Re: silly transcriptions

[David Beardsley wrote:]
>> US Highball? Maybe there should be a Rite of Spring for one hand
>> piano? Wagner for rubber band?

[Rick Sanford wrote:]
> good thinking David - it recalls Michael Baker's idea of 100
> simultaneous performances of Zyklus. Also:
>
> Daphnis & Chloe played by an orchestra of harmonicas.
> 1812 arranged for steel drum band (this's been done?)
> Piano reduction of Henry Brandt

I love to laugh at every failed silly attempt to move a classic to
some unlikely set of instruments; I too grind my teeth when a misguided
(to my ear) project offends my sensibilities.

And yet... let us be careful not to become elitists whose scorn has a
hair-trigger. Consider how most of the 12-tET public reacts to one
exposure to JI (or any other unusual) tuning. "Ew! It sounds FUNNY."
might be the most likely response. Don't we silently pray for an open
mind? Let us be sure that we cultivate one in ourselves also.

When we hear a surprising transcription, isn't it most important to ask
(after first being open to the possibility), "Does this work have
genuine musical energy?" I think it is a red herring to focus instead
on the question, "Is this piece faithful to the original?" Music is
about constant rebirth, and the outlandish is the growing, living edge
(and also the repository of LOTS of junk, no doubt!).

JdL