One who writes a novel can not necessarily write poetry. And vice versa of course. While Beethoven was brilliant at what he did compose...it doesn't mean he could create alternate genres of music.
Well I have heard CD's that are over 40 minutes in length and have a similar atmosphere/sound thoughout the album so I don't agree that a 40 minute symphony is harder to create. When you break a symphony done....it's divided by instrument/group. One would first focus on a particular part of the symphony and then move to the next.
I don't agree that the "musical intelligence" has left music. However, most people are more interested in performing music they love and thus shift their attention to the modern music and not cIassical.
I don't think blackcat was correct in asserting that a modern musician can't create complex music....I think it's just not being done for several reasons....one I mentioned about and I'm sure the ability to sustain a living is another. Note: I'm not saying they all could create this music....just that I don't believe they all can't.
LJS9502_basic
Ah, but that would assume that cIassical compositions are not still poetic in nature! I've never liked the prose vs. poetry argument when dealing with music, because when you get right down to it, all great music (lengthy and compositionally sophisticated or not) is poetic in nature. It's extremely inaccurate to claim that cIassical music is not subtle and evocative in the way that a poem can be simply because it is also formally sophisticated. And rock music uses the same basic musical materials as cIassical music does. Same tonal harmony. Same metres. Same basic 4-bar phrase structure. There are an awful lot of similarities - I dare say a great deal more similarities than you will find in the structure and emphasis of a poem by comparison to a good story.
I'm not sure you'll understand the symphony composition vs. song composition thing unless you actually try it. Suffice it to say that maintaining a particular mood through a cycle of short songs isn't the same thing as development, and really, it's the development that is at the core of what's so difficult about writing in the cIassical style. Songs, even in the cIassical tradition, place the emphasis on simply presenting a focused idea or two (usually in the form of an evocative melody). Other forms of cIassical music demand that you not only present the ideas, but do something interesting with them. The latter is more difficult to pull off, and typically results in lengthier compositions.
I would agree with you that musical intelligence has not disappeared from music, especially from a creative point of view. But let's put things in perspective. Beethoven (and every great cIassical master for that matter) are amongst the most gifted musicians in the entire history of Western music. There are still plenty of people writing music in the cIassical tradition today, and without intending to offend, I would suggest that people with a great deal of compositional intelligence tend to gravitate towards that styIe of composition, simply because they find writing simplistic music to be dull and uninteresting. If you have the compositional intellect to write symphonies, why would you limit yourself to writing nothing but simplistic pop songs and TV jingles your whole life? Even if you really like pop songs and TV jingles, you'd find a way to incorporate sophisticated compositional techniques into them, the same way that a person will not limit himself to only a few basic words once he or she has developed a university-level vocabulary. Again, I REALLY don't believe that simplicity is a criteria of the rock music styIe.
Perhaps certain popular artists are capable of writing complex music, but they're not doing anything to demonstrate that talent in their writing. I could say and genuinely believe that I can write a great symphony, but until I do it, I can't prove that assertion!
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