Home Music Lane

It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

Bombast

Is Dwight Eisenhower still president of the United States of America? Hmm...let me check. Nope. I've checked, and it's actually the Year of Our Lord 2012, common era.

Cell phones, internet, 13 year-olds with tongue piercings, and flabby 50-year women with bright, fiberglass-blonde hair and leg tattoos. Definitely not 1955. Definitely.

Yup. It's 2012, confirmed. So, why are we still talking about "bombast"? Bombast? Bombast? You mean the thundering Rap/Techno thumping of the car next to me? That bombast? Or, the heavy metal/post-punk/rock band playing in some 100,000 seat outdoor stadium with enough loudness to blast a rocket straight into deep space? Is that what you're talking about? Pop/rock/whatever, in general?

Bombast? What, in classical music? You're kidding, right? Oh - oh - oh - I see. Any forte for full orchestra [known as a "tutti"], any expression of emotion; anything with power or feeling at all, is bombast. Great music shouldn't have any of that. All music should sound like an imitation Chopin nocturne...taken down a notch or two. All nocturne - all the time.

Guys - come on. Get real. We live in an age of hearing-damage music, playing with inconceivable intensity. And, in the Classical world, HIP threatens to revise all classical music ever written [even if it was written yesterday]. They play Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven as if they really were playing the most insane speed-metal ever created. Insane attacca; extreme tempi. HIP Mozart sounds like some paranoid schizophrenic on a killing spree in HIP hands. So, with all of that going on, how can you seriously talk about "bombast"?

Music should have feeling. Lot's of it. All of it. Not just one shade of nocturne-pianissimo droning, but the whole range of human emotion. You can see why today's young people mostly hate classical music. In the rare instances that they're exposed to it, they get some wimpy old fart's idea of "zero-bombast" boring twaddle.

I say that the word "bombast" should be stricken forever from any musical discussion. It should be forbidden. And, anyone trying to insert the notion into a discussion of music should be immediately and harshly corrected. Talking about "bombast" in classical music's like spitting on the sidewalk and saying that it's raining. Just not true.

I realize that I'm sounding angry here. I won't apologize for it. I don't intend to offend anyone, but, I just can't stifle how I feel about the particular issue.


This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Signature Sound   [ Signature Sound Lounge ]


Topic - Bombast - Mike Porper 09:28:11 04/26/12 (17)

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.