Oriental v. Occidental Music

[holdencaufield]

I've seen a lot of descriptions of the erhu as "more expressive" than the violin, etc. I was wondering what some of the members here think on eastern v. western classical music. I think that a Baroque violin is *just* as expressive as a good erhu.

Personally, I think that height of musical performance is Baroque era music played on authentic instruments.
This is just a little rant because I've seen way too many comments on Youtube and the like that say things like Western classical music doesn't move the soul and "classical Chinese music" (most of the videos that had these types of comments were very diluted and westernized type of videos) is way superior, etc.

That being said, I do enjoy traditional Vietnamese opera, instruments, poetry recitation (ngam tho).

Both east and west music are good for different settings. I find mixtures of the two to be novel though (i.e., western instruments playing eastern style music, erhu-ists playing Bach, etc). And above all I despise Baroque music played on modern instruments.

[davidmdahl]

Instruments aren't expressive. Musicians are expressive. Or not. The violin in the right hands is mighty expressive. So is the erhu. Which is more, is not something I think worthwhile to debate.

Anyone can say what music they love the best, and that is just fine.

As for Baroque music on modern instruments, it depends. A wonderful performance on a modern instrument beats a poor one on a period one. I do love an inspired performance on a Baroque violin or traverso. The music of Bach is remarkably resilient though. It is hard to find an instrument that he doesn't sound good on.

Best wishes,

David

[gawn]

If music is able to 'move the soul' or not, has something to do with a variety of factors: Personal preferences, familiarity, understanding...
I know people to whom any Erhu performance sounds 'like a sick cat meowing in pain' and I know people who are moved to tears by a good performance.
The same applies to, say, a Wagner performance - personally I love the music of romanticism for its emotional intensity.
Folk songs, such as lullabies and working songs are all over the world remarkably similar in structure and they can often be appreciated and 'felt' without much previous knowledge - the baby that is supposed to fall asleep to them or even the illiterate peasant working in the fields singing have most likely had no musical education.
More complex court or 'art-music' like a Beijing opera, a Wagner opera, Händel's Messiah or Bach's Christmas Oratory on the other hand do not easily reveal their beauty to the unaccustomed who is not familiar with this kind of music and has no musical education. Their appreciation must be learned, I believe, but once one has done so they are not less capable of 'touching your soul'.
The problem then is, that musical education - particularly in Europe - is extremely eurocentristic and few Europeans have ever had the chance to learn to appreciate non-European art-music (be it Chinese, Arabic or whatever...). On the other hand, I remember when I took a few CDs with classical European music with me to Myanmar (Burma) that most of my Myanmar friends and family could not understand why somebody would voluntarily listen to 'something like that'...

[xindi]

Apr 19, 2011 3:11:54 GMT holdencaufield said:

I've seen a lot of descriptions of the erhu as "more expressive" than the violin, etc. I was wondering what some of the members here think on eastern v. western classical music. I think that a Baroque violin is *just* as expressive as a good erhu.

Hi Holden,

Most of my friends and neighbours hate both. Grade 6 violin players usually sound atrocious and their intonation is quite scarey. I watched the Hagen String Quartet last month play in a chamber concert - two violins; a viola and cello. Their tonal sealing was impeccable and throughout the Schubert D887 string quartet, I'd felt completely transplanted onto a different realm - the individual instruments melted into an organic whole.

When I told a friend about it, the comment was the classic overly bandied "why would you pay money to listen to the sound of cats copulating on a tin roof?"

I told him: "Because i really enjoy it ;D"


Well, the youtube commenting population are not the brightest of cookies. I quite like the chinese language posts, because i can't figure out how rude or crude the comments are. Drive by insults kind of levels the field for youtube. In contrast to your experience, of hearing that 'western music doesn't move the sound', there are similar comments about chinese dizi music being performed 'technically perfect to the point of sterility - with no emotion whatsoever'.

It's hard not to feel sorry for people of such mentality. If they don't appreciate it ...isn't it time for them to move on?

I regularly play baroque flute music on a modern Boehm flute. I just don't have the money to afford a baroque flute. Then again, I'm not playing for others, so it doesn't particularly trouble me. I would like a baroque flute, particularly since it requires less air volume, but still...