Весна священная - "Not Music", Helmut Lach

02:27 am - "Not Music", Helmut Lach

"LACHENMANN: Yes. Tonality was something that wasn't rejected, but had to be overcome. We have to find new antennae in ourselves, to listen more, and this is a wonderful adventure of discovery. For me, my music has as much beauty as any conventional music, maybe more. Beauty is a precious idea. I want to liberate this term from the standardized categories. I'll give you a little example. I used to teach children, and I presented them the music of Stockhausen, etc. They said that it wasn't beautiful, they didn't like it. I asked them what they liked, what they thought was beautiful, and they first hesitantly named some pop music. The next week, I went there and brought two pictures with me. One was an attractive photograph of the movie star Sophia Loren. The other was a drawing by Albrecht Dürer, who had drawn a picture of his mother: very old, with a long nose, and bitter looking face. She had a hard life, and her face was full of wrinkles. I showed the two pictures and asked "Who is more beautiful?" They were totally confused, and then came the wonderful answer I'll never forget - it was the highlight of my life. A girl said "I think the ugly one is more beautiful". This is the dialectical way. Looking at this picture, one feels the precise observation of her son. Not to make it more beautiful, not idealized, just showing it. It was full of intensity. To me, as important as beauty is the word intensity. I search for this in music."

"But rejection? I'm allergic to the idea that my music is rejection. Did Schoenberg reject tonality because he made atonal music? No. He was going with what he had learned from tradition. The whole direction of occidental music is going on from tradition by provocation. Provoking humankind to new experiences. This is human, this is beautiful, this is serene, and it requires the participation of the listener in this adventure. Provocation in this sense is not a negative thing. Society's laziness creates these polemical situations. I've had such scandals because of these thoughts, where people were angry because, on the one hand they love music, and this was a music they couldn't follow, they were lost, and on the other hand, they preferred a comfortable way of thinking about music. Maybe they need such comfort, because they are full of fear in everyday life, there are so many catastrophes. Going to an opera or concert hall, they don't want to be confused. But I think in that situation, you shouldn't have fear of being confused. You should be glad to be confused. It's the most active way to live. Confusion is to discover oneself in a new way. This is my dialectic of provocation and beauty, and music as a great and wonderful adventure. I like to speak of music in positive terms. I was so happy when you asked me if it's not music, what is it then. This is a question we should cultivate. I wait for pieces that bring me to this existential question."