June 01, 2007

Ce n'est pas un concert review

I'm always glad to see an Oulipian incursion into the mainstream media, so I was amused to read this review by Bernard Holland in today's New York Times, in which he says provocative things about the heyday and waning reputations of George Crumb and Krzysztof Penderecki. Here's the thing: I had to read the review twice to figure out that there was no actual Penderecki on the concert—it was an all-Crumb affair. Toying with the technical structure of a music review to create a vague and disorienting sense of the modern world's alienation—I like it! (I actually did like it—the connection between Crumb and Penderecki is an interesting one, and one I've not really pondered.)

1 comment:

Lisa Hirsch said...

I meant to blog about my, um, favorite? Bernard Holland review of the last few weeks, the one about the student quartets that started with this immortal lede:

"On Tuesday and Wednesday I heard seven young string quartets coached by two eminent ensembles play music by three composers in two different halls. Five of the seven were all female. The overall demographic was 5 men and 23 women, three of whom showed signs of imminent motherhood. I have no idea what all this means and pass it on without comment."

Read the whole thing here.