I'm A Composer Fanboy, I Know

Maybe he's old news, he's been dead for four years, but David Diamond is my new musical crush. I like overly cerebral music more than most people, but I'm well aware of the fact that most people can't abide most of the classical music of the last century. The musical laity tend to cringe and the mention of some some 20th/21st century composers: Schoenberg, Webern, Babbit, Boulez, Ligeti, Husa, Penderecki (are you quivering in fear yet?). David Diamond is not one of those composers.

It's very obvious that he was a composer of the 20th century, but his music has a strong foundation in classical and romantic era form and harmony. He's definitely a 20th c. Brucker. His 11 symphonies are worth checking out. They have so much breadth and depth; the fast movements are exciting and lively, and no straight man can write slow movements that beautiful. (As an aside: 1,000 points for being openly homosexual before it was cool.) Rounds for String Orchestra, probably his most famous piece, should be required listening. I made Tamara listen to it on our way home from Chicago and she immediately made me play it again. Go listen to it.

So maybe I'm a fanboy.

I've been called worse.

It's Old News, I Know

Anybody who hasn't been living under a musical/technological rock has found out about Pandora, but the Broken Social Scene and Bright Eyes stations make me happy.

I also found music notes in my keyboard today. (alt 13 and alt 14 on the number pad) Maybe it's just amusing because I didn't sleep last night, but it made me happy.

That's double happy now. Wow.

I know it's a few days late, but I feel that the song is still relevant. If you haven't heard Jonathan Coulton's "First of May" yet, get on youtube and listen to it! It's also available as a free download on his website. And no, the lyrics are not safe for work. There is so much wrong with the song, but I think it's pretty fantastic. From a musical standpoint, it's beautifully written.

My other musical addiction, thanks to my Bright Eyes station, is El Ten Eleven. With just a bass and a drum set, it's not your everyday group, but they do some amazing stuff with looping and other electric effects. The sound atmospheric and ethereal. I'm a fan.

What's Wrong With Atonality?

During a marvelous evening with Philosophy, Claire, and Erin, I was introduced to PNN, and now I have a new way to get nothing done.

My senior recital was this evening. I was less than pleased, but my audience liked it. That's what's important, I suppose. It surprised me, however, to hear that most people's favorite piece was the Martin Ballade. If you're unfamiliar with the piece (as most people are) it's fairly atonal. How did an audience of mostly non-musicians pick the least comprehensible piece on my program as their favorite? I spent the better part of a semester writing an analysis of the Ballade, so I know it's a well written, tight-knit composition, and, after listening to it several times, I really began to enjoy it. However, upon my first listening, I thought it was a piece of junk. I admit, it's an exciting piece, and it's far from serial, but it is also the least traditional and ugliest piece I played. If an audience of the uninitiated can appreciate a piece lacking a traditional tonal structure, why does atonality upset so many musicians?