[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [microsound] Re: microsound Digest 24 Jul 2002 02:25:22 -0000 Issue 619



I don't think the point of this discussion has been to set "emotion" in
opposition to "mathematics". People may have emotional responses to
mathematically created objects. Just from the title of Reich's piece, you
find there the artist's cues point the listener toward mathematical
sensibilities/awareness but there are no emotional signifiers instructing us
how to respond either as listeners or performers (e.g., "Sad Music for 18
Musicians" or "Music for 18 Ecstatically Happy Musicians").

-=Trace

> I listen to "18 Musicians" at least once a month, and it is a profoundly
> emotional experience.  If mathematics factors in at all, it's on a
> subconscious level.  It often reminds me of the final scene in the movie
> "Pi," where the main character has abandoned his obsessive pursuit of
> mathematicising the world and is content to simply absorb it.  Of course,
> that's a pesonal interpretation.  It often reminds my friends of the
> immediately preceding scene, or so you'd think, given their reactions.
>
> As mathematical as Reich's compositional methods may be, I don't think
that
> the intended effect is to "hear mathematics."  One could say the same of
> Bach.  Obviously, you can listen to the mathematical aspects and enjoy the
> music on a purely abstract level, but ultimately the goal is an emotional
> response.