y-Combinator motto: "Make things people want" in the sense that he made things his customers wanted. He forged an idiosyncratic personal style but many of its constituent elements are stolen from older styles (counterpoint, abrupt changes of texture, the unification of movements over a larger form).
I like your analogy about Romanticism reaching an impasse and Busoni picking things up from there. The path I drew above leading from Beethoven directly to the 4 Romantic composers is meant to illustrate that the historical line, now that we are reestablishing Reicha's place in history, might be drawn from him straight to the 20th century (Bartok, Stravinsky, Martinu) in his treatment of meter and the way he is comfortable with abstraction.
As for "Episode 5 Paris", believe me, it's very much on my mind. The current idea is to do a whole second series of videos, only in Paris, or perhaps one in Prague (where he was born) and the other three in Paris. After all, Reich spent 30 years of his life in Paris (1799-1802, 1808-1836) and there is tons of material, including his teaching work (his students included Liszt, Franck, Berlioz, Gounod, and many other big names). I'm hoping we can film in the vaults of the French National Library (BnF) where the manuscripts are, to show people what it's like to dig up old forgotten scores.
For the moment, it's just a daydream, until we secure funding (unlikely).
The 2nd paragraph is really the crux of the matter. Whereas Beethoven's music draws attention to its unusual features, Reicha in his memoirs states unequivocally that Haydn and Mozart are the pinnacles of instrumental music, and that it is because of their grace and good taste. So we have opposite positions on what is beautiful, hard to reconcile with our view of music history which is seen through our "Beethoven filter".
Many of the things we take for granted as Beethovenian inventions (obsessive motivic development, sonata form in symphonies and quartets, abrupt harmonic disruption, fugues in final movmeents) were pioneered by Haydn. I remember being well-versed in Beethoven and being astonished when I played through Haydn's piano works for the first time, how many things Louis had ripped off.
The wind quintets are extraordinarily well-written for their instruments, something easy to take for granted today as so many composers followed Reicha's lead.
He was not the very first to write for that ensemble, but the instant popularity of the 24 (actually 25) wind quintets led a lot more people to write for that instrumentation (flute, oboe, clarinet, French or English horn, bassoon).
The blanket statement that Beethoven's octet is a higher standard than anything Reicha wrote for quintet is a little dicey. There's a reason all wind players play Reicha. The works are sophisticated, comfortable and formally pretty quirky, with plenty of memorable moments. That said, if you don't find Haydn memorable then there's not much I can do to argue in his favor, except urge you to listen more of it.
The important point here is that the wind quintets make up a tiny proportion of Reicha's music, and that dozens of hours of music have never been recorded. Much of the music is only available in (messy) original manuscripts in France's National Library in Paris (BnF). Implication: it is hard to make generalizations about Reicha's music because we just don't know it well enough yet. Keep in mind that he composed just as much experimental music as conventional music, drawing conclusions and extrapolating from one opus to the whole output isn't a good idea.
It is indeed intriguing to imagine music history if composers had followed Reicha's lead rather than Beethoven's. There would have been a lot more metrically interesting music earlier, that's for sure.
The experimentation Reicha loved so much became popular in post World War II Europe and America. Many would argue that this led composers into a modernist dead end. But I guess if Beethoven had never happened Schoenberg wouldn't have either. But then we forfeit Wagner too...
I've been pondering a related question which I've found difficult to answer: if Beethoven's music had been lost or misplaced, would we immediately recognize it as "genius" if someone made a first recording in 2018? I'm not so sure.
Your tempo is a little slow. It's in cut time (2/2) not 4/4. OK, I'm being churlish. I recorded this piece for Chandos Records last year, so I have an opinion. Excerpt here: https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010950
It is indeed cool that Hackily is near Reicha; he would have loved it (and Hacker News, for that matter). Music notation software has been ripe for disruption for a while. The problem is that for what most people want to do the interfaces are too complex and slow to learn.
The problem seems to be getting worse because of the desire to make possible the notation of as many far-fetched extreme cases, rather than making the core use as simple as possible.
Imagine if you were to use Finale or Sibelius (two of the best known) as a novice. Imagine you were JS Bach trying to write his first Prelude from Book one of the WTC with the software. The patterns should be faster to notate.
A tough problem, admittedly, but an important one to solve for future generations of young musicians learning the craft. Writing music by hand is still easier for simple pieces, for solo instruments.
