In view of a comment posted by my senior on my previous post on the "Symphony of Singapore Sounds" reminds me of a philosophy which John Cage mentioned in an interview that I think it would be nice to share this philosophy in this post.
John Cage mentioned that sound is a sound, it does not need to mean anything. In the convention, people always have the thinking that, a sound is not plainly a sound, it has inner meanings to it, thus is linked to certain contexts. Therefore, when people listen to music, they will think deep (Inner Listening) into the music in order to get what the music mean. Paradoxically, in John Cage's point of view, he is looking at pure listening to the sound (Outer Listening) on the surface and need not think what the sound mean and how it fits into a context.
So you see, listening to sound need not be as complicating as when we listen to Beethoven and Mozart which definately mean something. At the end of the interview, John Cage brought up a quote by German Philosopher Immanuel Kant, that, there are two things in the world which doesn't need to mean anything, one is Music and other one is Laughter. This philosophy is also mentioned in his journal in Musical Quarterly Titled "East and West, New and Old".
Some Quote from the Interview:
"Those people who finally managed to understand that sound is just sound, they replied "You mean a sound is just sound !?"" - John Cage
"People think that sounds are useless, whereas I love sounds, just as they are, I have no need for them to be anything more. I don't want sounds to be psychological, sounds to pretend that they are something else or the sound is in love with other sound" - John Cage
Here are some sound music which I would like to recommend:-
Marcel Duchamp - Sculpture Musicale (can be downloaded @ http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=489129&song=4.+Sculpture+Musicale )
John Cage - Sculpture Musicale (Mesostic by John Cage) ( can be downloaded @ http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=489130&song=2.+Sculpture+Musicale+%28Mesostic+by+John+Cage%29 )
Gyorgy Ligeti - Poem Symphonique for 100 Metronomes ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8v-uDhcDyg )
Happy Listening !!!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Path to New Music - Anton Webern (part 3)
After such a long time of stopping, finally i am back again with my final understanding of the book 'The path to new music' by Anton Webern. In this part, I am looking what is Webern's point of view of 'Variations'.
Webern illustrated music variations with plants. A plant, as a whole, is seen as a music in the whole picture. You see plant as a plant, but when you see it closer, do you notice that within the plant, there are roots, leafs, stems, flowers and fruits ? All these features of a plant are described by Webern as the variations of the plant.
In musical sense, you listen the music exist as a whole as if looking at the plant as a whole which consist of variations. However, if you take a look closer, you are able to see that the variations of the music are related to the main motif, just that they are evolved into other forms. Similar to the concept of the roots, leafs, flowers and fruits of a plant, they don't look the same, however they are related to the plant and grow from it.
In view of serial music, Webern explained that there exist a lot of variations, for example, the various inversions, and also the comprehensiveness of having repetitions. Therefore, serial music is still not totally out of the realm of western classical music tradition. In one of the interview of Peirre Boulez, he mentioned that, it was from his understanding from Mahler's music in which he was able to understand Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.
Some recommendation to works by the second vienese school:
1. Arnold Schoberg - Pierrot Lunaire (Ensemble Intercontemporain - Boulez) Label: Deutsch Gramaphone
2. Alban Berg - Lulu (Chicago Symphony - Barenboiem) Label: Deutsch Gramaphone
3. Anton Webern - The Complete Work of Anton Webern (Berlin Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain - Boulez, Zimmermann (Piano)) Label: Deutsch Gramaphone*
4. Anton Webern - The Complete Work of Anton Webern (London Symphony - Boulez) Label: Sony
*Number 3 is the newer version of Webern's Cycle.
Webern illustrated music variations with plants. A plant, as a whole, is seen as a music in the whole picture. You see plant as a plant, but when you see it closer, do you notice that within the plant, there are roots, leafs, stems, flowers and fruits ? All these features of a plant are described by Webern as the variations of the plant.
In musical sense, you listen the music exist as a whole as if looking at the plant as a whole which consist of variations. However, if you take a look closer, you are able to see that the variations of the music are related to the main motif, just that they are evolved into other forms. Similar to the concept of the roots, leafs, flowers and fruits of a plant, they don't look the same, however they are related to the plant and grow from it.
In view of serial music, Webern explained that there exist a lot of variations, for example, the various inversions, and also the comprehensiveness of having repetitions. Therefore, serial music is still not totally out of the realm of western classical music tradition. In one of the interview of Peirre Boulez, he mentioned that, it was from his understanding from Mahler's music in which he was able to understand Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.
Some recommendation to works by the second vienese school:
1. Arnold Schoberg - Pierrot Lunaire (Ensemble Intercontemporain - Boulez) Label: Deutsch Gramaphone
2. Alban Berg - Lulu (Chicago Symphony - Barenboiem) Label: Deutsch Gramaphone
3. Anton Webern - The Complete Work of Anton Webern (Berlin Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain - Boulez, Zimmermann (Piano)) Label: Deutsch Gramaphone*
4. Anton Webern - The Complete Work of Anton Webern (London Symphony - Boulez) Label: Sony
*Number 3 is the newer version of Webern's Cycle.
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