Hallo Chris,
I agree with you about editing 1/4 inch tape. I suppose few do have that
skill now. In one way it is not needed now; but a knowledge of analogue
processes might help understanding
You say
> The other trick is the poetry has to be written to work with
> the media.
I agree, to a degree.
One might say though that the media has to be used to suit the poetry.
I have referred before now to comments I heard David Harsent make a few
years ago about working with Birtwhistle. Maybe I should get another
example; but I'll stick with it now.
He worried me more than a bit because he spoke of the necessary
willingness of the poet to allow the composer to rework the verse
regardless of the poet's intentions. That's fine among consensual adults.
But it was being delivered as THE WAY THINGS ARE AND MUST BE. & I think
there's more to it than that. There are other possibilities.
Otherwise one is reifying the separability of POETRY and MUSIC rather than
integrating them; and reifying the idea of the solo artist.
L
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Lawrence Upton
http://sho-zyg.com/upton.html
Visiting Fellow, Music Dept,
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross, London SE14 6NW
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