MUSIC

MUSICAL CLASSICS

Pleasure in a classical performance can appeal to one who is familiar with the technical aspects of a production and to another for its emotional impact. Both Greenberg and Plotkin offer valuable insights to the relevance and reason for attending classical music performances in this ever-changing world.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Classical Music 101 (A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Classical Music.)

Author: Fred Plotkin

Narrated By: Fred Plotkin

Fred Plotkin (Author, speaker, consultant on food, opera, and Italian culture.)

This is an informative overview of classical music but would have been better if some of the music referred to had been included in an audio version of Plotkin’s book. It is an interesting contrast to Professor Greenberg’s “Great Courses” lectures about classical music. Both writers offer insight to a non-musician’s interest in classical music. Both address Western classical music. They offer sketches of major figures like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and others. Greenberg introduces more information about musical grammar to offer a vocabulary of understanding while Plotkin focuses on how to listen and how modern renditions of the classics can be different from their original performances. The added dimension offered by Plotkin is the emotive qualities of particular musical instruments in a musical production.

Plotkin’s book is a more intuitive introduction to classical music productions than Greenberg’s lectures.

Plotkin’s music review is about the sensual message that classical music offers listeners. Greenberg, though equally insightful, offers a technical explanation of a classical’ composers or performers production. It would have been helpful to hear the difference between an original classical production and a modern interpretation, but Plotkin chooses not to use that audio tool. Plotkin’s high praise for Beethoven’s ninth symphony would have been a welcome audio addition to his insightful book.

Greenberg’s lectures are historical and chronological while Plotkin’s story is more about musical interpretation by different instruments in classical music productions.

Music, Opera, and History

Plotkin delves into the change in performances based on newly invented music instruments and different interpretations by performers of classic pieces. A piano began as a harpsichord in the 1700s which plucked strings like those on a tightly drawn bow. This evolves into an escapement that has hammers striking taught strings evolving into today’s pianos. The range of sounds grows with the addition of foot pedals and framed strings evolve from wooden infrastructure to cast iron frames that allow tighter strings and richer sound. (See the review of “Chopin’s Piano“) The number of keys is standardized at 88 by the late 19th century. From these earlier changes, digital pianos are created in the late 1900s and soon hybrid pianos are made with both acoustic and digital features. Musical instrument evolution explains why Plotkin suggests listeners compare an original classical piece of music in a modern format. It may become emotively different from older recordings because of instrument focus in the music or change in the instrument of presentation. Plotkin notes there are experiential and interpretive differences in modern performances of the classics. Here is where an audio example would have been helpful.

Plotkin notes that difference in musical performances go beyond changes in musical instruments. He notes interpretations of the classics change. He explains artists like Emanuel Ax and Marilyn Horne use tempo, and phrasings dynamics that offer different experiences to a listener. (Another example of why it would have been easier to understand if there was an audio example.) Plotkin endorses listening to recordings of musical productions because they offer clarity and access to a wider audience. However, Plotkin notes that a live performance offers more spontaneity and emotional immediacy than a recording.

It is feelings of a modern audience that excites Plotkin’s imagination

Plotkin makes the point that an historical original may or may not be the best that a composers’ creation offers to a modern audience. However, it is feelings of a modern audience that excites Plotkin’s imagination. In Plotkin’s opinion, a classics’ meaning is not to be cast in stone because times change, and yesterday’s history may not resonate with today’s events. What Plotkin is driving for is the cultivation of expert listeners who can appreciate yesterday’s classics because they resonate with today’s events, though composed in a different era, they offer new perspective to modern events.

One who has listened to both Greenberg’s lectures and Plotkin’s book recognize both want to reach an audience of non-specialists to nurture their interest in classical music.

Both believe classical music is an interpretive exercise based on an orchestra’s performance. They are peas in a pod when it comes to wanting to see emotional transformation in a person listening to a classic’s performance. Both Greenberg and Plotkin believe the classics are meant to be a sensual experience. Greenberg educates his audience on the structure and historical complexity of classical music. Plotkin focuses on classical musical instruments and performances that remain classics because of their emotive relevance to the present as well as the past.

Different points of view about classical music.

One presumes Greenberg’s and Plotkin’s two views of classical music may come into conflict in the changes from the original intent of great composers who have created what Greenberg may argue is a timeless masterpiece. Greenberg’s technical understanding of composition may seem more important than a transitory emotional response from a less knowledgeable audience. Here is where a detailed presentation of Beethoven’s ninth could have clarified the values of the classics noted in Plotkin’s excellent book. One wonders how a modern performance of Beethoven’s ninth might be different from an earlier version.

Value of musical classics.

