source file: mills2.txt Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 12:56:57 -0700 Subject: Re: From McLaren From: smith@cnmat.cnmat.berkeley.edu (Ronald Bruce Smith) >From: mclaren >Subject: Review of the Just Intonation > Network's "Rational Music For An > Irrational World" >-- >Inevitably, all movements stake out a place in >the musical spectrum--IRCAM has consistently >placed itself in the post-Weber serialist camp >and has thus marginalized itself nearly out of >existence; all the award-winning IRCAM composers >use Forte/Rahn/Morrison pitch-class set theory >in their compositions.< Crap. The only IRCAM composer that I know who has any knowledge of Forte is Magnus Lindberg and it has been about 10 years since he has used any of Forte's theories (and even then they were rather loosely interpreted). The other two American theorists are unknowns in French composition. Pitch class theory is truly an American gadget which has little, if nothing, to do with French musical sensibilities. The French are much more concerned with harmony and/or the objet sonore (as is evident in the music of Messiaen, Dutilleux, Boulez's "Music Today", the French "spectral school" and by the importance of the "spectral school" with the current generation of young French composers) than with Forte/Rahn/Morrison (Robert Morris, perhaps?). Webern serialism peaked very early in the 1950's in Paris (simply compare the sound worlds of Boulez's Pli selon Pli (late 50's) to Structures I (early 50's) and then compare either to Derive I from 1984). I can't think of one working "house" composer at IRCAM who can remotely be described as being a post-Webern serialist. McLaren needs to get out more. For an outfit that has "marginalized itself nearly out existence", IRCAM seems to be doing quite well having just opened (June 1996) a rather large and impressive extension to their building in Beaubourg. Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Fri, 6 Sep 1996 22:16 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA25749; Fri, 6 Sep 1996 22:17:49 +0200 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA25582 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id NAA27130; Fri, 6 Sep 1996 13:17:47 -0700 Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 13:17:47 -0700 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu