THE NEW MUSIC

New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 941, 23 August 1957, Page 30

THE NEW MUSIC

NEw ZEALAND audiences are sadly ‘out of touch with the world of new music, according to Richard Hoffmann, formerly of Auckland, and now lecturer in music at Oberlin Conservatory, Cleveland, Ohio. Mr Hoffmann claims that one réason for this is the unimaginative programmes given here by famous concert artists from overseas, who pamper New Zealand audiences by playing only the better-known classics. In America, he says, a new. work is a "must" at nearly every concert. "Performers who come out here on their summer circuit cater for the local taste, They play what they know, what the audience knows, and what is easy. Their audiences are largely social ones which, they fear, may be scared away by new music. But," said Mr Hoffmann, "new music is not a fad and New Zealand is a young country which should be receptive of new ideas. New music would be better understood if music appreciation, as taught, went a little further than Elgar." ; Richard Hoffmann was a pupil of the late Arnold Schoenberg and, like his tutor, was born in Austria. From the age of five he studied the violin, and has been composing music since he was nine. gn 1935 his parents brought him to New Zealand, where he contitiued his musical studies. He became one of Professor Hollinrake’s pupils at Auckland University College, and graduated in 1946. Asked how he came to study composition under Schoenberg, Mr Hoffmann explained to The Listener that Schoenberg had married a cousin in Mr Hoffmann’s family, and had been living in Los Angeles since 1932. He was Professor of Music from 1936 to 1944 at the University of California. In 1946 Mr Hoffmann wrote to Schoenberg and sent him some of his compositions. Schoenberg féplied offering him free tuition in returm for some sécretarial work, So Mr Hoffmann travelled to Los Angeles and there he studied and werked under Schoenberg until the latter’s death in 1951. In the meantime, Mr Hoffmann had won the Huntingdon-Hartford Prize and had beén gtanted a teaching assistantship at the University of California. In 1951 he became @ lecturer, and in 1953 he won the Huntingdon-Hartford Fellowship, which enabled him to devote a full year to composition. Since 1954 he has been teaching theory and composition at Oberlin Conservatory. In America Mf Hoffmann has found the climate for new music favourableliterally and figuratively. It was, he said, the climate of Southern California that caused both Stravinsky and Schoenberg to settle there and, with the exception of Germany, America offered more Opportunities for hearing new music than any other country. This was largely due to the support given composets by the music foundations, the funds of which are supplied tax-free by major American business and industrial concerns. But sponsorship of music in this way hag its limitations, Mr Hoffmann says. Such well-established organisations as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera are not allowed to depart from established ways in music, while most new music is not regarded by the major radio networks as a good commercial vehicle. However,

the frequency modulation stations in the United States do have non-spon-sored programmes and frequently broadcast non-profit, no-royalty tape recordings of new compositions. For example, Station WNYC (New York) recently ran, for four months a series of new music programmes, each lasting one hour and a half. Little new music is recorded commercially in America, said Mr Hoffmann. But the foundations sometimes subsidise the cost of publishing and recording a new work which might only sell 500 to 1000 copies. The cultural exchange division of Unesco also assisted in releasing new music. It is, however, at concerts and music festivals that new works are most appreciated. In Southern California, for example, the Ojai Festival, held near Santa Barbara, is almost entirely devoted to new music. It has a strong leaning towards Stravinsky. In Los: Angeles a weekly series of chamber music recitals called Evenings on the Roof is strongly supported-Stravin-sky is a member and Aldous Huxley writes the programmes notes. Before returning to New Zealand this month Mr Hoffmann went to Germany to attend the International Festival of New Music at Darmstadt, at which a piano concerto of his was performed. He found that German publishers have a much better market for new works than their American counterparts, and that German radio stations were constantly on the lookout for composers of new music.

As a composer Mr Hoffmann is noted as one of the foremost exponents of the 12-tone system of composition developed by Schoenberg. But in talking with The Listener he dispelled the notion that the system itself was essential. "A composer is a composer no matter whether he uses the 12-tone system, an electronic technique or a_ traditional method," he said. "It’s quite possible to write bad 12-tone music, just as it’s possible to write bad tonal music. The 12-tone system is merely a method of organising music. All thematic material is derived from a _ basic shape-and there’s nothing new in that. Schoenberg, for example, is a composer in the true German tradition, and his works follow in a logical line of development from the later compositions of Beethoven. But," said Mr Hoffmann, "as Schoenberg said, new music is never beautiful. Only when we have it in our sub-con-scious-when it is part of our flesh and blood-does it become an_ aesthetic pleasure." During his vacation in New Zealand Richard Hoffmann is giving lectures in the universities of the four main centres. He will also be heard on the air in a discussion with Dr Ronald Tremain, lecturer in music at Auckland University College, on the 12-tone system and the music of Arnold Schoenberg. This will be broadcast soon by the YC stations.