Both Greenberg and Plotkin offer equal enlightenment on the value of musical classics. Audiences will always have different understandings of classical performances. The goal of a great classical performance is to please its audience. Pleasure in a classical performance can appeal to one who is familiar with the technical aspects of a production and to another for its emotional impact. Both Greenberg and Plotkin offer valuable insights to the relevance and reason for attending classical music performances in this ever-changing world.

TODAY’S SYMPHONY

One will never listen to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 without thinking of Greenberg’s lecture that reflects on a troubled time in the world that bodes well for the future but awakens fears of the present.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.

Great Courses-How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition (A Cultural History)

By: Robert Greenberg

Narrated By: Professor Greenberg

Robert Greenberg (Great Courses Professor, historian, composer, pianist, speaker, and author.)

This 25-hour audiobook is daunting and cannot be completed in one listen. It should not be rushed through because of its relevance to our 21st century world. Without doubt, Greenberg’s lectures give pride of place to Mozart as the greatest classical composer in history. This is not to diminish the huge contribution of other composers, but Greenberg seems particularly appreciative of Mozart. “How to Listen to and Understand Great Music” is an educational tour de force.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Greenberg argues Mozart as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Greenberg’s analysis of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 reminds one of today’s American governance. This symphony was composed several years after the French revolution, but it is presented by Greenberg as a summation of the terrible times created by the revolution. Listening to Greenberg’s dissection of this masterpiece, one may see what is happening in America today is similar but not as violent as the political revolution of 1789. To this audiobook reviewer, Trump is a less intellectual Robespierre playing a role in a milder reification of the Reigh of Terror. Trump is a skilled orator but unprincipled and poorly suited for reinforcement of the ideals of the American Constitution.

Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) A key figure in the French Revolution of 1789.

Greenberg’s lectures about Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 gives one hope that these next four years will only be the beginning of the threatening opening motif of “da-da-da-daah” that is like a knock on the door to a scene of destruction. Greenberg’s analysis of Beethoven’s famous symphony reminds this listener of Trump’s actions that are disrupting American governance. America seems at a moment of profound change.

A generation from now, one suspects Trump will be remembered as the Robespierre of America.

MUSIC APPRECIATION

Listening to the examples of Professor Greenberg’s views on music make this audiobook an immense pleasure. It is a long audiobook but one who takes long walks will be highly entertained by the Professor’s insight to music of the world.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.

Great Courses-How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition (A Cultural History)

By: Robert Greenberg

Narrated By: Professor Greenberg

Robert Greenberg (Great Courses Professor, historian, composer, pianist, speaker, and author.)

This is a history of Great Music by a remarkable professor who fully utilizes the value of audiobooks in his teaching. Though this is a long audiobook, every lecture is a pleasure for a listener who knows little about the history or styles of music. Professor Greenberg’s enthusiasm and pointed opinions about music and its evolution are informative, clearly explained, and fabulously entertaining, particularly for non-musicians.

The professor’s storytelling is highly entertaining. He reviews the history of music anecdotally, interspersed with musical examples (some of which are his own piano playing) and precise definitions of words used in music that offer clarity and entertainment to his audience.

The span of history which Greenberg covers is from ancient music traditions to the progressive development of Western music. He helps one understand what to listen for when attending musical presentations. He spans Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th-century music. From Bach’s Baroque musical production to Shostakovich’s politically tinged symphonies, one learns how music is exemplified and amplified by history.

Greenberg begins with ancient Greek and Roman music.

He explains the role of music in Greek tragedies and offers examples of Gregorian chant and medieval polyphony (two or more independent melodies that are interconnected). He notes Bach’s fugues as polyphonic hallmarks of Western classical music that rose in the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750, German composer and musician of the late Baroque period.)

Greenberg provides examples of a fugue and concerto. A fugue is a musical composition with a theme that is interwoven with overlapping voices. He offers the example of Bach’s music.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741. Italian composer, virtuoso violinist of Baroque music.)

In contrast, concerto is a solo instrument (or a group of soloists) offering an orchestral presentation infused with dialogue. The Four Seasons by Vivaldi would be an example but the fascinating point is that the dialogue is in music, i.e. no words, but a clear representation of the seasons in an abstract way. You hear the sounds of spring, summer, fall, and winter.

Greenberg offers definitions of musical terms.

Greenberg also defines a number of musical concepts and terms:

Melody: A sequence of musical notes that are perceived as a single entity, often referred to as the “tune.”

Harmony: The combination of different musical notes played or sung simultaneously to produce a pleasing sound.

Polyphony: Multiple independent melodies played or sung simultaneously, creating a complex and interwoven texture.

