The World's Most Popular Atonal Crap

[not edward]

Well, not really... but I was killing a few minutes earlier and decided to see which of the more "crappy" composers had the most recordings available (using ArkivMusic's count as a figure). The ones I found with 100 or more recordings available are as follows:

Schoenberg 511
Messiaen 467
Ives 364
Berg 364
Cage 318
Ginastera 236
Schnittke 235
Lutoslawski 198
Ligeti 179
Webern 177
Carter 163
Berio 150
Tippett 140
Henze 129
Dutilleux 110
Gubaidulina 102

[Cato]

http://www.youtube.com/v/E8_GVfPuw4M

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

About what I'd expect. And thanks for reviving the term "atonal crap" (AC for short). Makes me nostalgic for CI times. 

[Mirror Image]

I love atonal crap!

[Bogey]

I can either watch countless episodes Harcore Pawn with Lester and family from Detroit, or watch this thread unfold.  Either way, let the train wrecks begin.

*munches on popcorn*

[Karl Henning]

I can either watch countless episodes Harcore Pawn with Lester and family from Detroit, or watch this thread unfold.  Either way, let the train wrecks begin.

*munches on popcorn*

Huge smile here, Bill, thanks!

[Mr Bloom]

Atonal crap is better than tonal shit.

[TheGSMoeller]

I think it's a typo, it was meant to read "A tonal crap."

[Cato]

People are gonna panic. There's going to be gold riots, atonal music, political chaos, mass suicide.

AND...

http://www.youtube.com/v/O3ZOKDmorj0

[Mirror Image]

AND...

http://www.youtube.com/v/O3ZOKDmorj0

[kishnevi]

Well, not really... but I was killing a few minutes earlier and decided to see which of the more "crappy" composers had the most recordings available (using ArkivMusic's count as a figure). The ones I found with 100 or more recordings available are as follows:

Schoenberg 511
Messiaen 467
Ives 364
Berg 364
Cage 318
Ginastera 236
Schnittke 235
Lutoslawski 198
Ligeti 179
Webern 177
Carter 163
Berio 150
Tippett 140
Henze 129
Dutilleux 110
Gubaidulina 102

It did strike me as curious when I saw the words popular and atonal adjacent to each other.  Not normally a combination you see.

Of course to be totally reliable, you'd have to deduct the tonal works out from, for instance, Schonberg's count.  There must be a considerable number of recordings of Verklarte Nacht, for instance.  And a few other composers have works that might be considered more not-quite-tonal than atonal,  episodically atonal, or other gradations of the curve--Ives,  Tippett, Dutilleux, for example.

[some guy]

Of course to be totally reliable....

Well, to be totally reliable, you'd have to stop mixing descriptive terms (tonal) and non-descriptive terms (atonal) together and treating them as equally descriptive.

Hah! That's logical. When's that ever gonna happen?

No. Popcorn. In a situation like this, popcorn's your only option.

[Madiel]

The Messiaen I've heard ain't sound nothing like the Schoenberg I've heard.

[knight66]

As they say in Glasgow: I'm jus watchen youse guys.

Knight

[Brahmsian]

There are several hundred in the soccer field, across from my apartment.  Sure to make their way soon to my GMG friends down south.

Atonal honking, and they love to crap! 

[Karl Henning]

Atonal  honking: it's the way I roll.

[some guy]

Wait a minute!!

Those geese are in nature.

Everything that's in nature is good.

Therefore atonal honking is good.

[Brahmsian]

Wait a minute!!

Those geese are in nature.

Everything that's in nature is good.

Therefore atonal honking is good.

  Their honking is good, but they could simmer down on crapping everywhere. 

[Brian]

Well, to be totally reliable, you'd have to stop mixing descriptive terms (tonal) and non-descriptive terms (atonal) together and treating them as equally descriptive.

Hah! That's logical. When's that ever gonna happen?

Maybe we should be mathematical about this and apply advanced statistics. Perhaps a Honking Index (HI), where 0 indicates nary a single honk and 100 is maximal honking.

Example in a sentence:
"I tried getting through that Boulez notation, but with this hangover my ears can only handle up to 30 HI."

[some guy]

Yeah, that's what we need, to apply math to something that cannot be counted.

I say we go whole hog (or 100% porcine).

Let's have an SI for GMG posts. An SI of 25 or higher gets you a warning.

100 gets you banned for life. From everything.