This afternoon The Elusive 4th Tenor and I are road tripping across the state to St. Louis. The St. Louis Symphony is performing Messiaen's colossal and amazing Turangalila Symphony. Neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor those damned 40 mph gusts of wind are gonna stop us.None of my recent experiences with the SLSO have been disappointments so I'm pretty excited about this, especially since the chances are slim I'm ever going to hear this amazing work in my hometown.
13 comments:
Good God, this weather sucks for a road trip.
Yeah I know. It's blowing snow here and St. Louis is under a tornado watch.
Holy balls. All that for Turangalila. Not to pick a fight, but... I studied that piece (score and recording) at BGSU, and... well, you know the rest.
More power to ya for liking it, but... well, I found it interminably boring. BUT HEY. Yeah. All right. I'm just sayin'... um.... yyyyyeah, I wouldn't drive through the sunniest day to go see it live. But hey. I'm a narrow-minded asshole, right?
That's my legitimate opinion, though. I just couldn't get into it. Like The Golden Compass... I tried, I just couldn't get into it.
Naturally you're welcome to not like it. Perhaps you were listening to a lousy performance. Eh. You forget, I actually like a rather huge lot of modern music. Please don't assail me with your protestations to the contrary or with a "so do I"; we both know better and it doesn't advance the argument.
I, too, have studied the score somewhat extensively and found much to glean from it.
A full report on the performance when I'm more coherent.
Hope you had fun. I'm jealous. Try not to get dead. Am I forgetting anything?
It was definitely worth it. Even the returning-home-at-two-thirty-in-the-morning part.
There's certainly much to glean from most scores. Doesn't make it interesting to listen to.
I don't want to shit on your enjoyment. If you like it enough to risk freezing your tauntaun before the first marker, then I'm happy for you. From a purely subjective standpoint, I just find the piece dull. It's got nothing to do with dogma or catma or the chip on my shoulder.
You're right, though: "Eh" pretty much sums up my feelings.
Is there a musical equivalent to Stockholm Syndrome?
Because I think you have it.
That doesn't make any sense. That would imply that I have fallen in love with it. I just told you I was indifferent.
Actually, I think I'm with the Bard on that last one...not entirely sure where you were going with that. ???
Ok, so...I grabbed a recording off iTunes because the only time I had ever heard it was in Colorado - hence, 6 years ago. The selection was pretty thin, but I figure I probably got the best of what was offered...anyway...
I'm kind of in the middle. Given my understanding and appreciation (really!) of your personal compositional aesthetic, I can see how you've more or less found your modern compositional soulmate in the piece. There's a lot to like, texturally, orchestrational colouring, etc.
Personally, it doesn't blow my skirt up too high, but I do like it. I have not seen the score, but I can't help but think that since I'm more or less already on the pro-side of the piece, viewing it would only increase my liking overall. I'll agree that a better performance might go a long way to improving my fondness - I can appreciate how a great performance might lend itself to a slight straightening of ones member.
At any rate, just thought I'd toss in my change for a buck.
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