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Three more composers are in the money

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norman lebrecht

February 21, 2017

The Ernst Siemens Foundation has given 35,000 Euros each to three young composers.

They are a Swede, Lisa Streich; a Dane, Simon Steen-Andersen; and a Swiss, Michael Pelzel.

Comments

Dave says:

February 21, 2017 at 6:04 pm

Classical music can never seem to balance the books, but there sure seems to be plenty of cash prizes for individual composers and musicians.

John Borstlap says:

February 21, 2017 at 11:08 pm

These prizes are not for composers but for sonic artists, and they are a desperate attempt to give them some credibility.

Reply
- Dave says:
  
  February 22, 2017 at 11:55 am
  
  I don’t know about your ‘sonic artists’, but when I search out the three names they all fall under the title of composer.
  
  Reply
  - John Borstlap says:
    
    February 22, 2017 at 7:53 pm
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISel4fNg9Rs
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5Zt6vgvSMo
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAk4pYmCm5g
    
    So, what could be the relationship between these works and music? One does not have to be a genius to conclude that this is conventional postwar sonic art, i.e. pattern-making with sounds, not composing notes that form interrelated patterns which can be means of musical expression. And then, it is extremely oldfashioned: all of it has been done in the sixties, when it was new and its value was defined by its newness; now that has disappeared and only the boring variations are repeated over and over again by relatively young people, apparently completely ignorant of the historical thing they are doing. If it offered something really new or interesting… but it’s all conformist establishment stuff, being rewarded by establishment conformism. Bourgeois, in the negative sense of the word.
    
    Reply
    - Dave says:
      
      February 23, 2017 at 3:23 pm
      
      God, you are long winded and boring…
    - John Borstlap says:
      
      February 23, 2017 at 4:04 pm
      
      My PA tells me just now, that her aunt – who lives in France – always says, after reading my comments on SD; ‘Le secret d’ennuyer c’est de dire la verité’. (That’s why she will vote for Mrs Le Pen.) Meanwhile, and this may have some significance for people who consider themselves music lovers, such establishment stagnation gets in the way of music’s developments, it kills creativity. (Now Sally gets really angry so I’ll stop.)