So, classical music...

[mrph]

...new classical music. Opinions?

I skimmed an interesting piece in the latest Gramophone magazine, which commented that there's no 'hook' that can be used to get new work into the mainstream - I think they namechecked the Turner Prize as an equivalent hook for modern art, but I don't have the relevant piece to hand.

There's a bit of my brain that thinks the sort of people who appreciated, say, Tarmvred (to pick a not-so random interesting experimental electronic act) at Infest, are also vaguely likely to appreciate a modern classical composer like Tüür... but I'm not sure that's actually true. Hmm.

May need to think on this a little more, but comments are welcome...

Edit: Well, ok, John Adams is on MySpace. That was a pleasant surprise.

Edit2: ...and so are the Kronos Quartet, among others (...and I hadn't realised they'd been busy remixing NIN. I guess that's a decent hook, hmm? :)

Comments

[nils.livejournal.com]

Jaz Coleman has released classical music, and it allegedly sells quite well (presumably because the Killing Joke fans have been buying it...)

[cyberinsekt.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that's true either.

It would be good to think that the audience for experimental electronica is interested enough in exploring new musics to approach contemporary classical with open ears, but I'm not sure it would happen. Take the case of Frank Zappa. He was a musician who had much the same kind of audience - people interested in defiantly leftfield popular music. Yet when he started to write orchestral music, how much of that audience came along with him? How much of that audience would investigate his modernist influences and start listening to Varese and Boulez? I'd guess not many.

My hunch is that the key obstacle is the instruments being used. Tell people about the Kronos Quartet and the radical sounds they make, and chances are that it will be heard as "radical, for a string quartet". How do you get past Vivaldi?

But there are hooks out there. Tell Sonic Youth fans that Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo both have both played in Glenn Branca's works composed for orchestras composed almost entirely of electric guitars, and you've got a much better chance. I think you can also pull people who admire bands such as Current 93 towards some of the folkloric/shamanistic compositions of Veljo Tormis. John Zorn's fifth string quartet is just waiting for dedicated and curious new listeners: not only is it not called a string quartet, but it's called Necronomicon. That all three of these are esoteric, either explicitly or implicitly, may be a coincidence, or it may not. I do think there is an audience out there that is looking for hidden music, but it may not be an audience that Gramophone understands.

[livingarmchair.livejournal.com]

Contemporary classical music? Try Turnage - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark-Anthony_Turnage.

Modern classical, but heavily influenced by Jazz - Blood on the Floor is stunning.

I'm probably drawn to Turnage as I also love Miles Davis & the whole 19760s/1070s Jazz fusion movement - Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, Chick Corea, the legendary Soft Machine, etc.

There is also Karl Jenkins, who is somewhat controversial, being another musician from a Jazz fusion background (He was in Ian Carr's Nucleus & also guided Soft Machine to their 1980s demise) who has gone on to do well in classical area - he did Adieumus (Along with Mike Ratledge, another ex-Soft Machine alumni) and also the excellent Requieum For Peace, which was one of the best selling classical albums a few years back. Purists bristled; the public bought. It's accessible, simple & quite joyous.

[nemesis-to-go.livejournal.com]

Apocalyptica have more or less built an entire career out of covering Metallica songs, and other suchlike metal works. And then, of course, there's the likes of Rasputina.

But I dunno if this sort of thing inspires people to investigate classical music in general. Apocalyptica basically play to the rock crowd, where they're treated as something of a surreal novelty. Rasputina are as much of a theatrical concept as a musical experience.

There's been quite a bit of crossover stuff over the years, but I don't think any of it has led to a sudden surge of interest in contemporary classocal - or even old classical. I mean, even Paul McCartney has done classical music. And don't get me started about the Electric Light Orchestra!