Jonathan Harvey: From Silence, Nataraja, Ritual Melodies (Bridge)
Purchased in the used CD section at Jerry's Records
This may seem completely self-evident. I had a small epiphany in the Baltimore Museum of Art decades ago. As I walked through the modern collection, it occurred to me that there was no dominant style in the 20th century. What marked the works was their lack of similarities.
This is turn leads to a question of criticism. If we are presented with works that are so personality-based, so differentiated in technique, isn't it challenging to judge and criticize the works?
How do I describe and critique this collection of three of Jonathan Harvey's works? He lived 1939-2012, alive at the time of this release. One is computer generated, one a duo for flute and piano, one for voice and ensemble that includes significant electronic components.
Regarding the latter, which dates from 1988: the brittle, FM-based synthesis (I assume) sounds dated now. I made this point about Frank Zappa in an earlier post: his sometime embracing of new technologies now makes some of those works sound more dated. Otherwise, it's what I'd expect from this sort of academic avant garde composer.
The flute/piano duo was sometimes flurries of notes that must have looked ridiculous on the page. I question the need to compose pieces that are effectively impossible to play accurately. Is this one? Maybe. When it slows down into more (for lack of a better term) traditionally melodic passages, the work recalls Messiaen a bit.
I fell asleep during the computer generated piece. It's been a tiring week and a half.
I'll take this disc to school, where I've been keeping many of my historical electronic music CDs. I don't think I'll buy the other Jonathan Harvey disc they had.
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