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In the Forum: Musical Discussions
In the Thread: Thinking about Bruckner harmonies.

Post Subject: No "meaning" in musicPosted by steverino on: 2/15/2012

Romy says "what does make you to scare: the sound that orchestra produces of the meaning and Bruckner’s expressions?"

I don't think there is "meaning" in the sense of particular ideas in music. It can suggest different images or emotional states but not concepts as such. To try and answer the question, the way Bruckner has orchestrated the 1st movement very much amplifies the effect of the musical themes. (I suppose if he had orchestrated it differently or made a few alterations the "scariness" could have been greatly diminished.) Even in the 8th Symphony there was a flowing or a steady rhythmic organization that carried one along in a "typical" symphonic manner. In the first movement of the 9th however the movement is ultra slow and sometimes halting or labored. I'm not referring to the quality of the music, just the way it is rhythmically organized. Then periodically when it seems like the music comes to a half pause the brass erupts, not in a typical chorale expressing calm or straightforward dynamic contrast,.but in an amplification of the mood. The harmonies used in the brass are also more dissonant ending with that grinding minor 9th in the coda.

As far as the comments on Queen of Spades Bruckner etc, all I can say is that the opera doesn't playfully deal with death. There are obsessions and tormented suicides after all. Now one might take a mocking attitude and not find it emotionally involving but it is not customary to use the term "playful" in that context. Playful means not serious or light-hearted. Nor are the metaphysical issues comical as such at least in the opera. However I'm saying this as a non Russian and I may be missing the intended effect of Tchaikovsky. Anyway the emotional states I find expressed in the 9th do not strike me as comic or lighthearted.

Also in the 7th Adagio I find the "gloominess" to be more objectively expressed as in funeral music not the subjective agitation of the 9th.
As for Stravinsky its interesting you find his music scary because I don't at all except possibly a bit in the Sacrificial Dance which really is just highly tense. Which works do you find scary?

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