Whenever I hear that a piece of music has been specially composed for an event, I know that I’m not going to enjoy it. I’d been listening to the BBC Proms trying to enjoy a piece by a modern composer I’d never heard of. After 5 minutes, I gave up. For me, such music is too abstract. A clever combination of notes without any melodic theme. The tootle of a trumpet. The bang of a tympani. The screech of a violin as a comet hurtles across space. All very artistic. But it doesn’t engage me emotionally. I want something I can hum along to. I also think that the reason why we never hear any of this type of music on the commercial radio stations is that it just wouldn’t sell.
Specially composed music hasn’t always been like that. Think about Puccini. Handel’s Water Music. Edward Elgar. And I’m never bored listening to Hans Zimmer’s Pirates of the Caribbean. That is the music we’re going to be listening to 100 years from now.
BRUCE AND HOLLY 