I posted the following on FB last night, and as it seems to have gotten the attention (both favorable and not) of some fellow musicians in the last 24 hours, I thought I’d share it here, as well:
So I was musing to myself. Mozart wrote the Prague Symphony (1786) 44 years before Berlioz wrote “Symphonie Fantastique” (1830). Another 44 years to the last of Wagner’s Ring cycle (Götterdämmerung, 1874). 50ish more to the first works for theremin (1920s), and another 40ish to Terry Riley’s “In C” (1964), which itself is now almost 50 years old. It’s remarkable that so many musicians in 2012 still think of pieces like “Le Sacre du Printemps” (1913) or Webern’s Symphony Op. 21 (1928) as adventurous programming. That would be like Brahms thinking it was really hardcore to drop some Mozart, or Mozart getting craaaazy by busting out a little Buxtehude.
And that’s what I do to put off doing other things. I should go to bed.
