Re: GG: Music theorists?

["John P. Hill" <jphill@frank.mtsu.edu>]

Re:  Wien concert/program
What a strange sense of deja vu (excuse the lack of appropriate
accents).  June 7, 1957 happens to be my birthday and I've always
*loved* GG's realizations of the Art of Fugue and the Sinfonias.
I'll have to look into time of birth;  if it turns out to be
7:30 pm, that'll be one strange harmonic convergence.

Re:  Schoenberg/Webern
It's been a while since I dabbled in music theory, but I think
it's safe to say that Webern's harmonic and melodic language was
more concise, concentrated and stark than his teacher's (Schoenberg).
Webern's rows are somewhat easier to disect because he uses them in
a more strict, "textbook" fashion than either Schoenberg or Berg.
As Lori pointed out, Webern's use of Klangfarbenmelodien treated
timbre as one more element to serialize.  This led to the multi-
serialism of folks like Babbitt, et. al. a few years later.  Webern's
works tend to be short and to the point; you can listen to his
entire output in a matter of a few hours.  For the casual listener
they also tend to be less accessable, because the stricter use
of the twelve tone language pretty much dictated who was to play
what and where.  One gets the sense that Schoenberg and Berg, in
particular, were much more willing to let the musical/compositional
needs dictate how and when the various permutations of the row would
be used.


Wow, it would be *great* to hear a tape of that June 7, 1957
concert!

Best regards to the collective...


John Hill
Associated Professor of Recording Industry
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, TN  37132




On Thu, 24 Oct 1996, Mary Jo Watts wrote:

> I plead to the music theorists and musicians on the list!
> 
> The following is an excerpt from a _Canadian Composer_ interview with GG
> (March 1972):
> 
> 		"...the opening  segment of _North_ has a kind of trio-sonata
> 	texture, but it is really an exercize in texture and not a
> 	conscious effort to regenerate a musical form.  Three people speak
> 	more or less simultaneously...The scene is built so it has a kind of--
> 	I don't know if you have ever looked at the tone rows of Anton Webern
> 	as distinguished from those of Arnold Schoenberg-- but it has a kind
> 	of Webern-like continuity-in-crossover in that motives which are
> 	similar but not identical are used for the exchange of instrumental
> 	ideas. So, in that sense, textually, it was very musical."
> 
> I wish I had a nickel for every time GG mentions the tone rows of
> Webern!  I understand what GG means in relation to _North_, but what,
> for example, might be an "instrumental idea" of Webern's?  How are
> Webern's tone rows different from Schoenberg's?
> 
> -Mary Jo
> 
> P.S. Anyone gotten the new copy of _GlennGould_ yet?
>