Modern Love
Modern Love was written in the Spring of 2000 and is deeply infused with the senses and new experiences that came (for me) with the end of the 1900’s. At the time of the composition, I was very interested in the general perception of "low art" versus "high art". What exactly makes the commercial jingle on television different from concert hall music? Music, by itself, is inherently abstract; very little music (by its traditional definition) can be found in the "real and natural" world. Throughout the ages, however, music has been used to represent certain aspects of reality. A particular piece of music, for instance, might be subjectively considered by a person as "dark" or "light" or any other quality depending on its harmony, melody, color, etc. In terms of commercialism, in recent days, some music has come to represent a product or an event or an ideal. Jingles are used to sell goods, theme songs are used to announce television programs, anthems are used to represent nations. It is an attestment to the power of music that many people will remember a theme or a jingle long after they might forget what it was that the music actually was trying to represent.
In writing Modern Love, I made these notes: "Is the ’low art’ music now ’elevated’ because of its ’high art setting’? If so, is what the music originally represented also ’elevated’? Was music ever ’elevated’ to begin with?"I. "Vigorously!"- This first movement is basically a collage, or an assembly of quotations taken from various sources. Over the course of the music, there are quotations of Mozart, Handel, Brahms, Dvorak, Strauss (Richard and Johann), Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Schoenberg, juxtaposed with quotations of various pop culture musical sources: the Ace of Base, the Wheel of Fortune, Club Med, Diet Coke, cartoon theme music from the 1980’s, video games, and sitcom and news program theme songs. The result is a high-energy riot of activity and declamation.
II. "Andante Maestoso"- The Jeopardy theme, for me, always had a regal quality to it, something stately and noble. Given its source and purpose, it is also inherently American. This second movement introduces a Copland-like theme which interplays with different variations of the Jeopardy theme, which is harmonized and presented in a pseudo-"Americana" style.
III. "With ecstatic energy"- This third movement takes elements of pop and techno music (static harmonies; repeating figures) and "swirls" them into a sort of hypnotic rush of activity. There are a few quotations contained in this movement: The Chemical Brothers, Belle and Sebastian, the Pretty Things, and Nico; groups which all had special meaning to me at the time of the composition.