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In the Forum: Musical Discussions
In the Thread: Playing American Music on July 4?
Post Subject: The American music in it’s best?Posted by Romy the Cat on: 7/2/2009
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I have my issuers with American music of Copland/Gershwin level do not particularly like it. I do understand the concept of the “idealized American collective consciousness” but this American music too much reminds me the “harmonies” of Frank Zappa or the film ”Clockwork Orange” – both create always gagging reaction within me. Saying that I have to admit that I heard the Gershwin’s album by James Levine with Chicago and somehow Levine made his Gershwin to sound amazingly palatable. Probably I will listen it again over the weekend.

It always interests me how different personalities reflected in musicality and it would be interesting to see how the “Americanism” of performing would manifest itself. For this matter I ma planning to play some Leonard Bernstein over the 4th. I have high respect to Bernstein but I never felt soft about his interpretations. Probably I need give him more chance. I have some of his live Tanglewood recording – it might be fun.

Talking about the different personalities reflected in musicality… I will certainly play George Walker music on July 4.

George Walker is kind of enigmatic composer in my view. First of all he is black and unfortunately there are no a lot of black classical composers.  Second he is from the generation of the composers who practice all of it atonal, dissonance and contra-melodic musical cacophony. Still, George Walker’s music has absolutely not of end of the 20 century absurdly. It is very melodic, it is very rational and it is in many instances too beautiful. His Sonata for cello & piano probably is one of the greatest American compositions for cello & piano. I like his music even though it is not always well-performed and I frequently listening it imagine how different I would play it. Some of the Walker’s phases are very interesting where his “blackness” heritage very much shine under a new light. In some instances he uses a very “bad” violin, that more sound like home fiddle. If Walker was an Eastern Europeans Jew then it would turn into some kind klazmer tunes but in Walker’s hands it turns into something very interesting. It is more like a home-cooked blues (sorry for the racist stereotypes) but the blues conceived by a conservatory-trained person with Brahms-like sense of melody. In my view it is American music it it’s best, at least as it might be…

The caT

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