Sonata Form: A musical structure commonly used in the first movements of symphonies and sonatas, typically consisting of an exposition, development, and recapitulation.

The Professor notes the fundamental difference between German and Italian classical music.

The Italians created opera to illustrate the emotions of life through operatic story telling. Germans highlight intellectual depth and structural complexity. Greenberg notes Italians celebrate the melodic beauty and operatic flair of music. This difference is exemplified by the Catholic church’s sale of indulgences.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Greenberg recounts the history of the Reformation. He notes the impact of Martin Luther (1483-1546), the key German figure in the Protestant Reformation who posted the 95 Thesis that criticizes the Catholic Church’s practice of selling indulgences for sinners to get into heaven. The 95 Thesis was a direct challenge to the authority of the Pope to use indulgences to raise money for the Catholic Chruch. Luther believed only faith, an emotionally grounded intellectual belief, could pave one’s way to heaven.

Rather than an Italian Rossini or Puccini opera, German operas have complex narratives with composers like Wagner and Straus who are exploring ideas like destiny, heroism, and the human condition. Both German and Italian operas engage emotions, but German operas tend to explore philosophical, mythological, or psychological themes while Italians focus on heart-wrenching human emotions.

LIFE’S JOURNEY

Every human being grows to be who they are alone. Life is a solo journey, influenced by birth, living, and death.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Solo (When the heart gets lost, let the music find you.)

By: Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess

Narrated By: Kwame Alexander

KWAME ALEXANDER (AMERICAN WRITER OF POETRY AND CHILDREN’S FICTION.)

“Solo” demonstrates an added value to listening rather than just reading a novel. Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess tell a story of the struggle for personal identity. This is a journey of a young man whose father is a famous musician. It offers some insight to what it is like to be a boy growing to be a man in a family of a successful professional musician.

The boy’s father is a recovering addict who has had success as a guitar playing singer.

His mother died when he was seven. As a young man of 21, he is surprised to find he is an adopted son. He chooses to find his birth mother who lives in Africa to better understand where he came from and why his birth mother gave him up. He is estranged from his family for various reasons ranging from his father’s addictive behavior to the failure of his parents to have told him of his adoption.

In the boy’s journey to a remote area of Africa, he meets various natives who live in the poverty of a small village.

The boy’s birth mother is away from her village to help natives of another village in the hill country of the area. The young man decides to wait for her in his mother’s home village. He meets a young African girl who speaks English and is helpful in explaining what life is like for her in the village. They become friends with a sense of something more in their future. The boy’s waiting is interrupted by his father’s arrival with a film crew to vivify the story of their familial relationship.

His father’s arrival disrupts the boy’s plan of waiting for his birth mother’s return. A decision is made for the entire group to journey to the village where his birth mother is working.

The journey takes several hours and exhausts his father as well as the rest of the Americans in the group. The boy’s birth mother recognizes her son as soon as he arrives. She is young. She gave birth to her son at age 15. The hardship of raising a child appears to have been too much for her at her young age.

His father’s interruption in the boy’s journey to find his birth mother leads to a reconciliation with his father and a better understanding of his journey to become a man.

Top 10 Reconciliation Quotes - BrainyQuote

Musical interludes in the story entertain the listener and offer some understanding of what it is like to be raised by a famous musician who loves his family but is handicapped by drug addiction.

On their return to the birth mother’s village, a refrigerator is delivered at the expense of the boy’s father. This is a great benefit to the village. The boy’s father becomes ill and dies.

Every human being grows to be who they are alone. Life is a solo journey, influenced by birth, living, and death.

FAME

With the death of Riley’s brother from suicide, a spiraling downward seems inevitable for Lisa Marie Pressley. Surprisingly, Lisa Marie rallies after the suicide of her son, but the negative consequence of fame remain. The pressure of fame, like poverty, are equal opportunity killers.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

From Here to the Great Unknown (A Memoir)

By: Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough

Narrated By: Riley Keough, Julia Roberts

Lisa Marie Presley (Singer, song writer, daughter of Elvis)

“From Here to the Great Unknown” begins rather shakily because it is unclear about who is narrating and being represented in the story. Listeners who stick with the story begin to see that Keough’s voice is of herself while the non-tape-recorded voice by Julia Roberts is Lisa Marie, telling and filling gaps in Danielle Riley’s story. The two photographs above are meant to show Lisa Marie in her prime and Riley in the present.

This memoir explains Danny Keough (Danielle’s father and Lisa Maries first husband) is an ever-present person in Riley Keough’s life.

