Discovery and Innovation weekend

[Serial_Apologist]

... I share a fair amount of Frances_iom's point of view. But I think the immediate post-WWII period was exceptional - we benefited so much from the intellectual powerhouse of the refugees from Europe, and of a 'seriousness' and enthusiasm for improvement shown in things like the 1944 Education Act, the Festival of Britain, pelican books, Pevsner, Hans Keller, Isaiah Berlin and the like - a period that is gone for ever. My childhood of the 1950s was rooted in this, but I know that that time is past




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One thing for which I think we have to thank the coming of the internet is the vast number of old documentaries well-meaning people have posted on youtube, offering people today some of those perspectives from that other age.

[french frank]

the intellectual powerhouse of the refugees from Europe, and of a 'seriousness' and enthusiasm for improvement

There seems to be a generally held view that what is 'serious' cannot also be enjoyabla and entertaining.

[Serial_Apologist]

There seems to be a generally held view that what is 'serious' cannot also be enjoyabla and entertaining.

That reminds me of Keith Tippett in a radio interview in which the interviewer mentioned that not only did Keith play jazz, but also serious music - to which Keith replied, "I regard all the music I play as being serious"!

[french frank]

That reminds me of Keith Tippett in a radio interview in which the interviewer mentioned that not only did Keith play jazz, but also serious music - to which Keith replied, "I regard all the music I play as being serious"!

Sixty years ago, maybe longer actually, people would refer to classical music as either 'serious music' or 'good music'. Though I would say a lot of it is either not serious or not good. I imagine the same applies to jazz? I wonder if 'serious' is an appropriate word for music anyway.

I wasn't referring specifically to the music itself as being serious, but the way it's talked about e.g. the technicalities, the interpretations - and the way it's treated e.g. not bleeding chunk or just the tuneful bits.