Audiences hate modern classical music because their brains cannot cope

[Karl Henning]

Exactly. Forms may evolve over time but artists not so much.  The great ones are great with the materials of their time.  [Differing] times, different art,  good for us to have them all available.

I heartily endorse this 

[lisa needs braces]

Yeah, just like Mozart displaced Bach and Beethoven displaced Mozart and Berlioz displaced Beethoven and Schumann displaced Berlioz and Tchaikovsky displaced Berlioz and Brahms displaced Tchaikovsky and Mahler displaced Tchaikovsky.

All those are composers who part of the bread and butter of the orchestral repertoire, something that modernist works (like those by Boulez and Schoenberg) can't achieve, perhaps because the music of the latter two is against human nature. History is a fine judge and after a hundred or so years it's fair to consider musical modernism mostly a failure and a dead-end.

[Mr. Three Putt]

All those are composers who part of the bread and butter of the orchestral repertoire, something that modernist works (like those by Boulez and Schoenberg) can't achieve, perhaps because the music of the latter two is against human nature. History is a fine judge and after a hundred or so years it's fair to consider musical modernism mostly a failure and a dead-end.

I'm putting on my helmet and buttoning down the hatch.

I think history will expose much current music but I don't think classical will be in that lineup. I also doubt Schubert anticipated his portrait on my mantle or his biography on my desk. Furthermore, it's a funny thing what we remember, and more importantly, why. History was once controlled by the educated minority and information took time. Now things are nearly instantly provided and future generations just might not care enough to judge anything from this era.

[some guy]

All those are composers who part of the bread and butter of the orchestral repertoire, something that modernist works (like those by Boulez and Schoenberg) can't achieve, perhaps because the music of the latter two is against human nature. History is a fine judge and after a hundred or so years it's fair to consider musical modernism mostly a failure and a dead-end.

That's a pretty neat trick for two humans to make music that's against human nature. How did they do that?

And all those humans who enjoy their music (and other "modernist" works by Xenakis and Karkowski and the like); they're going against their nature, too?

Hmmm. I just had an idea. Perhaps it's the notion of what "human nature" is that's flawed here.

[jochanaan]

That's a pretty neat trick for two humans to make music that's against human nature. How did they do that?

And all those humans who enjoy their music (and other "modernist" works by Xenakis and Karkowski and the like); they're going against their nature, too?

Hmmm. I just had an idea. Perhaps it's the notion of what "human nature" is that's flawed here.

+1

[Karl Henning]

. . . it's fair to consider musical modernism mostly a failure and a dead-end.

Keep that little dream alive!

[jochanaan]

Keep that little dream alive!

Strange how when exploring this "dead end road," new vistas keep opening up in our minds...

[Ken B]

Strange how when exploring this "dead end road," new vistas keep opening up in our minds...

That's because you're off the road.

[Karl Henning]

Where we go, we don't need roads . . . .

[jochanaan]

Where we go, we don't need roads . . . .

[Jo498]

Non hay caminos, solo caminar!

[Abuelo Igor]

Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino y nada más;
Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace el camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante no hay camino
sino estelas en la mar.

[Jo498]

Thanks, I am sometimes bad with remembering fragments and quotations and usually too lazy to check.
What I probably meant was already a change or misquote from Machado's poem, namely "No hay caminos, hay que caminar" by Nono.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Yeah, just like Mozart displaced Bach and Beethoven displaced Mozart and Berlioz displaced Beethoven and Schumann displaced Berlioz and Tchaikovsky displaced Berlioz and Brahms displaced Tchaikovsky and Mahler displaced Tchaikovsky.

Yep. It's the old "there ain't enough room in this town for the two of us" theory of the arts. It's good for creating a lot of paranoia but not for much else.

Lol, but then Mendelssohn brought back Bach and confused music history so much that orchestras play the old stuff to get bums on seats because they think everyone is Mendelssohn. But I'm not Mendelssohn. I wrote pretty lame fugues when I was 14, but of course, they are better now (albeit not in any specific key). Not in any specific key? How bout a fugue made up primarily on klangfarbenmelodic principles and metric modulation!!!!!!

lol

lol

lol

[Karl Henning]

I think our brains are already coping just a little better . . . .

[jochanaan]

I don't know about "our" brains, but mine is coping much better after a session with Messiaen's Eclairs sur l'au-dela.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

21st century music is dank pass the dutchie

[71 dB]

I wrote pretty lame fugues when I was 14, but of course, they are better now.

When I was 14 I didn't really listen to any kind of music. I heard music, but only "passively", dad playing jazz jne. I didn't know what a fugue is, of course. When I was 17, I discovered acid house genre (1988) and got suddenly VERY interested of (that kind of) music. When I was 26, I discovered classical music and eventually learned about what fugues are. I found out I love fugues. I guess 99 % of all people live their life without ever hearing about the existence of fugues or even hearing one. People are educated, but mostly on things not related to music.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

When I was 14 I didn't really listen to any kind of music. I heard music, but only "passively", dad playing jazz jne. I didn't know what a fugue is, of course. When I was 17, I discovered acid house genre (1988) and got suddenly VERY interested of (that kind of) music. When I was 26, I discovered classical music and eventually learned about what fugues are. I found out I love fugues. I guess 99 % of all people live their life without ever hearing about the existence of fugues or even hearing one. People are educated, but mostly on things not related to music.

What I find particularly wonderful about the world is the diversity of thought, people, styles of music, everything! It knowing what a fugue is, well, that's basically meaningless to the lives of so many on this earth, but learning about people's perception of sound and its aesthetics is meaningful and so much more important stuff can be learnt that way I believe. Also, I love reading stories about people's past experiences with music. I'm rarely able to relate (because everyone is so different) but that's what makes me all the more curious.

Perhaps this is the reason why my favourite music is generally written after the year 1900...the sheer diversity of it all! It reflects humanity more than any other period of classical music in history.

[Cato]

...Knowing what a fugue is, well, that's basically meaningless to the lives of so many on this earth, but learning about people's perception of sound and its aesthetics is meaningful, and so much more important stuff can be learnt that way, I believe. Also, I love reading stories about people's past experiences with music.

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Fascinating, because I have been writing something precisely about that: how some (most?) people hear "nothing," when e.g. a Bach fugue is played.  They shrug and wonder what all the fuss is about.  Others are charmed from the start, and find "something" that touches them in the sounds.

And then there are some who, having been in the "shrugging" first group, one day join the "charmed" group.