The book reveals the thrills, fears, and tragedy of inheriting fame. Danielle Riley Keough assembles a memoir from tape recordings by her mother and recollections of Elvis Pressley’s only daughter, Lisa Marie Pressley. “From Here to the Great Uknown” infers genetics may have something to do with descendants’ lives but the consequence of fame magnifies life’s proclivities.

Lisa Marie is shown to idolize her father who loved her dearly.

As most know, Elvis descended into addiction. This is not a story about Elvis but about Lisa Marie who loved her father, struggled with her mother, and created a career for herself in the music industry. She never achieves the fame of her father but had some success with “Lights Out”, “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”, “Dirty Laundry”, “S.O.B”, and “Over Me”. Keough briefly talks about traveling with her mother on tour. Keogh explains her mother dabbled with drugs in earlier years but seemed to kick the habit as she began establishing her own career. Lisa Marie meets and marries Danny Keough, and has two children with her, Riley and a son named Benjamin. Despite a divorce in 1994, Riley Keough and even her mother remained close with Danny.

Lisa Marie’s divorce seems precipitated by a growing intimate relationship between Lisa Marie and the famous King of Pop, Michael Jackson. After divorce, Lisa Marie marries Jackson in 1994.

Keough mentions Jackson’s pedophilia accusations in 1993 that makes one wonder if the marriage had anything to do with the accusations of five boys. Lisa Marie and Jackson divorced in 1996. Riley suggests Jackson’s desire to be in control created friction between the couple that led to the divorce. Jackson was acquitted of any pedophilia charges in 2005.

Lisa Marie marries again in 2002 to the actor, Nicolas Cage, but they are divorced two years later.

Despite three failed marriages, Riley explains her mother wishes to have more children and decides to marry Michael Lockwood in 2006. Through invitro fertilization, Lisa Marie becomes pregnant with twins. She has a cesarian delivery that births Harper and Finley who become Riley’s sisters. Riley explains her mother had quit drugs which she had gone through in her younger years but recovering from the cesarian operation led her back to drugs. She separates from Lockwood in 2016, and they divorce in 2021.

One begins to think about the famous film “Alfie” that came out in 1966.

Michael Caine, who is Alfie, looks back on his life and his famous line in the film is “What’s it all about Alfie?” Riley suggests Lisa Marie was a great mother because she had an instinct for caring about her children. Riley believes her mother slipped back into drugs because of the pain killers she took from the cesarean delivery of her twins.

Living a life of fame has consequences. One can argue that no singer in modern times has exceeded the fame of Elvis Pressley. Maybe Taylor Swift is nearing Elvis’s fame. Time will tell.

The price of fame is loss of privacy, mental strain to maintain an image, isolation, hangers-on self-interests, constant public exposure, and personal security concerns. Riley’s memoir of her mother’s life suggests fame influences Elvis’s, Lisa Marie Pressley’s, and Ben’s lives and deaths. All three had problems with drug use, but Elvis had a heart attack and Lisa Marie had a bowel obstruction thought to have caused excessive weight-loss and death.

With the death of Riley’s brother from suicide, a spiraling downward seems inevitable for Lisa Marie Pressley.

Surprisingly, Lisa Marie rallies after the suicide of her son, but the negative consequence of fame remain. The pressure of fame, like poverty, are equal opportunity killers.

LYRICS & MUSIC

As Orson Welles noted: “We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.” The tragedy of that observation is that Welles infers love and friendship are only an ephemeral illusion.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

Blog: awalkingdelight
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Something Wonderful (Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution)

By: Todd S. Purdum

Narrated by: Todd Purdum

Todd Purdum (Author, former New York Times Journalist, writer for Politico.)

“Something Wonderful” is a refreshing break from recent book reviews about war. Todd Purdum writes and narrates an informative biography of two Broadway legends, Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein and their contribution to New York theatre. Purdum explains their music, comedy, and drama changed the rules of Broadway musicals.

Richard Rogers (L) and Oscar Hammerstein (R).

Coincidentally, Rogers’ and Hammerstein’s partnership is in the early years of America’s entry into WWII. Their first collaboration was “Green Grow the Lilacs” which was originally a 1931 one act play, rewritten by Rogers and Hammerstein. It became their first successful collaboration known as “Oklahoma”.

The original Broadway production of Oklahoma! opened on March 31, 1943, at the St. James Theatre in New York City. The show was directed by Rouben Mamoulian and choreographed by Agnes de Mille. The cast included Alfred Drake as Curly, Joan Roberts as Laurey, Celeste Holm as Ado Annie, and Lee Dixon as Will Parker

Audiences of today probably remember the movie version starring Gordon MacRae, and Shirley Jones.

