How did I land on Elliott Carter’s “Mosaic” this week? The choice is related in a way to an online movie group I facilitate called Asynchronous Movie Viewers.
“Plan 9” played for years in obscurity on late-night television until 1980 when movie critic Michael Medved called it “the worst film ever made.” At that point, a cult classic was born! That line about “the worst film even made” got me to thinking -- what is the worst piece of classical music? I typed “worst pieces of classical music ever written” into a Google search, and quite a number of articles popped up. The first one I perused was this one, HERE, where back in 2009, blogger Jeffrey Shallit wrote this: “I attended the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, and while much of it was enjoyable (for example, Beethoven’s 4th) and all of it professional, there was one piece that I would nominate for the worst piece of classical music ever written (I added the underline): Elliott Carter’s ‘Mosaic’ for harp and chamber ensemble. It was absolutely unlistenable. When a cell phone went off in the middle, I sighed with relief: at last, some tonality.” Of course, others on his site added comments about their nominations for “the worst,” but I thought I’d start with his choice, Carter’s “Mosaic.” Why not? I'm going to listen to the piece tonight and tomorrow, so I'll have my comments and rating posted soon. Stay tuned! Oh, and by the way, my Asynchronous Movie Viewers group has added one additional movie to view and discuss in our "Summer of Terror" -- "The Tingler" starring Vincent Price. That movie scared the crap out of me as a kid. I can't wait to see how it holds up when I watch it later this week!
I can’t tell you how impressed I was with Aghakhani’s direction. I suspect “Mosaic” is an extremely difficult piece to put together as the individuals learn their parts, and her ability to keep the group balanced and in sync throughout the performance was nothing short of incredible. So did I agree with Mr. Shallit? Do I think that Elliott Carter’s “Mosaic” is the worst piece of classical music ever written? A drum roll please… No. I don’t think that “Mosaic” deserves that “honor.” I can certainly agree that this work is not for everyone for similar reasons that contemporary artworks don’t appeal to many (most?) people. It is avant garde. It is dissonant and discordant. At times it is jarring and jangling and perhaps a bit grating on the ear. However, I found it to be an interesting tone poem that paints an aural dreamscape, one that unquestionably evokes uneasy feelings and reactions. Last week I suggested that my rating for Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto might be higher on my scale were I to hear it in a live performance. I believe that this is true for this piece as well. I suspect if I attended a live performance, and a musicologist or student of composition were to explain more about this work’s score, about how Carter came to compose it, and/or what to listen for in the piece, I think my rating would rise. Early in the interview, Ms. Hobson PIlot says, “His music is such that I think that it grows on you. Upon first hearing I don’t think I was so infatuated with it, but the more I heard it and the more I played it, I began to understand it more and to like it more.” That was definitely true with me. The more I heard, the more I liked it -- or at least appreciated it. I wouldn’t say that this would be a “go to” piece to listen to when I want to hear classical music, but I would not mind hearing it in a live performance. So, what would I classify as the “worst piece ever written”? Well, earlier this year, I listened to and wrote about Jonathan Harvey’s String Quartet No. 4, HERE, and it was one of the few pieces which I've rated at the bottom of my scale -- so that piece would surely be a contender. However, at this time, I'd have to say Tchaikovsky’s “The Tempest” is the “worst piece ever written.” I’ll admit, I find Richard Strauss’ tone poem “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks” very annoying and Anton Bruckner’s “Te Deum in C Major” to be incredibly dull, but I’ll stick with Tchaikovsky’s work for now as the ultimate “worst piece.”
By the way, if you read my comments above about my online movie group and William Castle’s horror flick “The Tingler,” I will say that the terror I experienced as a kid when I watched that movie was not matched at all with my recent viewing. In fact, the movie is slow, and at times quite laughable. As a matter of fact, “The Tingler” currently holds spot #90 on IMDB’s list of “100 Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made,” HERE. By the way, Von Dexter is credited with the music for the film, and some of it sounded very reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann’s score for “Vertigo.” #justsaying
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A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
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