I had been invited by Steve Larson, violist with the Adaskin Trio http://www.adaskinstringtrio.com/ to hear a concert of Ensemble Schumann at the Port Washington Public Library. The Adaskin Trio premiered my piece Tango Dreams in Elgin, Quebec. Tango Dreams is part of the Voice Afire show Close Embrace / A Tango Cabaret http://www.youtube.com/user/voiceafire#p/u/7/ZHxJizagFD0
Steve wanted me to meet Tom Gallant, oboist with Ensemble Schumann, manager of the Adaskin Trio, and Managing Director of MCM Arts and Entertainment.
The concert was a traditional show of 18th and 19th Century music. It was well played, to be sure. The audience was of a "certain age." But frankly, it is not something I would otherwise even cross the street to hear. That's me, the classical music heretic speaking.
Mostly, Mozart and Schumann and the rest bore me to tears. For me, music is not just about pretty (or un-pretty) sounds. For me, music has a meaning and is actually saying something. This music, written for either a decadent upper class or a self-satisfied middle class, speaks to me of grandiosity (call it "uplifting") or of acute narcissism and bathos. Yes, as a composer, I love it, technically speaking - it says what it says very well.However, if this music were translated into drama, it would be the worst kind of soap opera; and no-one would go to see it performed.
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