FW: On the seven scale notes

[Andrew Dinn]

LBernier at tribune.com writes:

>       And, (just to make this post annoyingly long) your brain will 
>       actually adjust music into an ordered fashion (whether this 
>       adjusting is cultural or organic, I will leave to the 
>       intelligentsia on the list).  I saw a fascinating example of 
>       this using a symphony (title escapes me) where there are 2 
>       string sections, playing different tunes, but what the ear hears 
>       is a third melody (the main theme of the piece) which does not 
>       even exist as such, but is created by the brain rearranging the 
>       2 tunes into an order which is more logical.  What was not 
>       stated was whether this same phenoma would occur in a 
>       non-western audience.

Hey, just to extend the thread to annoyingly long length and
annoyingly incidental detail I'll mention that one of Webern's many
masterly skills was orchestration like you never heard orchestration
before. Most notable are two works, his Variations for Orchestra and
his arrangement of Bach's 6-part fugue from the Musical Offering in
which he has lines slither around from one part of the orchestra to
another in mid-phrase.

The effect sounds on paper (or do I mean glass tty) like it would be
fragmented and disjointed but, such is Webern's skill, it turns out
more like one of those speeded up films of blooms unfurling - the
essence of graceful and organic transformation. Listen to Boulez's
recording which is available on CD as part of the complete works or on
vinyl as the complete orchestral works.


Andrew Dinn
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And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.