WMV Music Web Log

From Mike Strand:

Carl, I liked your July 2 blog about taking another look at "classical music". I include the so-called baroque and romantic styles in this terminology. Here's what I think is the essence of your thoughts (your words):

"It is time to look at it with fresh eyes and ears, and ask what is it really saying? What is it supposed to do? Let's drop the awe and genuflection, and use our cultural heritage to save our souls".

To me this may mean taking the original composers' scores and experimenting with them according to musical styles we now like or are familiar with. For example, this could entail turning Bach pieces into tangos or jazz or swing, or arranging a Beethoven or Brahms piece into rock or broadway tunes. The experimenter should give credit of course, to the original composer for the basic musical idea.

There is wonderful music in those older compositions, and we might take some of it out of its original mold, as beautiful as that mold may be, to see more of its charm and power. For those folks hooked on the originals, let them continue to enjoy them. But for others, steeped in the music of our time, new arrangements may be the best way to see the charm of the older works, thus "saving our souls", or at least the soul of our past heritage.

Mike

(Yes, that's it exactly; at least part of it...).