However, in the St James Theatre in New York, it ran for five years with 2,212 performances culminating in a Pulitzer Prize in 1944. Not bad, for Rogers’ and Hammerstein’s first collaboration. It was the beginning of a long and storied career for these artists. Purdum notes Hammerstein would write the poetic words (the lyrics) of a song that would be put to music by the genius of Richard Rogers. Purdum explains, though they worked independently, they collaborated in a magical way that changed and broadened the appeal of musicals. The magic came from their work as two independent thinkers within their lanes of expertise. Hammerstein would write the lyrics and Rogers would create the music to fit the words.

The two embarked on a series of hits from 1942 to 1960 with famous works like “Carousel”, “South Pacific”, “The King and I”, and “The Sound of Music”, all of which became successful and entertaining movies for a public that could not afford live productions on “The Great White Way” (the Theater District between 41st and 53rd street in New York). Those of a certain age remember great songs like “If I Loved You”, “Some Enchanted Evening”, “Getting to Know You”, and “My Favorite Things”.

Purdum explains how Rogers and Hammerstein broke many records by changing the rules of musicals. They created memorable melodies by experimenting with different musical styles and performers from opera to folk to jazz. They integrated plot and character to create entertaining, sometimes controversial social commentary, ranging from the comic to dramatic to tragic stories of life.

**Rogers and Hammerstein won 34 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, and two Grammy Awards.**

After their great run on Broadway, Roger’s and Hammerstein’s attentions turn to the movies and the early beginnings of television. Their theatre productions become films that reach a much wider audience. However, translations from stage to film had a host of drawbacks ranging from casting to censorship that affected audiences’ reactions to what were great and successful Broadway musicals.

**As a movie, who can forget “The King and I” and the brilliant performances of Yul Brenner and Deborah Kerr?**

Nearing the end of Purdum’s fine story, these scions of entertainment are nearing the end of their productivity. In 1957, they produced Cinderella for television. An estimated 107 million viewers watched Julie Andrews play the part of Cinderella. The only other Broadway collaboration of note was “Flower Drum Song” that was well received but a commercial flop.

Oscar Hammerstein died in 1960 at the age of 65. The cause of death was stomach cancer.

Purdum notes Rogers’ alcoholism, womanizing and often-suffered bouts of depression greatly affected his last years. In 1957 he was hospitalized. He recovered and lived for another 22 years. He died in 1979 after what was called a long (undisclosed) illness.

After Hammerstein’s death, Purdum notes Rodgers could not reproduce the lyrical success of Hammerstein’s poetic alliteration.

The sad thing revealed by Purdum is that Rogers and Hammerstein never seemed to develop a close personal relationship. Each lived in their own worlds and only met in their musical collaborations, not as friends but as ambitious business associates. Purdum wrote of Rogers’ comment about regretting never really getting to know Hammerstein.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Chopin’s Piano

By: Paul Kildea

Narrated by : Mathew Waterson

Paul Kildea (Author, Austrailian conductor, Artistic Director of Musica Vivia Australia.)

Paul Kildea is a multifaceted talent who has written an interesting biography of Frederic Chopin and a lesser-known Polish musician, Wanda Landowska, who revivified Chopin’s music.

Frederic Francois Chopin (1810-1849, Composer and virtuoso pianist.)

Whether one knows anything of music or history, Kildea expertly entertains listener/readers with “Chopin’s Piano”.

What is not realized by many is that Chopin’s work is written with early-stage pianos that made composition as much a work of mind as performance.

Chopin is noted as a Romanticist composer considered among the most creative of all time. For that reason, the sound of Chopin’s work has changed with the times.

There are several ironies in Kildea’s history of Chopin. Chopin is shown to have been pleased by being considered French though he was Polish. Chopin is characterized as anti-Semitic though at times financially supported by Jews and resurrected by a world-renowned harpsichordist, Wanda Landowska, a proud and nationalist Pole who escaped Nazi persecution and extermination. Landowska, a woman of the Jewish faith, flees Paris when Germany invades France.

Wanda Landowska in front of the Bauza piano owned by Chopin.

One of her treasured pianos is the Bauza piano used by Chopin to create his greatest masterpieces, the Preludes.

George Sand (1804-1876, French novelist and 10 year companion of Chopin)

Kildea reflects on Chopin’s diminutive physique and self-effacing nature. Chopin never marries but has a ten-year relationship with George Sand, a divorced woman with a broadly libertine reputation.

One wonders what Sand’s influence is on Chopin’s creativity. What Kildea explains is that Sand admires Chopin’s dedication to music and supports Chopin through his frail health during the most productive period of his life. However, at the end of their ten year relationship, Sand leaves because the burden of their relationship is either too much or she just chooses to return to a life of independence.

