Classical Music Should Be Beautiful
We live in a culture that, for better and for worse, provides a great deal of instant gratification. When I was a little boy, playing computer games on a very large Macintosh, the idea of an all-in-one portable computer-phone-jukebox was a dream. I used to ask my dad if such a thing might be possible in the future, and he encouraged my optimism. Today, I carry around that dream in my pocket. It’s even smaller than I dreamt it would be. But I never even conceived of what now comes along with my iPhone: an impossibly large digital world to which I have constant, instant, unfettered access. Including, of course, the ability to listen to just about any piece of music that's ever been written, at the tap of a thumb.
This instant gratification means that most of the time I listen to whatever the heck I want. That could be Bach or Beethoven; it could be Led Zeppelin or Radiohead; it could be Ella Fitzgerald; it could be the 10th anniversary recording of Les Misérables. But, if I'm being honest, despite my years of private music lessons and college education in classical piano, I only rarely listen to contemporary classical music. It simply doesn't give me the "fix" I want at any given moment. And this bothers me.
I do not mean to say that modern classical music is struggling. The United States alone sustains hundreds of symphonic and chamber orchestras and concert choirs. Most of them make good-faith efforts to include contemporary repertoire, and this exposure provides a key foundation for modern composers to continue their work. But if the base of support for classical music is broad enough to sustain its continued development, it is undeniable that modern classical composers are not the mainstream cultural giants they once were. When Beethoven died in Vienna in 1827, tens of thousands of people attended his funeral. In my lifetime, this sort of global attention has been reserved for popular musicians like George Harrison and Michael Jackson.
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467 - Andante — Mozart
If you have even a passing familiarity with contemporary classical music, then you probably already have an opinion about why this is so. If you love older classical music, you might even be angry about it. Simply put, the general public opinion of contemporary classical music is that it just doesn’t sound very good. (If you’re not familiar with this, listen to the link by Mozart, then listen to the link by the 20th-century composer Luciano Berio. You’ll hear the difference.) I assure you I am sympathetic to this viewpoint. But I must endeavor to explain how such a thing came to be.
Ofanim (extraits) — Luciano Berio
At the beginning of the 20th century classical composers were haunted by the specters of giants. By their very nature these composers desired to create something new, but the great composers of the past had pursued the methods of traditional, tonal music to seemingly every possible logical end. Many composers concluded that, in order to continue the forward progress of musical development, their only option was to abandon tonal music altogether. This brave new world of unfettered sound enabled a creativity and a mathematization that delighted the intellectual curiosity of its adherents, but it remains to this day unintelligible to most listeners. In conjunction with this, most composers in the modern era adhere to a notion of art as commentary on society. The horrors of the world wars and the general ugliness of the new industrialized world led composers, especially in the mid-20th century, to reject beautiful music as a lie which failed to capture reality.
— Tonality is the use of keys and harmonies built on the relationship between notes. Modern physics has confirmed the ancient understanding of these relationships. Nearly all familiar music is tonal. —
But outside of these avant-garde academic circles, people still wanted to be entertained. And the technological developments of the same industrial world allowed the popular movements of jazz and rock and roll to flourish. Much of this music has been enormously creative. Miles Davis was a genius. But the commercial opportunities of recorded music are seductive, and the combination of modern electronic sounds with human voice on top of steady, pulsing rhythms is an enormously powerful thing. Now, the majority of new popular music, even if it has a pleasant tune and inoffensive lyrics, is a degraded thing, mass-produced for an uncritical audience.
“Shall we be content with a world where intellectual music is mostly ugly and beautiful music is mostly dumb?”
Let me sum all of this up. Classical music excites the brain, and modern compositional techniques are highly developed in ways no longer universally pleasing to the ears. Popular music excites the heart, and technology and industry have the ability to mass-produce emotionally powerful songs using very simple methods. Looking at it this way, it is not at all surprising that a divide has formed. It would perhaps be more surprising if it hadn't. But what is to be done about it? Shall we be content with a world where intellectual music is mostly ugly and beautiful music is mostly dumb?
Baba O’Riley
My heart yearns for that most simple of solutions: that classical composers seek to be popular again. To some extent, the complement of this is happening. Popular artists such as Radiohead and The Who have incorporated classical music developments into their music, in the process bringing them into the mainstream. Perhaps it is too much to ask that classical composers go mainstream themselves. In a world of highly developed compositional techniques, it may be that they need their intellectual freedom too much. Perhaps also, with all of our modern technological marvels, the greatest efforts of the world's brightest composers will never be more appealing to the masses than the primal attraction of simpler, popular music.
But to explain why I care so much, permit me a brief detour. Gary Becker, the famous labor economist, wrote a landmark paper on the concept of "beneficial addictions" versus "harmful addictions". Here is the synopsis: a “harmful addiction”, like a drug, at first gives great pleasure at little cost. Over time, pleasure declines, costs rise as more and more is needed to achieve happiness, and the last state of the user is far worse than the first. (Have you ever listened to a popular song at progressively louder volume in order to continue experiencing the same emotional effect?) But for a "beneficial addiction", Becker cited the act of listening to classical music. In this case, the “cost” is difficulty, not money, and that initial cost is fairly high and initial pleasure is low, because the first-time listener struggles to comprehend the music, and fails to enjoy it sufficiently well. But over time, as understanding increases, and with it, appreciation, one eventually learns to listen with ease and enjoys the experience immensely. Pleasure increases, cost declines, and the last state of the listener is far better than the first.
And this is my point: great art is that which inspires aspiration, which shows people a world of possibility and understanding that is higher than themselves and the world they currently occupy, so that they go out and seek to be better. Yes, I know - this is very different from the 20th and 21st century notion of art as social commentary, and I have been talking about 20th and 21st century composers. I don't care. This was the conception of art that predominated for millennia until the modern era, and it is past time we remembered why it lasted for so long. Becker helps us out by taking the old argument about the function of art in society – which is essentially a moral one – and reframing it in modern, strictly rational terms. Great music draws its listeners inexorably closer, makes them want to know why it's so great, and compels them to go and learn more about it. In so doing, they find that it becomes easier to approach and comprehend, until in the end appreciation and enjoyment are the effortless results of listening. This is what I want to see in modern classical music – ingenious effort expended to draw in the listeners, in the process exposing them to the best intellectual music the world has to offer, and making them better, more appreciative listeners in the long run.
I may be dreaming; but it is a beautiful dream.