adding his two cents to the great ‘alt-classical’ ‘debate’ of 2k10. Here’s the rest of the above sentiment:
Alternative used to mean Rage Against the Machine. Later, it meant Limp Bizkit. Is that an admirable trajectory? Today, alt-classical means Alarm Will Sound. Tomorrow, will it mean Bond? It’s very easy (and often very profitable) to take something that gained credibility for being other and monetize it by taking things that are not other and dressing them up as other.
My post from earlier this week that wondered whether a new generation of composition teachers would be more open to the use of popular music /styles / techniques / sounds in the music of their students than the ‘old guard’ created a ripple of chatter and ‘stirred the pot’ a little. Here’s a little recap of the action for Twitter resisters. First to chime in was Gabriel Kahane. Kahane (I’ll use Kahane since he used Sacawa) used his Tumblr to state his position. I made a funny picture. Then Matt Marks, whose comment on a separate post inspired the ‘pot stirring’ post, made a pretty definitive statement on the ‘issue’ / ‘debate’. Then Dennis had had enough.
Should we make more Charles Wuorinen cat picture memes?
Why is every1 talking about ‘alt-classical’?
Is it Anne Midgette‘s fault?
Is it Greg Sandow’s fault?
Is it 8bb‘s fault?
Is it bad to talk about ‘alt-classical’?
Brian Sacawa is the Curator of the Contemporary Museum's Mobtown Modern music series.
As a saxophonist, Brian has been called many things—most of them good—including "an inventive musician" (The New York Times), "inspired" (The Washington Post), and "brilliant" (Baltimore Sun). His versatile career has led to appearances ranging from Carnegie Hall to Baltimore's Metro Gallery and with ensembles including the Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, New World Symphony, and St. Petersburg (Russia) Philharmonic.
Brian can be heard on the Grammy-winning album Songs of Innocence and Experience (Naxos) and his critically-acclaimed debut solo recording, American Voices, is available on the Innova record label.
You can learn more about Brian on his website, where you're likely to find out that he also performs in the genre-bending duo Hybrid Groove Project and is a Category 2 bicycle racer for District Velocity Racing p/b The Bike Rack.
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