Where I live Uber drivers often use it as a loss leader. They chat people up, and if they strike up a rapport they suggest customers contact them directly, cutting out the middle man. They can even undercut Uber, and still make more money than they do with Uber.
This especially makes sense for people who have a regular commute to the airport etc. I've experienced the same thing with Airbnb: first stay via the platform, and further stays booked directly. With Airbnb you miss out on the platform's protections. But with Uber, as the drivers are getting paid less and less, it seems easier to slide into direct contact.
It can be useful to have a private car driver you know and trust, without the anxiety of the wait, or of drivers calling you to ask where you're going, only to cancel the ride. (This happens to me regularly at the airport).
Notezilla (http://notezilla.io) is working on doing this for piano (and vocal/chamber/orchestral music).
It launched on HN a little over 2 months ago and garnered considerable interest: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6226607
This brings up an interesting question: if Steinway were liquidated, would the patents be up for sale?
It is my understanding that much of their unique quality comes from over 100 patents, many of which are over 100 years old [1].
Presumably a competitor could buy the patents and make significant improvements to their design.
Part of the Steinway brand is built on tremendous marketing savvy, generation after generation. But the technology remains unparalleled. As a professional pianist, I wouldn't use anything else for a recording.
Don't get me wrong, I would love for Yamaha, Fazioli or the others to make the market more competitive. But nothing compares to a Steinway in terms of sound quality and balance throughout the registers.
All the first-class piano technicians I know agree.
[1] http://www.ilovesteinway.com/steinway/parts/steinway_patents...
Edit: IvyMike and ryanhuff brought my attention to the 20 year maximum term of patent. It is surprising that Steinway's competitors still are unable to match the quality of sound. Perhaps their technicians are better?
For those that live in Europe and want a powerful search engine that includes low-cost flights (a deal-breaker for me), I recommend Azuon.
http://azuon.com/en/feature-tour
It's incredibly addictive.
Combined with airbnb you can plan some much cheaper and adventurous routes.
The payment plans are as follows:
- €7.89 for 3 months (subscription)
- €12.03 for 6 months
- €16.54 for 12 months
- €19.87 for 1-year
I've subscribed for 3 months now. It's worth every penny.
Thank you, I made the correction.
The damage has been done. The major labels (major now only in terms of increasingly dubious marketing clout) now spend most of their 'creative' energy scouting do-it-yourself musicians rather than producing great music...which was, initially, what distinguished them from the little guys.
This leveling of the playing field was supposed to be a great thing for everyone except the majors.
But as a listener, I bemoan that the output quality of the majors has dropped so much (especially in classical music). In order to get access to first class, interesting music, it is becoming increasingly necessary to do tons of research.
The bigger picture is this: would you invest in a business that celebrated not losing revenue for the first time in over a decade? I wouldn't.
Edit: thank you, pgsandstrom
Kyle Gann (the author of this essay) has written some of the best English language essays on Morton Feldman.
There's another good essay by Alex Ross, music critic at the New Yorker:
In my experience it is highly impractical to expect someone to try anything for 70 minutes before deciding if they like it. Some kind of step-wise introduction is more helpful.
It's not easy with Feldman, but I am convinced it is possible.
Here is a 2 minute excerpt of "Palais de Mari" from 1986 (for solo piano) that may help people decide whether they want to hear more: http://ivancdg.com/music/1.mp3
People have told me that this reminds them of Debussy (the Prélude "Footprints in the Snow", specifically).
Morton Feldman (1926-1987) was convinced that he was a major 20th century composer. That point of view put him in the minority. Now, 26 years after his untimely death, people are starting to agree. Classical music-lovers, numb from all of the brutal, post-war contemporary music, are intrigued by this unusually intuitive composer and his tender, obsessive music.
Feldman's "late" works are the most remarkable. Often spanning hours in length, he transformed the concert into a ritual. "Is music an art form?" he liked to ask. In other words, is music more than just entertainment? His answer was clearly: "Yes".
Feldman's works are not just listened to, they are experienced. They are a mixture of music, performance art, and philosophy. Unlike John Cage, his close friend and mentor, Feldman was not interested in Zen philosophy. But listening to Feldman’s music leads to a heightened state of mind, a kind of musical enlightenment.
I just recorded two of Feldman's greatest works for solo piano: "Palais de Mari" (1986, 23') and "For Bunita Marcus" (1985, 67'). 15 minutes ago, I would've put the probability of seeing an article about Feldman on Hacker News at zero. Bravo.
Feldman's "Rothko Chapel" is a great way to get into his music (written following the suicide of painter Mark Rothko).
