Ivor/Blackwood

Of course, it's really hard to say one person's music is "better"
than another's when you are dealing with really profound folks, as both
Ivor and Easley Blackwood certainly are (were). Ivor was not much of a
technician, in the sense that his music wasn't that hard to physically
play; yet, he was a deep and feeling man, and his best works are
beautiful and meaningful; they really touch me. Blackwood is a world
class pianist and composer, capable of playing extremely difficult works
such as Ives' Concord Sonata; his compositions on "Microtonal" are surely
well crafted and technically complex. Yet, I find myself listening to
Ivor's "Detweleveulate" more often; I have no reason other than I like
the feeling more. And, on the subject of Blackwood's 15 tone guitar
etude; the sharp 5ths really bug me, especially because the piece itself
is reflective of music ("Baroque") where the 5ths were much closer to
pure. In fact, I've always wondered why Blackwood chose such a form for
the 15 octave tuning; nothing wrong with 15, but it seems to be fighting
the very style it's composed in. I talked with Blackwood on the phone
once, and he said that he thought 15 would be good for rock music, and I
agree. Rock thrives on dissonance (some styles do, anyway), and I can
really see his point. At any rate, all this is so personal and subjective
that it's hard to see a right or wrong, just feelings and
choices...Hstick