Complex Music - Better?

Just got sent a nice article with the following
excellent quote in it:

"Although our music is complex to the point that few
people can listen to it, we certainly do not offer the
world's most complex music, merely the world's most
unlistenable music. To compare our music to that of
north India by asking which is the more complex is
simply ludicrous." -- Miller Puckette

Hi Jeff,

I think the answer is pretty obvious in that complex and simple (or
what have you) aren't really anything in and of themselves... to my
way of looking at it, it's a case by case thing inexorably tangled up
in the subjective likes and dislikes (and god knows what else) of the
listener.

I think you can have a rationale a point of view and an answer, but
not *the* answer.

take care,

--Dan Stearns

----- Original Message -----
From: "X. J. Scott" <xjscott@...>
To: "metatuning" <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2002 4:17 AM
Subject: [metatuning] Complex Music - Better?

>
> Just got sent a nice article with the following
> excellent quote in it:
>
> "Although our music is complex to the point that few
> people can listen to it, we certainly do not offer the
> world's most complex music, merely the world's most
> unlistenable music. To compare our music to that of
> north India by asking which is the more complex is
> simply ludicrous." -- Miller Puckette
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups
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--- In metatuning@y..., "X. J. Scott" <xjscott@e...> wrote:

/metatuning/topicId_2481.html#2481

>
> Just got sent a nice article with the following
> excellent quote in it:
>
> "Although our music is complex to the point that few
> people can listen to it, we certainly do not offer the
> world's most complex music, merely the world's most
> unlistenable music. To compare our music to that of
> north India by asking which is the more complex is
> simply ludicrous." -- Miller Puckette

***I remember once meeting Elliott Carter and I mentioned to him that
I really liked his _Variations for Orchestra_.

His response??

"Well, really that isn't my most complex work..."

It was obvious that, to a certain degree, he was equating complexity
with quality... Interesting...

J. Pehrson

There was a period where i enjoyed his music , but then i realized that
i liked it for reason complete divorced by how it was structured which pops
out at you with a score by foreign to how we hear.

jpehrson2 wrote:

>
>
> ***I remember once meeting Elliott Carter and I mentioned to him that
> I really liked his _Variations for Orchestra_.
>
> His response??
>
> "Well, really that isn't my most complex work..."
>
> It was obvious that, to a certain degree, he was equating complexity
> with quality... Interesting...
>
> J. Pehrson
>

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria island
http://www.anaphoria.com

The Wandering Medicine Show
Wed. 8-9 KXLU 88.9 fm

--- In metatuning@y..., Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@a...> wrote:

/metatuning/topicId_2481.html#2488

> There was a period where i enjoyed his music , but then i
realized that
> i liked it for reason complete divorced by how it was structured
which pops
> out at you with a score by foreign to how we hear.
>
>

***This is a really interesting comment, Kraig, since I've liked some
of his music, too, for the same reason and had similar experiences!
For example, in the _Variations for Orchestra_ there is a section
where it seems that the instruments are playing music that's so
complex and weird that it's coming from "outer space." However, it's
just a simple accelerando that the conductor is doing, and repeats.
The notation looks rather conventional, so it's a "letdown" to follow
along with the score rather than just listening...

JP