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in his sumptuous new york city mansion, charles wuorinen sits rubbing his aged, gnarled hands with a wicked smile atop his towering pile of ill-gotten riches, pondering to what new devious ends he can put the nefarious twelve-tone system invented his brethren in the academic illuminati.... to be continued

So the next time somebody writes a piece evocative of an earlier era/composer, you'll be there to congratulate them for writing what they enjoy rather than being on the side telling them they're writing worthless pastiches, right? I just want to be clear here, I don't want you to come across as a hypocrite or anything.

>should people be allowed to gain profit off of these "compositions"? They must be stopped at all costs. Please do something before it's too late.

Here: Ian's Sonatina Sam Wu's Cimmerian Variations Timmy's Epitaph My own String Serenade (the Waltz is the 2nd movement)

Hey, finally a piece that I can perform at a keyboard!

you definitely are one can't help listening to a composition that is strongly indebted to a work or style of the past without thinking about the original—either for comparison or because the original is better. as well, the most striking passages in such a composition almost always seem to be the most individual ones, that reveal the most about the composer and their relationship with the style they are emulating. consider brahms's first symphony for instance. you can't hear it without thinking of beethoven's fifth and ninth symphonies in particular, and comparing what brahms does with his material to what beethoven does with his. for me, actually, this comparison works in brahms's favour, making the piece an enjoyable one to listen to, but not necessarily for everyone else—and brahms was of course a highly skilled composer with few equals. in the hands of a less skilled composer the symphony would suffer by comparison. there is as well the issue that music of the past was created in certain social contexts & implies certain values. if you continue to write music according to those values, it implies your support for them, & a denial of the values of the modern era. we have a "classical revivalist" on this board for instance, whose goal is essentially to bring back the 1750s (for himself, anyway)—i don't know whether or not he supports a return to 18th century social structure and beliefs, or anything of that kind, but his music suggests critical acceptance. he has looked at the time period in detail and decided to set up a position in harmony with (if perhaps somewhat eccentric within) the society of the time. or maybe he hasn't. but i think you see what i mean. for another example, your interests in 19th century music and literature similarly suggest a worldview that is essentially 19th-century in scope. although it seems more like uncritical acceptance in your case. i personally prefer living in the 21st century with helicopters and penicillin and everything though. that's all.

I was born too late.. Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, R. Strauss, and Stravinsky were already dead :/

Then who's to take responsibility for the health of the art form as a whole? The concert administrators?

i use my real name and face but all the creeps ignore me :<

That makes sense, however, for the sake of my entertainment, I learned that music is the organization of sounds. But if there is no sound to start with (unless you wanna argue the sound of the clock or coughes in the audience) how is it music? Of course upon typing this I realize there IS sound going on but it is certainly not organized.... So music? Or a bunch of people crowded around a silent pianist? EDIT: here is a good definition of music. a : the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity

that was the maximum length of a 78RPM 12" LP side, commonly used for recording classical music at the time

Ravel's slaw, I tried this this morning while practicing and was able to transition from harmonic to normal note without an obvious change in sound. However, transitioning from a normal note to a harmonic causes a break in the sound. The sound doesn't change enough for a dramatic effect, but with vibrato, could be used for something interesting! Greg

you definitely should look for it then. i recommend claudio abbado's studio version, even though he takes it a bit on the slow side—the rests in the second movement have so much vibrancy and colour. some people prefer pierre boulez's recording, but it is live, and reportedly someone coughs around 1:38. there's also oliver knussen's interpretation in the collected silent works of john cage edition for completeness, to say nothing of the chamber versions of which david tudor's is the obvious must-have.

Ok, I have given this some thought and what I would like to do is this: I am choosing 4 finalists. These 4 will have the opportunity to make any edits that they wish by Jan 1. By then, I need finalized parts and scores. On Jan 3, when students return to school, we will sight read each composers piece and choose the winner as a group. The finalists are: Ian - Sonatina Austentine - String Serenade (Valse mvt) Sam Wu - I am allowing him to submit a shortened version or piece since I enjoyed his quite long piece. Timmy - Epitaph

As I have checked these works, I think Austenite's Serenade should be selected, unless it's too difficult for the orchestra. ;) Some of the works should not have been sent, they are not yet even on basic level of quality, though.