The Unanswered Question - Prophetic Power of Music

What happens when a musician's toolbox is used to break the rules? This week we discuss American conductor Leonard Bernstein's lecture at Harvard, 'The Unanswered Question'. Part of a lecture series discussing the intricacies of classical music, the lecture takes a turn. Bernstein talks about musicians breaking rules to achieve things similar to tradition but by different means. He talks of Charles Ives' 'The Unanswered Question' and wonders whether Gustav Mahler's early 20th-century music predicted the oncoming horrors to humanity.

[00:00:00] - [00:01:31] = Intro

[00:01:32] - [00:03:40] = Clair de Lune (fragment)

[00:03:41] - [00:09:11] = Why The Unanswered Question

[00:09:12] - [00:15:59] = Summary

[00:16:00] - [00:17:32] = What is tonality?

[00:17:33] - [00:19:03] = What is atonality?

[00:19:04] - [00:21:30] = Vikhyat’s First impressions, How art can convey ideas

[00:21:31] - [00:22:52] = Vienna being ‘over waltzed’, Stravinsky, and the sentiment to break things

[00:22:53] - [00:25:33] = Shifting expectations, Pushing limits

[00:25:34] - [00:27:37] = On Diego Rivera

[00:27:38] - [00:32:01] = Exploring the limits of art, representing reality

[00:32:02] - [00:35:59] = Donovan’s take on atonality

[00:36:00] - [00:39:02] = Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question

[00:39:03] - [00:44:45] = The romantic and classical eras, royalty vs normal people

[00:44:46] - [00:51:45] = Alejandro’s sad story as a classical musician, classical musicians are douchebags

[00:51:46] - [01:02:45] = On Charles Ives, human imperfection, different narratives

[01:02:46] - [01:24:17] = Can we escape structure?

[01:24:18] - [01:38:40]= How do we define perfection?

[01:38:41] - [01:46:44] = Is there anything prophetic in Mahler’s work?

[01:46:45] - [01:47:32] = Outro

Music by @fyahupondrums

Credits:

Atonal in C-ish Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Music promoted by https://freemusicbg.com

Reach us at thesunkentreasures@gmail.com