Often the words of the composer don't do the music justice or detract from the music. I recently saw the Philadelphia Orchestra debut a new symphonic and choral piece by Augusta Read Thomas, called Chanting to Paradise. She spoke pre-concert and prior to the performance (incidentally preceded by Stravinsky's choral Symphony of Psalms which was divine...replacing violins and violas with harp, twin pianos, and augmented woodwinds!). Her words did not adequately describe her music--she kept saying she was informed by Debussy, but the music itself sounded much more contemporary. Her choice of words further compounded the situation with inclusion of ridiculous statements such as "I believe very deeply in the sun" and empty superlatives describing the conductor and the poetry of Emily Dickinson (which was the basis for the piece). Also, the "I don't want to reiterate what's in the program notes..." followed by a reiteration of the program notes was irritating. Very little was said about the relation to Mozart's Requiem, which this piece was commissioned to follow. It was designed to take off from the notes that Mozart finished just before he died in the movement he never completed. My companions and I discussed extensively afterward about the efficacy of composers speaking about their work. Some composers have the talent to speak about their work, but most don't and probably shouldn't subject us thier babblative nonsense, IMHO. Zach -----Original Message----- From: zorn-list-admin@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:zorn-list-admin@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Crowmeat Bob Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 12:47 PM To: zorn-list@lists.xmission.com Subject: Re: Game Piece Theory The music oughta speak for itself, regardless of any theoretical apparatus surrounding it. That's not to say that the words of the author can't be helpful in drawing new ideas from it, but they're probably more necessary in a lot of Cage's work than in Zorn's Cobra. Cobra is a brilliant revolution in composed improvisation and it can be heard in the recordings (even the Knitting Factory release that Zorn apparently disowned). Not only does it build a logical extension on the ideas of Cage, Stockhausen and others who problematized the role of composer, but it bears the stamp of Zorn's own jump-cut aesthetic -- AND allows for individuated musician's voices to be enunciated while building progressions and repetitions into an extensive, vital musical territory. The chapter on Cobra in the 2nd edition of Bailey's 'Improvisation' book covers the basic ideas pretty well. The cards pictured in the liner notes of the HatArt and Tzadik editions don't reveal the complexity of the piece -- they don't make a whole lot of sense without the rules to go with them. As for nekkid emperors, well shit, it's only natural. --cb