Minor Poetry of Music
HAT can be said about Edward Mac- | dowell, except to lament that his pleasant and melodious talent has been eclipsed by a later, more raucous variety of American composer? The "Sea Pieces," performed by the 4YA:Concert Orchestra, are not in the first rank of musical works, but as an example by a minor poet of music they stand high. They have fanciful enough titles and deal with the sea in many aspects, from wandering icebergs to Spanish galleons. But I am quite sure they, could be performed without any commentary and sound
ay | quite as charming. Macdowell prefaced numbers of his compositions ‘with fragments of poetry, and to little purpose. Nobody, hearing the Sea Pieces without their titles, could possibly say whether they describe the sea, the sky, the open fields, or the flights of fancy which exist only in the composer’s mind. A great deal of the commentary and description which preface a radio performance of any work is superfluous; if music cannot stand without literary support, we may well ask the composer why he wrote it and the performer why he plays it.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 313, 22 June 1945, Page 9
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189Minor Poetry of Music New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 313, 22 June 1945, Page 9
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