Here is part one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxSt_w2ODaQ
The story of the Rothko Chapel is well worth reading if you like abstract expressionist artwork (de Kooning, Rothko, Kline, Pollock, etc).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothko_Chapel
Also, I recommend listening to the conversations between John Cage and Morton Feldman:
http://archive.org/details/CageFeldmanConversation1
They talk, drink, smoke in the radio studio. It's all very 1960's but the insight into the lives of great composers is priceless.
There are websites that turn email into a game; it shocks me how good a motivator this can be (I guess part of me IS still a child).
My recent favorite is http://emailga.me (NB: gmail only)
The combination of timer count-down, smileys and 'rounds' is rather clever. And more importantly: effective.
This doesn't help with the paralysis induced by longer emails that deserve an equally thoughtful (read: time-consuming) reply.
For those I pick up the phone. It's retro, but saves time in many cases.
"Learn the top 1000 spoken or written words of a language"
Is there a resource that provides a list of the most frequent words for a given language?
Jacques Mattheij's blog posts on burnout are very helpful. I recommend reading them and re-reading them:
http://jacquesmattheij.com/Are+you+suffering+from+burn-out
http://jacquesmattheij.com/dealing+with+burn+out
There are various useful discussions in the HN archives, including this one:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2300244
mrcharles's comment rings in my head to this day: "The first thing I've learned is that I can't accurately judge my limits."
Here in France, people use debit/credit cards to buy EVERYTHING.
Some merchants discourage this by insisting on a 15 euro minimum charge. But by and large cards are used more often than cash. In restaurants it is common to split the payment of the meal and have each person contribute via a card.
It's been that way for years, although the frequency of card use is not as overwhelming as in the US.
At the supermarket, if I buy a bottle of water (0,18) I pay with a credit card. The majority of people do the same thing.
Caveat: many people, especially free-lancers, are paid in cash to avoid paying taxes on part of their income. Those people pay cash for everything. The give-away is the use of big bills (50, 100 euro bills) for small purchases.
I would add that often it is effective to write a reply immediately (ie get it out of your headspace)...but save it in your drafts folder, and send it only the next morning.
This way you avoid much of the 'email ping pong' which is a real time-sink.
I can not upvote this enough. I've met so many artists who are passionate about their work. But lack of organization, and lack of awareness of their daily inefficiencies stop them from succeeding.
Comparing productivity porn (PP) to fast food is not very helpful.
It would be more accurate to compare PP to reading about nutrition...then not following the advice one reads, despite being well informed.
Of course it's easier to do things when you are motivated for a specific, deadline-based project. But there are grey areas in life, and "dips". PP is helpful for those. Techniques learned can lead to positive action.
I wholeheartedly agree with Terretta.
It sounds to me like cfinke made a poor choice when acquiring a used instrument, then extrapolated that to 'all old instruments are bad/can't properly hold pitch'. (/exaggeration).
cfinke should've just gotten someone who knows about pianos to help him/her choose a good one, the way you might with a used car (although the choice is more subtle and less statistics-based).
As a counter example, I practice every day for hours on a baby grand piano from the 1930's which is very sturdy, with a beautiful tone. It was sitting unused (and untuned!) for decades in an old woman's house.
It was purchased for 1,000 euros at an auction, one of only two bidders.
I had it tuned by someone: it still sounded problematic, but good for practicing. I had a different tuner come and he made it sound incredibly good after a single tuning.
So the technician makes a huge difference too.
Piano restoration is fascinating, but engineers tend to underestimate how important trained hearing is in in order to improve the sound.
(rather than just being able to make a piano function properly on a mechanical level).
Nothing could be further from the truth. Your metaphor is specious.
(Sorry if that sounds harsh, it is intended more to be just a firm statement).
The complexity of the piano sound is very, very difficult to duplicate, although we've been trying for decades.
There is no question that electric pianos are more practical for certain situations (country houses in climates with high humidity, for example).
But those are exceptions where practical concerns outweigh aesthetics (like watching a DVD on your laptop on the train).
A fine, hand-made acoustic piano has no serious contenders at the moment, from the viewpoint of both the musician, and the sophisticated listener.
One could argue that fine, hand-made instruments are becoming more rare because they are more expensive to produce and the market has shrunk, but that is a different argument.
The larger point about personal responsibility is more important than applying the metaphor to every possible case.
No matter who you hire, in any context, it is up to you to make sure they do a good job with the tools available to you.