Problems of Modern Music [ Problems of Modern Music by Lang, Paul Henry ( Author ) Paperback Apr- 1962 ] Paperback Apr- 17- 1962

by Paul Henry Lang

Problems of Modern Music [ Problems of Modern Music by Lang, Paul Henry ( Author ) Paperback Apr- 1962 ] Paperback Apr- 17- 1962

Genres: Music

Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Paul Henry Lang was a Hungarian-American musicologist and music critic.

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure Paul Henry Lang was the best choice to introduce this little 1960 volume, since he seems to scorn many aspects of modern music, like serialism, the twelve-tone scale, and electronic music. He does come up with some zingers, like "But this is a hothouse art that needs artificial heating, and by the time Ravel died the school [Impressionism] was so destitute of substance that the much-admired composer of Daphnis et Chloe was reduced to orchestrating Mussorgsky."

For a reader ignorant of musical theory, or of advanced topics in music, Roger Sessions’ chapter “Problems and Issues Facing the Composer Today” will be most comprehensible. Writing sometime in the late 1950s or in 1960, Sessions (a composer) says that the biggest pitfall for a composer of this time is overvaluing theory. Theory, either in regard to aesthetics or technical areas, should not be seen as furnishing criteria by itself, but should be regarded simply as a tool to help the composer realize an artistic vision. His other main points are:

• Harmony as traditionally conceived has reached a dead end.
• Don’t think that atonality – something where any tonal associations have been avoided – is even possible. Without “wholly arbitrary lines of demarcation” one cannot determine “where tonality ends and atonality beings.”
• “Like any other technical principle, [serialism] yields nothing in itself” but is only a tool for the composer’s imagination. It must be thoroughly mastered before a composer attempts to use it.

Elliott Carter’s chapter “Shop Talk by an American Composer” was quite interesting. Among other things he discusses serialism, which he says he does not employ; the difficulties American composers face in composing things which are complex, adventurous, and difficult, given the limited rehearsal time orchestras have, and the contrasting situation in Europe (“Any casual look at the European scores written since the war will show how far in advance of us even beginners are there in this respect”); and Charles Ives. He has both praise and criticism for Ives, some of whose music he rescued from obscurity “since he would do nothing for himself.” Some of the orchestral works contain “large amounts of undifferentiated confusion” and “one could say Ives was unable completely to digest his experience as an American and make it into a unified and meaningful musical expression. The effort of remodeling the musical vocabulary to meet his own personal vision, almost without encouragement or help, was too great, and too often he had to let hymn tunes and patriotic songs stand for his experience without comment.”

The other chapters are:

Analysis Today, Edward T. Cone
Notes on a Piece for Tape Recorder, Vladimir Ussachevsky
Extents and Limits of Serial Techniques, Ernst Krenek
Bartok’s “Serial” Composition, Allen Forte
Twelve-Tone Invariants as Compositional Determinants, Milton Babbitt