The thread of Kildea’s history is the Bauza piano’s location in the 21^st century. It’s whereabouts remains unknown.

This piano was used by Chopin between 1838-39 when living with George Sand in Majorca. A striking point in Kildea’s story is that the Bauza piano is a crudely formed instrument carved from local softwood. Its innards are made of felt, pig iron, and copper but its cultural importance is extraordinary and its provenance unquestioned. It disappeared when confiscated by Nazi Germany when they ransacked Landowska’s home in Paris.

Wanda Landowska in 1953.

The last half of Kildea’s story is about the trials and achievements of Wanda Landowska. In reflecting on Landowska’s rise to fame, the Bauza piano is a symbol of Chopin’s creative genius.

This flawed instrument is used to create compositions that are endlessly translated by pianoforte (soft and loud sound) from the use of harpsicords to modern Steinways. Landowska, and many pianists of the 19^th through the 21^st century are listed by Kildea, showing the brilliance and variety of Chopin’s compositions. Only a musical conductor turned author like Kildea could explain this to the public. “Chopin’s Piano” is a small opening to a big world.

WORLDS OF IMAGINATION

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Dawn of the New Everything (A Memoir)

By: Jaron Lanier

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

American computer philosopher, computer scientist, visual artist, and musician.

Both Da Vinci (as characterized by Walter Isaacson) and Jaron Lanier are self-effacing geniuses without formal education. Both manage to create worlds of imagination.

Lanier’s memoir illustrates how refinement of virtual reality is as groundbreaking as Da Vinci’s understanding of light. History will not likely view Lanier as the Da Vinci of our era but there are interesting similarities.

Not to carry the comparison too far, Lanier magnifies the value of imagination without limiting its potential for both human good and evil.

Da Vinci designs weapons of war that purposely fed the ambitions of his era’s tyrants.

Lanier is one of the pioneers of facial recognition. Facial recognition is a tool that can be used by humanities’ tyrants as well as benefactors. In conjunction with digitizing the lives of everyone, facial recognition implies a “Brave New World” as eminently realizable.

A visit to China reinforces potential loss of privacy and human volition with the advance of a digitized and monitored population.

One comes away from Lanier’s memoir with an appreciation for his candor about life and his unshaken belief in the value of technology. He recognizes his personal imperfection while maintaining an optimistic view for the world’s rescue by AI as a tool rather than controller of human life. There is some comfort in his opinion, but a listener reserves judgement based on the life Lanier has led. He is undoubtedly a polymath but his memoir focuses more on pleasures than the reality of most people’s lives.

The principle of virtual reality lends itself to Lanier’s obsession with music and entertainment.

Lanier is a musician, among many other talents. He spends some of his time collecting and mastering abstruse musical instruments.

One comes away from “Dawn of the New Everything” with the feeling that VR has greater potential for distraction than humanity’s betterment. There is respite from this perception with Lanier’s explanation of how VR is used for education and training. It is a virtual tool for medical and science education.

On the other hand, VR is a tool for remote murder by a person guiding a drone.

B.F. Skinner, American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher.

Lanier also notes that VR has the potential of making life conform to other’s interest.

The “Dawn of Everything” gives a clearer picture of what it was and is like to become a part of the Silicon Valley. He candidly recounts his rise as a tech mogul, failure, and gadfly.

Facebook and Twitter addiction are influencers with WMD potential.

Lanier’s memoir is at once enlightening and disheartening. He offers a virtual picture of modern life that is influencing, but not yet controlling. Lanier is optimistic. Many listeners will leave his memoir skeptical.

Music, Opera, and History

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Music as a Mirror of History

By: Robert Greenberg

Narrated by Robert Greenberg

Robert Greenberg (American composer, pianist, and musicologist.)

Robert Greenberg offers an introduction to the history of classical music and opera. Its appeal is to a wide audience of dilettantes that know a little but not a lot about anything. Greenberg argues classical music’ and opera’ composition is a creation of its time. (Undoubtedly true of all music and theatre.)

However, Greenberg supports his argument with a fascinating critique of classical composers and events of history that influence composers’ work. Greenberg argues that one can better understand classical “Music as a Mirror of History”.

In reflecting on the history of music, Greenberg offers his perception of the era in which music is composed. He makes wry comments about each era with the hindsight of an obviously well-read consumer of history. At the same time, Greenberg offers expert analysis of classical music and its composers. With snippets of each composer’s work, an Audiobook is a perfect venue for his presentation.

Edward VI (King of England 1547-1553, crowned at the age of nine.)

