Sunday, December 01, 2013

Pernicious post-modernism

My music theory teach had us listen to some woodwind music prior to attempting to orchestrate woodwind music. He had us listen to the woodwind pieces in Luciano Berio's Sequenzas. Straight-up postmodernism and supports my theory on post-modernism - it's true of all the arts, but especially so in music: post-modernist music is nothing more than a hired companion of the wealthy jerking off before an audience. You may remember that the jerking off occurred before an audience, you may remember how long it took to do the jerking off, you may remember the size and color of the instrument being jerked off, but everything else about the performance is unremarkable and unmemorable.

Crude, but it must be said. Berio's clarinet piece below is indistinguishable from anybody just trying out a bunch of sounds.

The difference of course is that Berio expects critical acclaim for it, on top of being paid for it. And if audiences won't pay for it, well there are always some members of the upper class with plenty of spare change and a desire to be hailed as a brave and formidable intellectual who isn't afraid to present a guy jerking off as art.