Hi Angelo,
Henze tells a story of young composers in the 1950s that write in the
style of Orff taking the train from Frankfurt to Darmstadt. On the
train, they would write some little 12 tone pieces to show to the
teachers at Darmstadt! Kudos to you and others for being true to
yourself.
Still, I know you recognize that some good music came out of that time
even if the philosophy was heavy handed
I would like to relate to others on the newsgroup that two of the best
concert experiences I ever attended were with music by Darmstadt
composers.Pollini playing Stockhausen's Klavierstuck 10 at Carnagie
Hall for one. He played the piece with such passion that the hall
erupted at the end with an extremely enthusiastic standing ovation the
likes of which you would see at a Paco de Lucia of Pavarotti concert.
Klavierstuck 10 actually came off as a piece right out of the romantic
tradition!
The other was a concert at the Manhattan School of Music with Boulez
conducting "explosante-fixe..." he rehearsed with the students every
day for a week, all day. The electronics from IRCAM were seamlessly
integrated with the acoustic instruments.
The performance was stunning and the piece was astoundingly
beautiful.
Also, Boulez gave composition masterclasses that were the model of
good grace, unlike his reputation as an enfant terrible from the old
days. He tended to teach by asking the student questions, getting to
the students way of thinking. I went to all of the masterclasses.
Also, he was very nice to me. He was patient enough to sit with me and
look at the score of my 3rd sonata ( I paused at the more spectacular
pages). He said I should send him some copies to him personally and he
would farm the score out to Parisian players.
I did send it and received word of the arrival of my scores.
BTW, I view all the 20th century as an extension of the Romantic
tradition that is now in its endgame with, what seems to me, to be the
end of Christendom and the end of western civilization.
Best,
Mark
Post by agilPost by Stanley YatesAlain,
Thanks for the link. The performance seems to be very good, to judge by
the sound samples. I wonder if this is one of Angelo's protoges?
No Stanley, the performer is Davide Ficco, not a student of mine, but a
younger and skilled colleague in the years of my teaching in the State
Conservatory.
In lack of an availability by Dallapiccola, I earned to the guitar
repertoire the contribution of Carlo Mosso who, in the following generation
of composers, was for sure an outstanding figure, working in the line of
Dallapiccola. I did not care of the fact his position was shadowed (he did
not follow the Darmstadt mainstream and his music was considered
conservative by the local intelighensia).
During the Seventies, I also earned to the guitar the music of Bruno
Bettinelli and of another dozen of Italian masters. I am especially fond of
a large scale work written for guitar by Wolfango Dalla Vecchia, a Petrassi
student and a renowned organist, who composed a suite entitled "Variati
amorosi momenti". His publisher was a strict friend of a guitar star, and
the manuscript was given to that hero, who couldn't make anything of it .
After years of unfilled promises, the hero condemned the piece as
"unplayable". So, the publisher (Zanibon) was obliged to ask me whether I
could take care of editing the work. I said yes, of course, and in one week
the edition was ready for print. Unfortunately, the Zanibon firm went to an
end, and its catalogue was sold to Ricordi, then BMG, then Universal, and
nowadays the Dalla Vecchia work is practically out of print. A pity, because
it stands among the great pieces o the historical 20th century guitar
repertoire...
ag