two birds with one stone

one of the great reasons of living in los angeles is sheer amount of interesting things to do. if i had the time (unfortunately i do not) i could have attended two readings of books that have simultaneously found their way to my nightstand. its some pretty great scheduling that both oliver sacks and alex ross are speaking at the la public library within a day of each other.

last night oliver sacks spoke on his book: musicophilia: tales of music and the brain. the amazon link has some good video and his interview with terry gross is available on the fresh air podcast

alex ross is also speaking thursday (10/25/07) night about his book the rest is noise: listening to music in the 20th century.

i didn't feel so bad once i found out that both events were sold out and standing room only. hopefully they will make podcast available of the discussions. so far i have been enjoying reading both of these books.

as a side note, in the 10/17 la weekly owen pallet (toronto-based musician who has created arrangements for indie artists arcade fire, bloc party and beirut...) in a group panel throws a little whoop-ass toward alex with this retort:

PALLETT: I’m going to come clean. When I think of new classical music, I feel like I need a cup of coffee and an Advil. I write it, listen to it and enjoy it, but honestly, I don’t think that any classical-music form — except the opera — has relevance to a large audience anymore. It’s retrogressive, but also totally intoxicating. Really, who needs an audience when we have our private little concerts to bask in our own technical virtuosity? Show off some idiomatic oboe writing? Why not?

But seriously, I love new classical music, but the world prefers Amy Winehouse, and so do I. New classical composers are fighting an uphill battle for any sort of relevance: trying to make any headway against the huge volume of amazing pop music out there, and also, trying to reinvent forms and ensemble choices that have existed for centuries.

This whole exchange we’ve had seems ?to have been geared toward “opening pop ears up to new classical music,” but this is a very old-guard conceit. I think that the quicker young classical musicians stop writing chamber music and symphonies, and instead start making albums, the better. Sorry we’re butting heads! I hate being so cantankerous to strangers, but that’s all for now.

in general would agree with most everything he said. although i should point out that i wasn't too impressed with his instrumental "arrangements" for the arcade fire at their hollywood bowl show in sept. his combination of unison baritone horn, french horn and violin inspired my wife to comment "too bad the band has to bring their girlfriends on tour"

on the other hand i really enjoy all the energy that alex puts into writing about the ever growing classical music online community, but i see why his efforts to bring music the masses by way of writing about the mostly dead (in his book) are not my most important reading. i think it is interesting to note that if you compare the contents of his book to michael nyman's experimental music not much has changed since 1974. (more on that another time)

admittedly, i am prejudging his arguments before reading the book (or judging a book by its metaphorical cover), but my intuition says that train has already left the station. its easy to say that when a tune from lcd soundsystem means more to me than what is playing at my local concert hall i think there its fair to ask "the rest is noise?"