Re: [Harp-L] Over Blow Survey



On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:03:08 -0400, Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

When Coltrane got to the atonal stuff, he had already taken the tonal stuff as far as he could. On "Kind of Blue," you can hear him systematically exploring scale after scale. It's not noodling. It's not technique driven. It's idea driven all the way.

With all due respect, I submit that NOBODY can take "tonal stuff" as far as it can go. It's a bottomless well.


And it may be that Coltrane was "idea-driven." But that doesn't mean it was good or even interesting music. Elliot Carter's string quartets are, intellectually, amazingly coherent and even profound -- but almost nobody can stand listening to them either.

The profundity of an intellectual concept on one hand, and beautiful, emotional music that affects you deeply, can and frequently are, two entirely different things. It's not enough for music to be intellectual or "idea-driven."


Seth Williamson Slings Gap Franklin County, VA



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