“May you live in interesting times” goes the proverbial “ancient Chinese curse” whose origin cannot be attributed to the ancient or the Chinese. The aphorism finds easy application in today’s distressed world. In particular, the worlds of classical music and journalism — one intersection point of which is this magazine — find themselves in interesting times indeed.
Though the performance practices of classical music have historically remained frozen
in time and technologically obstinate (or even in retreat, if one considers the
rise of historically informed performance), the outlook is shifting.
Twentieth-century music technology pioneers such as Edgar Varèse and Henry
Cowell, who presaged the development in the 1970s of Pierre Boulez’s IRCAM
(institute for musical and acoustical research), were only the first of the
innovators. Today, classical music is evolving with technology to expand its
notion of what is possible and the definition of what is classical. Pianist
Leif Ove Andsnes and visual artist Robin Rhode fuse their multimedia
concert-hall collaboration through technology (page 30), and in the wake of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra premiere, maestro Michael Tilson Thomas is exploring the potential real-space and cyberspace collaboration of a developing performance space (page 24). Still, classical music remains the laggard of the art world when it comes to acceptance of technology (and perhaps too the avant-garde). Consider how composer John Cage was ostracized to the periphery of the canon (where he remains) for his use of technology, while his artistic collaborator, the recently departed Merce Cunningham (1919-2009), used computers in his choreography for over a decade and remains at the heart of relevancy.
Nevertheless, technology cannot create music and art; it can only change its shape.
Similarly, technology cannot supplant journalism. The old media of television,
radio (page 40) and print are attempting to maintain their position amid the
new medium of online. As the market becomes stretched across so many different
formats, heretofore bedrock publications and broadcasts find themselves in
newfound positions of peril. While the shifting power balance can be wrenching,
new opportunities have arisen for niche publications (such as Listen) to reach dedicated and precise audiences, while the possibilities of online journalism continue to be explored. We must remember that this newest medium is a tool, not a substitute for content; that journalistic standards must be upheld online and off; and we must guard against a journalistic landscape that has rendered extinct its principal content
providers (currently newspapers and magazines), leaving us in a newsless void.
In this issue we celebrate the eightieth birthday of American composer George
Crumb. We listen in to conductors Michael Tilson Thomas and José Serebrier,
musicians Leif Ove Andsnes, Joshua Bell and Angèle Dubeau, and visual artist
Robin Rhode. We also visit Risør and Chicago, offer recommendations on record,
in print, on screen and in home audio, and remember singer-icon Marian
Anderson.
Best,
Ben Finane
Editor in Chief
editor@listenmusicmag.com
