Re: Weltraum, aka the electronic music from Freitag aus Licht

Kurt wrote:

> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Jerry Kohl
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > 'ok, well, try to ignore that and see what he's doing with the pitches'.
> >
> > Now this is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. I presume Tangerine
> > Dream is/was a band, and from the context, I gather they used synthesizers of
> > some sort. But I have no conception ofwhat this sound is, so I suppose I am
> > untainted--or rather, unembarrassed by hearing a timbre that, for others, has
> > associations of ... what? cheesyness? What is it that has caused synthesizers
> > to "date" so rapidly, whereas saxophones, violins, ondes Martenot, etc. have
> > lasting power?
>
> yes, exactly, cheesiness. well, something that has a brief, strong and
> very particular moment of fashionable prevalence has a greater likelihood
> of 'going out of fashion' than something which has such a broad set of
> connotations and reference that they don't seem linked to a particular
> moment or fashion. like a violin or oboe. and the ondes martenot clearly
> HAS gone out of fashion, but it's so far out it's in, if you know what i
> mean!

Yes, I see your point. But on the other hand, it's one thing to say that an
instrument or an entire musical style (e.g., ragtime or the Viennese waltz) has
gone out of fashion, but a specific timbre? I would have supposed that the
"cheesiness" had more to do with the way that sound was used (or its context), as
for example the Hammond organ, in its heyday (and there is another instrument that
Stockhausen used, brilliantly IMHO), in Momente and Mikrophomie II. If Tangerine
Dream didn't know how to advantageously employ a "sprrroooooing" (or whatever) and
caused massive embarrassment by so doing, why should that prevent Stockhausen (or
anyone else) from demonstrating how it ought to have been done?

--
Jerry Kohl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Légpárnás hajóm tele van angolnákkal."