b.1900-1971

[Gaspard de la nuit]

Don't get your panties in a bunch ladies. I was just trying to have a little fun. As in "that blog was kind of fun until those nazi's stepped in and started whining again". Or "you know those really funny guys that get mad when you disagree with them? How is it they are logged on 24-7 AND have so many friends?". It's cause you're so much fun!

[North Star]

It's even more fun if you also contribute, and don't just troll. Catalyst isn't the same as reagent, but then again, being a catalyst doesn't wear one out. 

[Gaspard de la nuit]

It's even more fun if you also contribute, and don't just troll. Catalyst isn't the same as reagent, but then again, being a catalyst doesn't wear one out. 

Trolling is an art form you nerds will never understand. Just like picking up girls.

[Mirror Image]

Trolling is an art form you nerds will never understand. Just like picking up girls.

Yeah, I suck at picking up women and, yes, I'm a nerd. No doubt about it.

[Gaspard de la nuit]

Yeah, I suck at picking up women and, yes, I'm a nerd. No doubt about it.

Trust me, no one has ever doubted it.

[Mirror Image]

Trust me, no one has ever doubted it.

So let me ask you: do you serve a purpose here or do you just get a rise out of blindly insulting people?

[Brian]

Hmmm, in the past 18 months my top five has changed from

[Khachaturian, Shostakovich, Bernstein, Gorecki, Adams]

to

[Shostakovich, Lutoslawski, Bernstein, Rautavaara]

with the 5th place withheld as a protest vote for Mieczyslaw Weinberg. So, though I do remain very fond of Khach, Gorecki, and Adams, only the other two remain!

[Gaspard de la nuit]

So let me ask you: do you serve a purpose here or do you just get a rise out of blindly insulting people?

I'm here to challenge conventional wisdom.  The question is, what are YOU here for? 

[kishnevi]

I'm here to challenge conventional wisdom.  The question is, what are YOU here for?

speaking purely for myself, I'm here to discuss music.  Doubtless I do offend and insult from time to time, but it's almost always unintentionally.


If you want to be a proper troll, go and study Josquin des Prez's posts.  Whatever his defects, at least he has some style, something you sorely lack.

[Bogey]

Copland, John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith.....basically film music outside of rock and jazz.

[Gaspard de la nuit]

speaking purely for myself, I'm here to discuss music.  Doubtless I do offend and insult from time to time, but it's almost always unintentionally.


If you want to be a proper troll, go and study Josquin des Prez's posts.  Whatever his defects, at least he has some style, something you sorely lack.

That sucks, cause, icon of fashion that you are, I was really trying to impress you w/ my style.

And for the record, all I did is question Shostakovich's relevance to the 20th century sound.  It was the angry mob of dorks-on-forums that started flinging the insults.  As for the "troll" tag, I just wish you guys, much like Shostakovich, would come up with something original once in a while.

[Mirror Image]

And for the record, all I did is question Shostakovich's relevance to the 20th century sound.  It was the angry mob of dorks-on-forums that started flinging the insults.  As for the "troll" tag, I just wish you guys, much like Shostakovich, would come up with something original once in a while.

Shostakovich's relevance to the 20th Century sound? Shostakovich IS the 20th Century sound. From tone rows to wild atonal passages to lush string passages followed by a sudden stillness with eerie dissonances to motor rhythms to distorted military marches, Shostakovich's music is as relevant today as ever. Shostakovich took a little bit from everyone, but crystalized his own sound-world, which you have to admit is unmistakable. He may have not been an innovator like Schoenberg or Debussy, but Shostakovich's music had a great impact on 20th Century music.

As far as the insults go, I believe you're the one who are trying to make everything personal with each member you talk to and your "strategy" is to insult everyone and then give some BS excuse like "All I did was ask a question and I was attacked." Nobody has attacked you or has tried to insult you, but you continue to insult us for no good apparent reason. Your mean-spiritedness is noted and I think the best thing for everyone here to do is to just ignore you.

[PaulR]

That sucks, cause, icon of fashion that you are, I was really trying to impress you w/ my style.

And for the record, all I did is question Shostakovich's relevance to the 20th century sound.  It was the angry mob of dorks-on-forums that started flinging the insults.  As for the "troll" tag, I just wish you guys, much like Shostakovich, would come up with something original once in a while.

Do you think you're being "original" by your anti-Shostakovich diatribe? 

[Mirror Image]

Do you think you're being "original" by your anti-Shostakovich diatribe?

What's interesting is he calls us dorks on forums, but happens to be on a forum telling this to us. Sometimes I have to wonder if there's something in the water.

[val]

Boulez, Dutilleux, Lutoslawski, Britten, Shostakovitch

[Karl Henning]

And for the record, all I did is question Shostakovich's relevance to the 20th century sound.

For the record, your johnny-one-note routine of posing as The Authority (contrarian ... how funny you are!) who will tell us what is and is not the twentieth-century sound comes across as a hybrid of Mrs Cleaver, Professor Whoopee, and Casey Kasem.

[Brian]

And for the record, all I did is question Shostakovich's relevance to the 20th century sound.

And we told you to listen to the Violin Sonata. And a bazillion other things.

[Karl Henning]

And we told you to listen to the Violin Sonata. And a bazillion other things.

But why should he listern to actual music, when his mind is already made up? ; )

[San Antone]

I voted for

Maurice Durufle
Luigi Dallapiccola
Elliott Carter
Luigi Nono
Pierre Boulez

[some guy]

But why should he listern to actual music, when his mind is already made up? ; )

But Karl, isn't it possible that he made his mind up after (or while) listening to "actual music"?

It seems that the esteemed members of the pro-Shostakovich party, which at GMG is very pro indeed, has also no need to listen to "actual music" as their minds are equally made up.

In any case, how about that elephant in the room? I'm going to guess that the real bone of contention with Shostakovich is not any debate about whether he is or is not a skilled and accomplished composer. Even I think he is that. The real debate is whether or not Shostakovich gets to be representative of the twentieth century.

For many people, Picasso represents the twentieth century in art and Stravinsky in music. Probably not so much for artists or musicians, of course, but now it seems that there's some dissatisfaction with Stravinsky's representativeness--and Shostakovich is being put forward (silently and surreptitiously) as a substitute for that role. Is that a fair assessment?

If it is, it probably strikes some musicians the same way that replacing Picasso with Mondriaan, say, would strike artists. Kandinsky would be a better choice. Or Pollock. (Hey! What about Rauschenberg??)

Best would be to try to combat the intellectually lazy notion of any single composer being representative, being "the sound" of the twentieth century. Shostakovich's music is one of the many sounds of the twentieth century. Perhaps we should just leave it at that. It makes a lot of listeners happy, very happy indeed.

Only if those happy people overstep their own happiness and attempt to make Shostakovich's music representative (or Stravinsky's or Cage's or Stockhausen's or Boulez's) of the entire century would there any problem.