A thin line between post-modern genius and hackery

First, I have to say that I have not seen the new Troy movie yet, nor plan to until it is available at Blockbuster. But I found the following review both hilarious and tempting. I want to hear the references myself, especially the mind-numbing idea of the Groban reworking of Vaughan Williams. I also want to make a list of all the examples of thievery that Horner has committed in this film and his previous entries, but that has already been done.

So I will resign myself to offering a different take on the inclusion of Britten in Horner's masterful "deconstructive requotation." The War Requiem was written as a denunciation of war, though ostensibly to celebrate the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral. Britten felt that all war was wicked and wrong, including World War II, which is usually cited as the paragon of the "just war." By simplifying Britten's music into trite martial fanfares, Horner is capturing the hopelessness of preventing future war. Pacifism becomes jingoism by misconstrual and dumbing down of ideals. Horner has created a statement of pure genius. Or the man is a hack.

Für Denise

Chad Orzel creates very interesting mix tapes, and has a much greater knowledge of both physics and pop music than I could ever attain. But the reason I am writing this post is to point out a debate between him and Brad DeLong. This is a subtle debate, in that Brad makes a point, Chad calls him a heretic, the end. So, whose version of "Like a Rolling Stone" is better, Dylan's or Mellencamp's?

So long, and thanks for all the Phish

Please let the ice cream remain!

I'll tell you what's wrong with the music industry!

In one sentence, no less.

(Via the Rambler)

C sides

Tim Johnston has an interesting take on Terry Riley's In C. I don't think I agree with his suggestion that a V7 chord is heard when the F gains some prominance. This is only possible if the listener is actively trying to put a harmonic progression to the piece, and even then the progression is ill-fitted to the music. The F does introduce some dissonance, which could be thought of as a move towards a cadence with the resolution of the dissonance. But this dissonance is not of a standard dominant feel, even a dominant feel over a pedal tone. Call it a dissonant extension, or the introduction of a non-chord-tone, or a Hindemith-ian change of chord series with the half-step dissonance between the E and F.

I do agree that the piece is more than just an interesting concept, and one that can be performed quite musically. A friend performed it with 20 players at her graduate recital at Eastman in 1997. It was a great conclusion, the final notes ringing in the hall and in our ears.

I'm getting civil unioned in the morning...

The Indianapolis Star has conducted a poll on the views towards homosexual marriage or civil unions by Hoosiers. As Atrios points out, the spin of the article does not really reflect the results of the poll. A full 50% of the 700 polled supported either marriage or unions, with 3/5 of the support for civil unions but not marriage. The title of the article is "Few Hoosiers back gay marriage," and the article itself continues this emphasis on the negative aspects:

Less than a quarter of Hoosiers say gay couples should be allowed to marry, while almost half say there should be no legal recognition of their relationship,...

Other encouraging signs that were downplayed in the article include the fact that almost half of those polled knew a family member, close friend, or co-worker that was homosexual. Also downplayed was the fact that gay marriage was ranked as the seventh most important issue in the upcoming governer's race, out of eight issues offered.

The biggest positive that I saw was that 2/3 of Hoosiers under 35 support marriage or civil unions. After exposure to countless positive portrayals of homosexual people in mass media and the growing support for coming out publically in high schools and colleges, young people are quite aware of the number of friends and family that are affected by the current unequal status quo. This is quite encouraging for the future, and a big reason why older conservatives are pushing for constitutional amendments that would prevent changes that future generations will want to make.

Well-Tempered Clavier Online

Tim Smith, a music theorist and choral conductor at Northern Arizona University, has created a great website on Bach's two books of keyboard works exploring the limits of tuning and keys. This website combines scores with digital recordings of Smith's colleague, David Korevaar, and offers analyses of both theoretical and historical interest.

As someone who will be teaching a counterpoint class next spring, I am very excited about the Index of Contrapuntal Operations, Learning Objects, and Concepts. This lists the number of voices in each prelude and fugue, the number of subject entries, whether the answer is tonal or real, if there is a countersubject, and whether the piece has an instance of specific types of contrapuntal operations: stretto, melodic inversion, invertible counterpoint, augmentation, and the BACH motive (not really a contrapuntal operation, but still very useful). Beneath the index is a description of key concepts that
are involved in each prelude or fugue, along with a list of questions that students can answer online and email to instructors. These questions require the student to read the provided narratives, check out links like Bach Digital for sketch study, listen to and analyze the specific piece, and relate the specific piece to the overall collection. This is an excellent source for teachers, and one that I plan to use extensively.

(via Crooked Timber)