I hear a compositional structure more similar to French Renaissance. Clearly, it is more about the interplay of the voices and than it is about harmony. I love the interplay of 4ths and seconds.
Every well-structured piece imparts a sense of having taken the listener on a journey, and having arrived somewhere. And this piece is no exception. However, the journey seems to have been particularly monotonous. Yes, if you listen carefully, you can hear a well-planned harmonic structure, intelligent counterpoint, motivic development, and so on. But this is more like a compositional exercise than a meaningful work. I am a great admirer of Rorem's best art songs. But here, he does not appear to have had much to say. At the end, one would rather have spent the time reading a good book.
Somehow it never allows one to emotionally invest in it. I do believe what I consider a fault was at the time of composition considered a virtue. So be it for those who write music based on trends.
Actually, your quite wrong. The easy listening music of the court was the trend during Mozart's time. The simplicity of harmony, trending during Bach's era was pretty much ignored by the master who faced criticism. In Ned Rorem's case the trend was to avoid melody at all cost. Aaron Copland reversed the trend for a while seeking clarity.
To be quite honest, although I'm not much a fan of the piece myself, I think the biggest fault is at the interpreter. If it was played softer and less bang-y, it'd likely sound like an entirely different piece.
0:01 - I
4:34 - II. Adagio (Theme and Variations)
10:29 - III. Toccata: Clear, fast, and hard
🤔 I don't think I'll be playing this anytime soon. WOW! My late voice teacher Soprano Chloe Owen spoke very highly of Mr. Rorem
I hear a compositional structure more similar to French Renaissance. Clearly, it is more about the interplay of the voices and than it is about harmony. I love the interplay of 4ths and seconds.
This is an excellent performance and first quality recording of a distinctly beautiful composition. Thank you!
Thank snowfjn, who made the source videos which I simply merged here, links in the video description.
That motif at 0:40 sounds so familiar! Frank Bridge maybe?
Fantastic piece.
very familiar to me too but can’t remember from what
2:59
Nice upload!
Thanks!
oh!
Rorem died last month November 18th :(
Here because of xem , not disappointed
Who xem
@@greatmallard9318 the speedrunner
Where did he mention Rorem or this piece? Never heard of Xem, but always curious of how people discover this sort of music
Every well-structured piece imparts a sense of having taken the listener on a journey, and having arrived somewhere. And this piece is no exception. However, the journey seems to have been particularly monotonous. Yes, if you listen carefully, you can hear a well-planned harmonic structure, intelligent counterpoint, motivic development, and so on. But this is more like a compositional exercise than a meaningful work. I am a great admirer of Rorem's best art songs. But here, he does not appear to have had much to say. At the end, one would rather have spent the time reading a good book.
Interesting. I hear here Bach, jazz.
Very interesting. Do we have a composition date for this?
Currently no.
Around 1947, when Rorem was 24.
@@ron_91260 Many thanks.
Somehow it never allows one to emotionally invest in it. I do believe what I consider a fault was at the time of composition considered a virtue. So be it for those who write music based on trends.
Actually, your quite wrong. The easy listening music of the court was the trend during Mozart's time. The simplicity of harmony, trending during Bach's era was pretty much ignored by the master who faced criticism.
In Ned Rorem's case the trend was to avoid melody at all cost. Aaron Copland reversed the trend for a while seeking clarity.
It sounds like a fairly fresh and original voice not a trend.
To be quite honest, although I'm not much a fan of the piece myself, I think the biggest fault is at the interpreter. If it was played softer and less bang-y, it'd likely sound like an entirely different piece.
Your emotional response to music never has anything to do with the music itself, it's all just made up in your head
This person is a troll, just ignore them -> @@DeeCeeHaich
Just random noise
"Random" has a precise, mathematical definition and it certainly does not apply to music.
@@themobiusfunction the mathematical definition of random does not apply to a great majority of the word's use in other fields
@@DeeCeeHaich the word "random" does not apply to music (except when it is generated through a mathematically random process)
@@DeeCeeHaich