A belated note on the Dalbavie, which I only got around to recently, but I am compelled to share in your dismay.
I previously encountered his work on a program split with Kurtag (!! – and now Carter!?) and curated by Leif-Ove Andsnes (!!). (I mean, really, how can this be?) There was a quartet for piano, viola, bassoon, and trumpet, about which it was explained that the trumpet it muted throughout because – well, you know, it says to do so in his undergraduate orchestration book. (Elsewhere I heard a realisation of Cardew’s “Treatise” in which there was a section for unaccompanied flute and trumpet duo. The trumpet was not muted, and there were no balance problems.) There was also a large ensemble piece which was audibly a grab-bag of bits of Favourite Twentieth Century Classics (a bit of the Ligeti Five Pieces here, a bit of that there).
So I was dimly amused when the commentators on the Flute Concerto referred to audible similarities to previous works (the only true statement they made). Otherwise, my eyes rolled upwards at the vaguely Herrmannesque opening. Then the soloist plays some G-D-A-whatevers, echoed by the open strings in the violins – ah, spectralism – at which point I ceased listening.
And this drivel is being presented — by leading performers and institutions, some of whom must surely know better — as important work by a leading composer? It really is insulting.
Unlock with Patreon
Thank you. Muchas gracias
A belated note on the Dalbavie, which I only got around to recently, but I am compelled to share in your dismay.
I previously encountered his work on a program split with Kurtag (!! – and now Carter!?) and curated by Leif-Ove Andsnes (!!). (I mean, really, how can this be?)
There was a quartet for piano, viola, bassoon, and trumpet, about which it was explained that the trumpet it muted throughout because – well, you know, it says to do so in his undergraduate orchestration book. (Elsewhere I heard a realisation of Cardew’s “Treatise” in which there was a section for unaccompanied flute and trumpet duo. The trumpet was not muted, and there were no balance problems.) There was also a large ensemble piece which was audibly a grab-bag of bits of Favourite Twentieth Century Classics (a bit of the Ligeti Five Pieces here, a bit of that there).
So I was dimly amused when the commentators on the Flute Concerto referred to audible similarities to previous works (the only true statement they made). Otherwise, my eyes rolled upwards at the vaguely Herrmannesque opening. Then the soloist plays some G-D-A-whatevers, echoed by the open strings in the violins – ah, spectralism – at which point I ceased listening.
And this drivel is being presented — by leading performers and institutions, some of whom must surely know better — as important work by a leading composer? It really is insulting.
CJS