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Not trying to be arrogant here, but who listens to this?

Sometimes I have the feeling that a lot of politics and social criticism comes into play, which is not wanted in most audio-forums, perhaps also in the ASR. Starting from the thread beginning, "Not trying to be arrogant here, but who listens to this?" I focus more on the listening experience of 'Neue Musik', the own experience, interesting works, composers and what is related to it.
 
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From a purely technical or audiophile point of view, I find even higher bit resolutions than CD-quality better.
Good for you! I can't hear the difference between MP3 and CD.

But I'm still glad that I have some LPs from Stockhausen and other contemporary composers. It's a lot of fun to celebrate them with old-fashioned technology.
Understood. But when you photograph these celebrations, must you always be heating the LPs? This time you added art between the LP and the heater but those don't look like good insulation and they do look combustible!
 
I have to interrupt Stockhausen. It's getting too much for my wife. She sent me this short modern piece on the computer today that she likes. It's less nerve-wracking, as she says, a calm flow. There is so much good music out there.

 
... But when you photograph these celebrations, must you always be heating the LPs? This time you added art between the LP and the heater but those don't look like good insulation and they do look combustible!
My photographic still lifes of records and tube equipment seem to continue to cause irritation. I try hard to put them into perspective. :);)
 
I have no idea what I just read here means but a phrase like "enables a unique form of aesthetic reflection on social cohesion, myth-making and the anomic paradoxes of individuation" has me hooked. That's obviously brainy af. Now I have to go to Bayreuth.
Wagnerbrainparasites do that. Probably irreversible unless a healthy dose of Adorno Forte applied.
 
... other itineraries are opening up for me. Wolfgang Rihm, for example, is giving a concert on March 12, one day before his 70th birthday, in the manor house Edenkoben, where we used to go very often and where we know the people. I have the same birthday, but I am 2 years older. It's a good 7 hours drive from here, once across Germany.

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Wolfgang Rihm
on the 70th, the day before his 71st birthday
Sunday, March 12, 2023

Rihm2_©Stoll. © Rolf Stoll
Wolfgang Rihm


3 pm
Music and Religion

A conversation between the composer Wolfgang Rihm and the writer
Arnold Stadler


5 p.m.
Concert

Teodoro Anzellotti, accordion; Nicolas Hodges, piano and the
Arditti Quartet: Irvine Arditti and Ashot Sargsyan, violins; Ralf Ehlers, viola; Lucas Fels, cello.


Program:
Wolfgang Rihm (1952*)

Scraps 6 (2004)
for accordion and string quartet

13th string quartet
for string quartet

Interscriptum (2000/2002)
for string quartet and piano


Anzellotti Teodoro_ta_180118_0066 Teodoro Anzellotti, one of the world's leading accordionists, made a significant contribution to the integration of the accordion into classical music, especially into new music. More than 300 works written for him, including Luciano Berio Sequenza XIII. Professorship at the Musikhochschule Freiburg.

Nicolas Hodges, born in London, professor at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart. Active worldwide and well known as an interpreter of contemporary music. Many works written for him, many world premieres. "Hodges is a refreshing artist; he plays the classics as if they were written yesterday, and what was written yesterday as if it were already a classic."

Arditti Quartet July 2020 © Astrid Karger
Arditti Quartet, the reference quartet for contemporary music since 1974.


Wolfgang Rihm, one of the world's best known and most performed contemporary composers, has been selecting composition fellows for Edenkoben Manor since 2012.


Stadler Arnold March 2019 Arnold Stadler, one of the best-known German-language writers, winner of many prizes, including the Büchner Prize, has been selecting literary fellows for Herrenhaus Edenkoben since 2004.
 
BTW: Some of what I write here about contemporary classical music may look like a soliloquy. But I've always liked to write down the things I'm dealing with in order to make them more tangible for me. It's my method.
 
When I brought my superfluous Pro-Ject turntable to a friend earlier this week, to upgrade his system, a conversation about modern composition, unusual notations and scores like Stockhausen's also ensued. He pulled out a sheet and told me, "Look, this is the score from my old record player."

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It would really be a thread here that is a bit more specialized, and where connoisseurs could contribute well in their niche.

Elsewhere, for example, there is just a new thread about great recordings of classical music and it is already after a short time completely overloaded with far too many tips. Even if you had a lot of time and good will, you couldn't follow it.

What's the problem? (well, of course not a real problem)
There is too little going on here in the thread in my opinion and too much there.

It would be nice not to have to declare the thread dead. So let me ask a question. What are you friends of the contemporary Classic doing right now?
 
Composers don’t seem to get honest feedback from the audience anymore these days. Stravinsky got booed at the premiere of Le Sacre. This would not be possible in this day and age. Nobody wants to be the one who “doesn’t get it”, Emperor’s New Clothes style.
 
Composers don’t seem to get honest feedback from the audience anymore these days. Stravinsky got booed at the premiere of Le Sacre. This would not be possible in this day and age. Nobody wants to be the one who “doesn’t get it”, Emperor’s New Clothes style.
That's not quite true, there have been many concerts where there have been protests from the audience or critical statements. Above all, there are always critical statements from some who are not interested in this kind of music at all. ;)
 
That's not quite true, there have been many concerts where there have been protests from the audience or critical statements.

I admit that this statement was based purely on personal experience. I’ve never attended a live performance of anything where the artist got booed.

Above all, there are always critical statements from some who are not interested in this kind of music at all. ;)

Sometimes even 40-page threads :p
 
I would like to give an example that came back to me.

I remember "The Great Learning" by Cornelius Cardew an experimental composition from 1968 that was performed at the Radialsystem V in Berlin in 2019. The unusual structure of the music and the use of everyday objects as instruments led to mixed and upset reactions from the audience and critics.

 
Composers don’t seem to get honest feedback from the audience anymore these days. Stravinsky got booed at the premiere of Le Sacre. This would not be possible in this day and age. Nobody wants to be the one who “doesn’t get it”, Emperor’s New Clothes style.
Yes and no.

First the no: John Cage Empty Words, Part III: Live Teatro Lyrico Di Milano, 2 Dec. 1977 2CD. It's a magnificent performance. Allmusic review. Youtube search. The 15 min RAI video is good for setting the scene. There's a 33 minute youtube excerpt from the 2DC. But the CD booklet has the whole story. It happens.

To the yes, see above, e.g. this. Elaborating on your remark would involve discussing criticism, politics, social and institutional behavior, and psychology.
 
Elsewhere, for example, there is just a new thread about great recordings of classical music
Saw that and thought hard about it and discovered that I don't know any great recordings of classical music. I cannot name a single one. I could name some favorite performances of which I have or have heard recordings but that's a completely different thing. And I noticed that a recording of a great performance of great music needs to have really terrible technical qualities to spoil my pleasure in the music. And that makes me wonder what I'm doing hanging out with audiophiles.
 
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