The other day I went to my first classical concert since April. A very small gathering, just a hundred people or so in the audience. A pianist gave a recital of Chopin, Mozart, Debussy, etc. It was a debut, pretty good really. I reviewed it, quite favorably.
Nonetheless, after experiencing the excitement of a Björk concert several times - and being on stage as well! - it was a dull affair, even though it was a fine concert in itself. There is so much stagnation in the classical world. Why do people insist on playing Mozart and Chopin and Debussy, when you can get much better CDs of their works in the next record store?
Since I mentioned Debussy: Stephen King, who isn’t much into classical music, once said that on the few occasions he does listen to it, he prefers something powerful, like Wagner or Beethoven. Apparently he doesn’t understand people who listen to Debussy.
As he puts it: “Why fuck around?”
Of course, playing the classics is often quite a challenge for talented musicians. And hearing a really skilled pianist play Liszt or Rachmaninoff live beats any Die Hard movie. Nonetheless the most interesting concerts are those that feature new works, at least in my opinion.
Fortunately, the pianist whom I listened to played an impressive piece by a modern Icelandic composer, Snorri Sigfús Birgisson. It was a delightful composition, complex at first but becoming progressively more and more etherial and otherworldly. At the end it seemed to merge with a great void, dissolving into nothingness.
An overture to George Crumb, perhaps?
(Now, that is a composer I truly adore!)
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