interpretation of "the -berg"; "12tone orthodoxy" , etc.

I don't think Schoenberg's music is mostly (if at all) "about" 12tet. The
12-tone system, (just like 12tet), was not an end in itself; but rather a
means to an end.

What end? Playing around with bunch of numbers? Well, sure, that can be
fun for some; but what do we hear happening in the resulting music?

We hear twisted, fragmented Viennese waltzes, floaty, ambiguously
harmonized tunelets, *frequent* references to tonality, as well as
frequent references to (or rather, appearances of) those favorite pet
sonorities of his "atonal" period: stacked 4ths/5th chords, major-minor
third chords, etc. etc. These things are what pop up on the surface of his
(and many other atonal or 12-tone composers) music, and they are not
absolutely relegated to one tuning system or another. For example,
several Schoenberg works from the late ("12 tone") period end with big
major triads. Why couldn't these be played in JI, for example? Or all of
those major-minor third chords (034 as the set theory folks say); wasn't
Dan Stearns playing with these a while back? I'd love to hear them
reinterpreted in that way . . . Or how about the ending of the Berg violin
concerto, that gorgeous added 6th harmony? how about retuning that one. .
. . .mmmmmmmmmm that could be tasty.

As someone who writes serial music myself, generating "the numbers" is
only the beginning---I happen to enjoy nerding out on that stuff---but
then comes the really fun part: looking at all of the wildly random
combinations of notes that I have to make into music---for [stupid]
example, if I have to compose out C-E-G and then C#-D-Eb, aaah a sweet
triad and then an angry cluster---a dumbly basic illustration of the kind
of thought-process I'm talking about.

I have a feeling (from listening to the music) that Schoenberg thought
this way, and given that that's the case---well, why not tune that C-E-G
as JI, and that cluster, maybe keep it 12tet, or, I believe La Monte Young
is fond of clusters like that, maybe tune it like he does. . . .

Anyway, the point is that just because a piece is "12 tone" doesn't mean
that's the most important thing about it. Even in music of Milton
Babbitt, arguably the most arch-12-tone of them all, well, I enjoy most of
all the tonal puns, 7th and other "jazz" chords and licks, or for example
the intense foggy C# major chord 3/4 through the 2nd piano concerto. . .

And as a composer, I'm cool with people re-interpreting my music, as long
as the result is as cool (or cooler) than the original.

So I say, re-tune away!!

***From: Christopher Bailey******************

212-663-2515
http://music.columbia.edu/~chris

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