Aquiring the Taste (was: tape music)

[Martin Czech]

> I guess with only tapes being played, a broad audience would have
> missed the cute violinist girls on the stage (;->) - sorry, couldn't resist.

No, that is a serious argument, not just a joke.  Most people I know
are not ABLE to just sit and listen for 10 minutes.  They need something
visual going on on stage.

The "circensic" (sp?) aspekt of live music.

That's why catalogs for musician gear also include lots of light and
fire works and fog machines.



> 20 minutes that followed. So with repeated listening, I came to dig
> deeper into the textures of the beginning as well, and today I appreciate
> it for it's own (and not just as a dissonant contrast to the beauty that

Yes. I did not like all of my favourite recordings in the first moment.
Or: if I like something in the first few seconds I know that it
will be boring the next time.
 
> 
> For some reason, this did not work that well when it comes to "serious"
> contemporary music - did not work on *me*, that is.
> (I came to love Ligeti's - vocal - "Lux Aeterna" because of 2001, but
> I don't like his - electronic - "Artikulation")

Some works are really difficult, if not "bad".
In the very evening I did not like the Xenakis, because I felt that this 60min
piece could have taken also only 3 minutes. After that is was only 
repetition. And this IS boring, too.

> 
> But surely I know the feeling of disappointment. I remember how I was 
> going to see an early Bunuel film when I was a student, and when I
> was seated in the cinema, we were two people in the audience, and 
> the operator cancelled the film ("we only have to show it for 3+ people").
> Went there again the next day, and we were 4 or 5, and it was a 
> wonderful film (;->).
> 
 
Fortunately they did not have this 30+ rule.  OTOH, deep inside I
expected only a few listeners. I know how conservative they are round
here. If there were 200, well, this would have hurt me, cause if I and
my friends do our own tape performances (we have no relations to the
college of music or other institutions) we also only have 1-40 people
(depends on the hell knows).

BTW: when Beethoven was in Vienna, it was unusuall to hear a piece more
than, say 2 times. The people expected the composer to come up with some
new stuff very soon. This is a very natural attitude.

Today we seem to only recycle. And this is not a healthy attitude.

I'd go so far to say that this is the first time in history where
the oublic reception music has come to a stop.

The (serious) main audience is still 100 years behind.

m.c.