Dr. Colin Eatock, composer
  • Home
  • About Colin Eatock
  • Composing
  • Catalogue of works
  • Writing about music
  • Eatock Daily (blog)
  • New and upcoming
  • Contact me

New Music I Like (No. 1): Marjan Mozetich

8/26/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich.
The sad truth is that there’s not a lot of recently composed music that I like very much.

I could go on at some length about all that I think is wrong with new music nowadays. Suffice it to say that I have very little patience for high modernist composers still fighting the battles of the mid-20th century. Similarly, I don’t have much interest in backward-looking composers whose scores are little more than unimaginative exercises in musical nostalgia for pre-modernist eras.

What I do like is composers who find fresh new ways to work with musical materials and ideas authentically embedded in our culture. Such composers are, unfortunately, few and far between – but they do exist. (And I can’t help noticing that they don’t generally come from the European countries that historically formed the “core” of the classical music world: France, Germany and Italy.)


In the spirit of lighting candles rather than cursing the darkness, I’ve decided to periodically post YouTube videos of contemporary music I like. (And by “contemporary music,” I mean music by living composers.) Some will be prominent figures in the musical world – but I’m hoping to also draw attention to some composers who aren’t very well known.

I’ve decided to begin this series of posts with the Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich. He started out as a modernist, but apparently had a vision on the road to Damascus. (For more biographical information about him, see here.)

I’ve selected his Procession, from 1979, scored for a “Beethovenian” septet: violin, viola, cello, bass, clarinet, bassoon and horn. I like its clear structure; its logically consistent use of a tonal vocabulary that Mozetich puts his personal stamp on; and the artful ways in which he interrupts and then restores the piece’s motoric rhythm.


It is performed here by the (sadly defunct) Amadeus Ensemble, from Toronto.

© Colin Eatock 2012
2 Comments
M. Richards link
8/26/2012 10:19:26 am

Nice piece. I agree it has an attractive clarity in structure as it keeps the quasi-minimalist texture going almost throughout and a leads our ear along with (heaven forbid!) a bit of melody. And the harmonic progression from ambiguity in the major 3rd (upper notes of the minor triad or lower notes of the major?) is nicely resolved in a sonorous C major (if with some dissonance) at the close. By the way, I couldn't agree more with your comments on contemporary music. Well said!

Reply
Alyssa link
1/27/2014 02:16:42 am

You got a really useful blog I have been here reading for about an hour. I am a newbie and your success is very much an inspiration for me.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Eatock Daily

    I'm a composer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

    When I first started blogging, Eatock Daily was a place to re-post the articles I wrote for Toronto’s Globe and Mail and National Post newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.

    But now I have stepped back from professional music journalism, and I'm spending more time composing.

    These days, my blog posts are infrequent, and are mostly concerned with my own music. However, I do still occasionally post comments on musical topics, including works I've discovered, enjoyed, and wish to share with others.


    – CE

    Archives

    March 2022
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    September 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

    Index

    Click here for an alphabetical list of blog entries.

    RSS Feed

    Follow colineatock on Twitter
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.