English religion wavered back and forth between Roman Catholicism’s control by the Pope and the Church of England’s control by the King of England. English King Henry the VIII demands control of Catholicism (particularly the church’s land assets and taxes collected on those assets).

After two failed royals (after King Henry VIII’s death), Elizabeth stabilizes England’s governance. She reigns from 1558-1603. Greenberg explains the many challenges facing Queen Elizabeth before she gains the throne.

Greenberg notes Queen Elizabeth’s reign is a perceived golden era, in spite of the squalor of 16th century London living.

Greenberg notes that Queen Elizabeth is the first English monarch, after two predecessors, to sustain Henry VIII’s Church of England. With Queen Elizabeth’s reign, the King, not the Pope, controls the role of Catholicism in England.

Greenberg begins by explaining how madrigals reflect the myths of nationalism. He defines a madrigal as a song for several voices, without instrumental accompaniment. Madrigals began in the 14^th century in Italy but Greenberg introduces Thomas Morley, a composer in the 16th century.

Thomas Morley’s Piaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (1557)

Morley is a 16^th century composer. He composes a madrigal to Elizabeth I. As is typical of this form of music, it idealizes England’s suzerainty and Elizabeth’s reign as Queen of England.

Greenberg moves on to the 18^th century. He introduces George Frideric Handel. Though Handel is German, he chooses to move to London, after successfully touring Italy. Greenberg notes Handel tells his Prussian patron (King Frederick I) that his sojourn to London is only temporary, but Handel’s intent is to stay.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1959)

King Frederick I of Prussia (1657-1713)

Handel persuades the King of Prussia to allow him to stay in England by dedicating the three suites of “The Water Music” to him.

Ironically, Handel becomes renowned in London for his “Water Music”, even though its dedicated to a foreign monarch. Greenberg offers a snippet of the 1717 “Water Music” which makes one interested in hearing more.

Handel composes the opera Rinaldo that makes him the toast of London in 1719. His most famous work is “Messiah”, an oratorio (an orchestra and voices production) composed in 1741. He becomes an English citizen in 1727, goes blind in 1751, and dies in London, in 1759.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Moving on, Greenberg introduces Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As one may remember from the movie, Mozart is a phenom with an unusual predilection for risqué ideas. Greenberg notes this is the time of the rise of the Ottoman empire.

Turkish influence is widely adopted in the late 18th century. Mozart capitalizes on its popularity with the opera called “The Abduction from the Harem”. In spite of Mozart’s introduction of Turkish influence in music, Greenberg explains Mozart is fatally affected by the rise of the Ottoman empire because of its economic impact on Europe.

Mozart falls ill in Prague and dies in poverty in Vienna, at the age of 35. Greenberg suggests Mozart brings Turkish influence into opera’s mainstream with the Ottoman Empire’s expansion.

Greenberg reflects on the Napoleonic era and its affect on Haydn and Beethoven who were great composers of their time, and ours. Greenberg’s characterization of these composer’s view Napoleon with “ambivalence”.

Napoleon began his conquests with an image as liberator (from religious persecution, royalty, and social inequality), but when he crowned himself as Emperor, many felt betrayed. The betrayal was Napoleon’s pact with the Roman Catholic Church and his assumption of the throne as Emperor of France.

As Austrians, both Haydn and Beethoven reviled Napoleon’s royal ascension. Haydn composed “Mass in the Time of War” that memorialized Napoleon’s creation of a war machine that threatened Vienna.

Beethoven composed “Wellington’s Victory” in 1813 that became his most successful composition. Ironically, Greenberg suggests that “Wellington’s Victory” is one of Beethoven’s lesser musical achievements. He argues that Beethoven creates a bombastic rather than melodic tribute to the English general that defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

This is only a small part of what Greenberg covers in this 24-lecture series. He analyzes Russian composers and their early disdain for European musical traditions. Greenberg observes Russia is shown to be a “…riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”, as referred to by Winston Churchill.

Johann Strauss I (1804-1849, created the Radetsky March, known for waltzes but better known as the father of Johann Strauss II.)

Greenberg touches on the histories of the Straus family (a father and son who competed against each other), Brahms, Gottschalk (an American composer surprisingly unknown by many), Verdi, Wagner, Dvorak, Rimsky-Korsakov, Holst, Berg (who composed an opera reflecting on the madness of war), Shostakovich, Copland, Gorecki, and Crumb.

Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883, German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor.)

Of interest is Greenberg’s analysis of Richard Wagner because of Wagner’s repugnant philosophy, but incredibly inventive and beautiful operas.

