I continue my introspection on sometimes profound, sometimes arbitrary boundaries currently in play, both politically and musically.
On the presidential/generational side, it's becoming harder to maintain my preconceived notion of friend or foe. Tonight, I felt sympathy for Fox pollster Frank Luntz of all people as young Ron Paul supporters take him to task, after they infiltrated one of his focus groups. Their argument is that an Internet site is not media. And yet I found myself heartily agreeing with Glenn Greenwald as he questions the role political reporters play even as he praises fromer Wonkette blogger Ana Marie Cox for her substantive questioning of John McCain.
And is it a good thing or a bad thing Hillary Clinton showed some emotion?
Expanding on my prior post's musical/generational theme, I'm still sorting out my my continued preoccupation with the music of an older generation e.g. Glass/Reich, rather than my generation e.g. John Adams/Evan Zyporyn or even younger generations e.g. Corey Dargel/Nico Muhly. What's next for me, a sudden hankering to listen to Stravinsky? Bear with me as I sort through what "new" really means.
And although parallels with the art community can be wobbly, I liked this post on contemporary versus old masters art:
So my feeling is that demand for Old Masters (or "old brown paintings," as they're derisively known) has entered a long-term secular decline, which is masked by the fact that prices have been rising. You'd probably be better off with violins.
Even a short MetaFilter question today with Shostakovich's Quartet No. 4 as the answer had this to say:
Interesting that a piece written in 1949 sounds "contemporary"!
Finally, the iPod today hindered seeking more generationally-relevant music as it served up the distinguished sounds of Andrew Imbrie, Aaron Copland, and Lou Harrison. But then, it's Joby Talbot's …similarities between diverse things, a mixture of conventional strings and vibraphone from the appropriately-named album The Dying Swan Music For 1 To 7 Players.
Wait, even here, although the composer is younger than those elders, he happens to be British, not American. I feel my nicely ordered world in a state of flux.
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