Messiaen

I drove up to Blair to pick up my music for the Shade Tree Clinic benefit concert Dean's conducting again, and I called Chris to see if he could get dinner with me. He said 6:30 was fine, but forgot to mention that he was at home and not the Mayfield. So I had to drive out to Antioch to pick him up and take him back to Blair. It was really good seeing him; we talked about a lot. Ars Nova got asked to a live audition at Yale, which is awesome. I think it's set in March. He also told me that Ben is auditioning for the New World Symphony. I'm actually not sure if Chris also applied to graduate school composition programs, but I know Caroline has auditions for graduate school, so if Ars Nova doesn't stay together at least the Harts have other plans.

Chris and I only had time to stop at Jimmy John's, which was enough. I got my music from Blair and practiced for about an hour. We're playing a piece by Salieri, Haydn Symphony no. 88, and Mozart's concerto for two pianos. I read through all of it, which was enough for me tonight. Trey texted me to see if I wanted to go out to Patterson House after I was through practicing. On the way out I ran into Ben Hart and Mrs. Plummer. Ben had just gotten into town, and it was great to catch up with him a bit. Hopefully I'll get to see Ars Nova sometime this weekend when they aren't rehearsing. I left my violin at Trey's and he drove us over to Patterson House.

We talked a ton about music, of course. He reminded me to look up Copland's nonet. We have often discussed if the classical music canon is closed, and what that means for contemporary composers like himself. Nashville is a great place for new music, as the Symphony regularly performs premiers. However, I think in terms of a canon, new works, at least for large orchestral ensembles, will find it extremely difficult to stay around long enough for major recognition and eventual consideration as part of the standard repertoire. I would cast the most 'blame' on John Cage's generation, who I think were elitists, for driving away new classical music lovers. I understand the desire to be avant-garde and ground breaking. But Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Strauss, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky were just a few examples of great composers who produced serious art. Art doesn't need to be 'out there' in order to be serious. But in reality, there is a simple, obvious reason for the decline in the interest of classical music. Other genres of music, particularly rock. I am also of the opinion that there is simply a finite amount of music the average person can know. We'll never kick any of the aforementioned composers out of the canon, and we're running out of room in the lineup.

We went back to his place and he showed me some music, mostly by Messiaen. Messiaen Cinq Rechants is a haunting collection of extremely difficult songs for unaccompanied choir. Then before I left he had to play me the last movement of the Turangalila Symphonie, which is mind-blowing. If I could ever see it performed live, I know it would be life changing. It was so moving. (I just talked to Dean who said he saw it live, and there's no comparison; recordings can't really do the music justice)

On the discussion of the most epic works, besides Bruckner 9, Dean recommended Heldenleben and Bruckner 8.