“The Ring of the Nibelung” reminds one of Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”. Greenberg explains “The Ring…” is a critique of 19^th century European society and its self-interested pursuit of capitalist wealth. Greenberg infers the subject is ironic because Wagner pursues wealth as diligently as any European of that era. The repugnant part is the horrendous and false accusations made against people of the Jewish faith by Wagner and his acolytes (one of which becomes Adolph Hitler).

Nickolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908, Russian composer.)

Of note is recognition of Rimsky-Korsakov as one of Opera’s greatest composers.

Greenberg notes that anti-European sentiment of earlier Russian composers is still present but Rimsky-Korsakov studies much of what is practiced by European composers. “The Golden Cockeral” is Rimsky-Korsakov’s last opera. It is based on a Pushkin’ poem but staged as a parody of the failure of Russian Royal’ leadership.

Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918, assassinated by the Bolsheviks.)

To the Russian Tsar’s dismay, it is an opera that satirizes the autocracy of Russian imperialism and Russia’s inept war with Japan in 1904-05.

Greenberg shows Rimsky-Korsadov’s life as example of how current times mirror a composer’s work. Tsar Nicholas II is not pleased with “The Golden Cockeral”. Rimsky-Korsakov retires, but one wonders if his last opera is not a forewarning of 1917.

(Greenberg notes that Rimsky-Korsakov draws some of his operatic ideas from fairy tales).

One wonders what he could have composed if “Animal Farm” (published in 1945) had been written in his life time.

Greenberg finishes music’s mirror of history in the 1970s with a review of Gorecki and Crumb. This is an enlightening tour of classical music. It offers many reasons for modern audiences to attend symphony and opera performances.

CREATIVE ADULT

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Words without Music: A Memoir

Written by: Philip Glass

Narration by: Lloyd James

“Words without Music” is a memoir of Philip Glass’s transformation to creative adult. This is a journey taken by every child–with greater and lesser degrees of actualized creativity.

Glass explains how love by others transforms his life and why self-actualization is the fountain of creativity. This is certainly not a new revelation. Socrates, through the words of Plato, characterizes self-actualization in the dictum of “know thy self”. Self-actualization is explained as the penultimate goal of life by Abraham Maslow.

Glass recounts his childhood with a description of his ex-Marine father, and school teacher mother. Glass’s father is a small business entrepreneur who raises his children in a rough New York neighborhood. Strength, determination, and adventurousness come from Glass’s father.

Glass explains how his father feared little in a neighborhood of gangs; while managing his record business with an iron hand. Glass learns how to overcome fear in working in his father’s record shop and taking the proceeds of the day to the bank at the end of the day. Glass sees himself, as though in a mirror, when he chooses not to tell his father of a customer’s theft of a record. Glass knows his father will act reflexively by over-zealously punishing the thief.

Glass describes the soul of his family as his mother. She is the conservator, the method-of-living key to Glass’s growth as an artist.

Glass strives to be a good student and is accepted by the University of Chicago based on academic tests rather than high school graduation. He chooses to become a musician based on early experience as a flutist, and later as a pianist. He finds from counseling with a Julliard alumnus that composing rather than playing music is more conducive to his innate ability. In these pursuits, Glass’s mother is his rock, his supporter and adviser.

After graduating, Glass chooses to travel to Paris in pursuit of a composer’s education. He is mentored by an older woman who provides the technical skill and stern loving support he needs to continue his journey toward actualization. Glass chooses to leave his mentor with a woman of his own age and travel to India. Glass sees himself in a way that requires reinforcement from others. “Others” are teachers of the ancient practice of yoga.

Glass returns to America with a wife, with whom he has two children. He lives in New York and works as a furniture mover and taxi driver while pursuing his education as a composer. Glass is approaching thirty. He begins to have serendipitous success. The first big break is an opera called “Einstein on the Beac

Jean Cocteau (1889-1963, Novelist, Poet, Artist, Film Maker

Glass’s journey is symbolized by his dissection of the works of Jean Cocteau; i.e. particularly La_Belle_et_la_Bête (Beauty and the Beast). Glass argues that Cocteau’s works are about human creativity and transformation. The symbolism in La_Belle_et_la_Bête is the story of Glass’s life. The rose in Cocteau’s movie symbolizes beauty (Glass’s body of work). The key is the method (Glass’s mother). The horse is strength, determination, and speed (Glass’s father). The glove is nobility (Glass’s renown as a composer). The castle is a prison that can only be escaped with love from another (Glass’s three wives, his children, his mentors, and friends). The Mirror symbolizes who you truly are (this memoir of Glass’s life).

This is a nicely written and narrated memoir of Philip Glass; considered by many as the most influential composer of the late twentieth century.

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