Black Angels (Images I). George Crumb /newness/
From We Are All Mozart:
- This is not a fetish for newness, in particular fashion or faddishness, but merely the sense that a fresh viewpoint illuminates the recollection of the past without the need to revisit it, particularly if that recollection is vivid and almost tangible.
- The Philips vinyl of George Crumb's Black Angels was ugly and the recording harsh.
- Rock bands and jazz musicians all practice (no matter how dissonant or confrontational) over and over again, and take risks.
- Familiarity beats newness in the comfort people seek in their daily lives, and repetition affords the ability to hear through and perform through to a new level each time.
- It's no wonder that musicians have claimed that today Mozart would be writing like Radiohead rather than Liebermann.
I've done the nostalgia trip this year with such notable artistic giants as Styx, Poco, Cream, and *egad* Journey, but have no desire to revisit anytime soon. But I haven't figured out why I've responded so much to Miles Davis in the last year, in particular Bitches Brew. Seeing A Different Kind of Blue seems to have re-triggered something in my brain, coupled with the grief from Hurricane Katrina.
By the way, Soho the Dog suggests American classical music "is America's classical music" and "jazz is jazz." For this polytheist, America's classical music is both. On the other hand, I agree the following is a fallacy:
"Nobody actually enjoys listening to atonal music—they just want other people to think they’re a pretentious intellectual."
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