Originally posted by vinteuil
View Post
What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? III
Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
This is a sticky topic.
X
X
-
Originally posted by vinteuil View PostDo you really believe the arts are getting better and better?
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by Richard Barrett View PostIt's an interesting point to ponder, in view of the obvious improvements in scientific knowledge and its application to our lives. The oldest undisputed examples of sophisticated artistic production (whatever their original purpose) would be something like the Paleolithic cave paintings, which date back at least 30 000 years, and from then until now is about a tenth of the time that anatomically "modern" humans have existed, next to which the difference in time between Brahms and Stockhausen is negligible, and during which time perhaps the cognitive potential of human beings has evolved little if at all, and that's probably where what we call art comes from, as opposed to those areas of human endeavour which develop through accumulation of knowledge, like the technology/science complex. There are overlaps of course.
I'm not so sure that the ideas which have governed how civilisations have evolved, and corresponding representations or conceptualisations which have shaped people's understanding of their place in the narrative, are so far apart as to have had only minimal impact on the neural circuits of cognition. One has substantiative reports of early white explorers showing western artifacts to indigenous peoples outside anything corresponding to their experiences.
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by vinteuil View Post.
... none of which helps me to understand whether or not Serial_Apologist really thinks that art has 'got better' over time
.
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostI would be interested to learn whether or not personality and individuality could be factored into the character of art to anything like the same degree in pre-capitalist societies as became the case in the 19th century: the impression I have is that in feudal times arts were closer to what would become distinguished as crafts, in which people created artifacts in teams, operating on aesthetic principles laid down by custodians claiming higher authorisation than the human - this only beginning to change during the Renaissance when individual artists had rich patrons in mercantile commerce in the long process of supplanting or subordinating church and land.
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by Richard Barrett View PostAs a counterexample I would cite Greek tragedy.
Originally posted by BBMmk2 View PostWilliam Byrd
My Ladye Nevells Booke, (1597).
Christopher Hogwood. (Harpsichord, virginals, organ).
The Hogwood was new to me - thank you BBMmk2.
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostPerhaps you would have been happier had you been living in the 18th century.
Originally posted by MickyD View PostMy family and friends have always said that about me!
... no, that would not be my choice. I am exceedingly grateful that I live at this moment in time.
Not least because it gives me access to far more eighteenth century music, art, literature, architecture than I could ever have experienced had I lived in the eighteenth century
.
Comment
-
-
Some favourites from ago!
Schubert: Sym 5 VPO Bohm - the mono one from the 50s
Tchaik: Serenade for Strings IPO Solti
Glinka: Russlan & Ludmilla Overture
Mussorgsky: Khovanschchina Prel
Mussorgsky: Night on a Bare Mountain
Borodin: Prince Igor Overture & Polovtsian Dances
LSO Solti
…and with that I’ll sit back and listen and take a summer break from the Forum!
Comment
-
Comment