Saw Colin Currie and St. Louis Symphony do Tan Dun’s Water Concerto at Carnegie tonight. Tan Dun’s not a composer I’ve paid much attention to, which I guess is strange, considering he represents pretty much the epitome of success in my profession.
The Concerto owes a big debt to Cage’s Water Walk— both are pieces that you really have to watch in order to experience, involving people looking quite serious while doing hilarious stuff. I also thought there was a bit of Harpo Marx in there, like one of those musical “interludes” in the movies that feel like they last for half an hour (come to think of it, this piece actually did last half an hour). The entire thing was organized like a Vaudeville— no innate logic other than a general progression of spectacle, and the more ridiculous, the better— but generally entertaining nonetheless. And there were some timbres in there I can truly say I’d never heard before. I’m trying really hard right now to convince myself I liked the piece. And yet…
I think what I’m trying to say is, I see almost no kinship between what I do and what Tan does, even though we’re in this miniscule world of “composers”. That can only be a good thing for both of us.