I attended a "New Music" program at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, including this season's headliner commission, Christopher Rouse's String Quartet No. 3. I do not share many people's aversion to new music, in fact, I have commissioned new music. However, Rouse's work was not "new", rather it took us backwards 40 years to the academic compositions of the 1970's that we all had to suffer through. How many different screeching sounds can a violin or cello make? Apparently quite a few, to my horror. In the composer's words: "something akin to a schizophrenic having a grand mal seizure." There was no emotional content or meaning (1970's callling!) One might consider it an intellectual exercise, but there was little intellect involved. Is this 2011 or 1971???
Greg DePrince Arts + Life: Books, film, music, painting, fueled by meditation, chikung, coffee, chocolate, more coffee.
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