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Old May 20 2008, 10:20 AM
Gardener Gardener is offline

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I'd be careful about any statement beginning with "all composers". Personally, I'm not sure if I want my music to be played after my death. Music is all about time and the events and structures within it, a succession of instantaneous experiences. As much as listening to a Beethoven CD can be a great experience, it is by no means comparable with experiencing music as it is made, as a unique passing moment. A life Beethoven concert has something of this, but even much more does a concert where recent pieces are played, possibly even for the first time ever.

I find something quite alluring about the idea that music ceases to exist the moment its composer dies, or even more radical, every composition ceasing to exist after the first performance, so that there only -are- first performances. Of course such a thing is impossible and it would require the readiness to let go of many great works for the audience.

Nevertheless I don't think music has to endure for all eternity. Like any other living thing, it dies. But there is so much to gain by actually going out and experience living music instead of conserves.

And I realize that I'm quite hypocritical. I have tons of CDs, a lot of them containing very old music. But I still wouldn't mind if my music was never played again after my death. I sometimes think that this view of myself comes from the fact that I got into music entirely through improvisation, which has stayed something important and special for me ever since.