Category: Uncategorised (Page 2 of 2)

I believe that in this hypothetical musical catastrophe, the music community would instantly split in two groups of opposing views. First, those who can’t remember any music of the past, but do remember that it had a huge impact on their musical tastes and strive to dig through thousands of recently made songs for any interpolation or reference to past compositions. The second group, likely made of younger people, may remember the phrase “classical music” and perhaps the stereotypes of it, but seem to feel as if it didn’t hold much precedence in their lives, and don’t see the importance of going through so much effort to preserve it. I think that although I definitely understand how impactful and important classical music was to what music has become, I would bet that if you wiped my memory of any actual examples of classical music, I’d fall firmly in the category of those trying not to dwell on the past, and instead try to push music forward in to new territory.

Now I may be a piano player, but I’m definitely not a great piano player, but let’s imagine I have the ability to perform any modern piece for my own sake. Most pieces that I’d want to play wouldn’t be played alone,  Voices from the Killing Jar by Kate Soper comes to mind, as to me it represents such a wild and deranged modern sound.

Secondly, I’d want to cover some modern jazz, I’m a big Kamasi Washington fan, so a song like Final Thought is an incredibly fun example of how jazz, funk, and African rhythms have blended in the present day. Washington also covers Clair de Lune on this album, but I imagine the ghost of music past will take that away from us as well

As unfortunate as it may seem to me now, I think post-memory-wipe, the younger generation that lacks the appreciation for dead composers would win over time. The older preservationists would likely die off before completing the impossible task of recreating the masterpieces of Mozart and Bach, and we’d be forced to move on without it.

Variation 15 of the Goldberg Variations shows notable differences from Gould’s 1955 recordings to those of 1981. The first change you would likely notice is the tempo. Gould decides to take the piece at a much slower pace in 1981, resulting in a more intimate and retrospective tone. Another interesting difference is Gould’s breathing during the piece. The younger Gould takes controlled exhales along with the rhythm, while the older Gould is practically singing along with the melody, which shows us a man much more familiar with the piece than he was 26 years prior. In 1988, Gould appears to let each note he plays have a short moment in the spotlight,, making an effort to bring equal importance to both the right and left hand voices, while in his first recording, the left hand appears to serve merely as a support to the melody. The combination of a slower tempo and a more separated playing style, the piece takes on a less humanlike tone, although I’m not sure that was his intention.

As a result of these recordings being taken over two decades apart, the sound quality is noticeably better in the later recording, although the soft, high-frequency hiss of the 1955 recording does provide a comforting, more nostalgic feel to the piece. I began writing for this prompt thinking I was going to give the later recording higher praise, as I did enjoy it more on first listen, but there’s something much more genuine to how Gould plays it in 1955 that cannot be replaced.