An encounter with otherness? How about listening to Elliot Carter's music. The grand old man of American concert music who died a year or so ago at the age of 103 is composer universally respected. So why do I find listening to (especially) his later works so unsatisfying, even irritating?
Driving home from Connecticut this afternoon, I encountered his Clarinet Concerto of 1996. First listening: clearly episodic, clarinet range either low or high, other instruments percussive in style, no recognizable motifs.
Second listening: after reading the booklet, I learn there are seven movements called Scherzando (dancing), Giocoso (playful), etc., I can hear the clarinet playing off against different ensembles of instruments--tuned percussion, untuned percussion, muted brass, unmuted brass, etc. Drum tattoos, string pluckings, clarinet dancing up and down, whirling around, more hollow thumping. Again, no audibly convincing organizing principle.
Third listening: Now I can hear the parts readily, signaled by all the instruments playing tutti. Clarinet still seems somewhat manic rather than expressive. Lots of snare drumming. Everything playing according to its own rhythm. After more thumps, and clarinet very high, very low, a sudden cessation. Some middle sections seem quiet and winsome but they're framed by instrumental trampolining.
So I've listened three times; I can hear the structure, appreciate the musicianship of the players, and enjoy some of the different timbres of the instruments. Commentator Bayan Northcott in the album booklet says the clarinet 'continuously ripples, cavorts, soars' as set against the 'colouristic possibilities of one group [of instruments] at a time.' Yep. It does. But, after three dedicated listenings, so what?
Am I too serious? Isn't this all anyone should reasonably hope from music? Isn't music a game like filling in square with different designs? Isn't music just the sound it makes any moment?
Where is the pleasure? is my question. I'm sure those who enjoy this piece do so sincerely. Perhaps the deepest way we can be different from one another is in what we delight in. I don't understand, for instance, why some folks love melons; I can't stand them. I get the concept of wine connoisseurship. The pleasure of different styles of music must be more than just personal preference. It doesn't have to be ineffable. Well, I'll keep on trying to see what gives people pleasure, keep on asking why they get excited. I don't want to forego any good thing available. In the meantime, I just discovered a wonderful piece American Landscapes for Guitar and Orchestra (1989) by Lukas Foss. That I look forward to hearing again.
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