Episode Transcript
[00:00:07] Music, as indeed all the arts, is a historical process. What we can listen to today acquires meaning only because of what was composed and played not only yesterday, but throughout the time between the Middle Ages and yesterday. Unfortunately, for strange reasons, knowledge of so called cultured music, a term I dislike, is concentrated in a period that comprehensively covers the Baroque, classicism and Romanticism.
[00:00:33] Already. Beginning with the period from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many authors begin to thin out their treatments and leave it to the readerlistener to delve into what happened next.
[00:00:45] However, the 20th century, far from being an unprolific period, is far more active and revolutionary than one might imagine. In all areas of human knowledge, progress, having passed through the horrors of two world wars, has gained energy and accelerated exponentially. Science, technology, medicine, etc. And art have changed their appearance several times, adapting to new things and making them new springboards for further research.
[00:01:13] In his book Modern Music and After Paul Griffiths devoted all his efforts to this century, which was full of contradictions. Through a series of analyses that are always well focused on a particular moment or phenomenon beginning to make its way from the late romanticism of Debussy and Sadie, he began a journey that passed through the influence of jazz culture in Europe. The birth of expressionist and atonal currents by Schoenberg, Berg and Webern, the spread of new media such as radio, the explosion of pop music, neoclassicism mainly by Stravinsky, the avant gardes, futurism, experiments with early electronic instruments, and so on almost up to the present day.
[00:01:56] Indeed, while the 20th century was a century of socio political instability, with a first half that witnessed the catastrophe of the Great War and the decimation of families, including those of many composers who died prematurely in battle, the rise of totalitarian and ideologically isolationist and belligerent regimes, until the apotheosis of World War II and the rearrangement of the structure of the old continent, the 20th century was also able to serve as a crucible where the fruit s of the intellect took new forms.
[00:02:29] Music, thanks in part to its ability to entertain, has not succumbed to the pressures of an unstable social condition and and on the contrary has drawn its cues from even the darkest reality, changing in appearance and constantly seeking new ways of expression. Although many composers had begun to move from Paris, which in turn had become the musical centre par excellence along with Vienna, to the United States, considered the land of novelty and therefore opportunity, in almost every country, musical activity was vibrant and focused on particular aspects.
[00:03:05] The Slavic states, previously almost entirely culturally isolated, had discovered Especially with bart K&DVO K. A wealth of popular music worthy of appreciation. The fledgling Soviet Union, although based on a closed regime, gave ample space to experimental cultural events and was considered, at least until the rise of Stalin, a symbol of progressivism.
[00:03:29] And of course, the United States, with its aptitude for welcoming migrants from all parts of the world, had thrown its doors wide open to the genius of composers who freely or forced by the Nazi regime, had abandoned Europe to find refuge among the glittering streets of New York.
[00:03:47] This intermingling of genres, styles and social and personal conditions could only propulsively boost the desire to try new creative activities based on both the old instruments and the new combinations typical of blues and jazz brass ensembles and the extraordinary possibilities offered by noise generators and primordial synthesizers.
[00:04:09] It was now time to believe in futurism, to leave behind a past that no longer attracted viewers, and finally to reinvent a way of expression that reflected current reality.
[00:04:20] I cannot hide my love for this period, which I lived through in part still beyond one's inclinations. I, I believe a true music lover cannot overlook the immense heritage this century has bestowed. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, it is not possible to understand the present, with its domination of the pop song, without going through the myriad experiments that involved not only composers of the so called Darmstadt school, in particular Stockhausen, but also those who made extensive use of the RAI Edition National Italian Television phonology studio in Milan, such as Berio moderna, nono cage, etc.
[00:05:01] Moreover, the 20th century was also the century that re energized the ostensibly simplest musical form, namely the song, as the leader became less and less attractive and opera was based on more complex structures. Songs based on new sounds and lyrics of various kinds offered the ideal entertainment cue.
[00:05:21] However, without electronic experimentation combined with American, African and to some extent Asian musical currents, a complete emancipation of what a few decades earlier was perceived almost as an offense to hearing could not have been achieved.
[00:05:37] So I recommend this book to all my listeners and hope that the more reluctant ones can be convinced that even the most extravagant efforts were based on a genuine desire to make an original, reality based contribution to art with its pros and cons that surrounded every man in the civilized world by now.
