“We are amazed and exhilarated by Beethoven’s formal achievements – like the first movement of the Eroica – because the material which they organize lives separately in us. Le Marteau sans Maitre gives no comparable experience, since it contains no recognizable material – no units of significance that can live outside the work that produces…
Category: List of articles
Music and the mind
Music is a complete representation of a state of mind. We know the heart of our civilization through music in a way we cannot easily know through anything else. We communicate not just with other people, but with other generations. Like Bach’s St Matthew Passion. The fact that such things exist makes available to us…
The meaning of music?
“Perhaps what is inexpressible (what I find mysterious and am not able to express) is the background against which whatever I could express has its meaning.” (Ludwig Wittgenstein) This seems to be a quite expressive indication of the meaning of music…. which is not in the notes, but hints at the background against which…
Avantgarde Endlösung
For people, who have begun to have some doubts to whether established avantgarde music can live-up to the standards of excellence, expression and intelligence of music in general – as an art form, in the widest possible sense – it is recommended to follow-up the following links which will provide some enlightenment on the…
Reconstructing cultural identity
A remarkable German building project In the centre of Berlin, a most spectatular building project is currently taking form: the reconstruction of the Berlin royal palace, the ‘Berliner Stadtschloss’, in the heart of the city at the end of the famous boulevard Unter den Linden. This project is interesting for new music, since it…