Comments on: Beethoven Meets Marshmallow Desire

By: forcheville

forcheville — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:36:51 +0000

You’ve left our the best moment of all, like the bridge (?) section of the slow movement of the Hammerklavier.
You think you’re about to bite down on a Rice Krispy and suddenly you are overwhelmed by the most incredible flavour sensation, a 1973 Chateau d’Yquem, perhaps, and you just want to weep.

By: Guy

Guy — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:28:48 +0000

Sorry, me again. I have been thinking about your three part analogy and I think there may be a crack or two in it. It comes down to point of view, or rather for whom the analogy holds true. In situation 1, you are assuming the role of Wagner; he who intends to write a musical description of, well, you know… In situation 3, you are the listener, pleasantly surprised by the Heisenbergian materialization of the horns – improbable but not impossible. We cannot know, but it’s reasonable to assume that Beethoven was not surprised in quite the same way. Given the expression on his face, in bust and portrait, one might even suppose that he was given to thinking very hard about what he was doing. Situation 2 might neatly be ascribed to you playing the role of yourself, the performer, exercising your spontaneity muscle across the spectrum of allowable improvisation, or interpretation if you like. All of which makes it a very good analogy but for something other than what you might have intended. Since I am neither the owner not the former owner of now-shredded works on musical theory, I have no reason to hold this against you…

By: Guy

Guy — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:26:18 +0000

I very much like the little audio player thingies that you are putting in. They are particularly nice for those of us who are musically inclined but – through no fault of our own, though probably through a lack of vision from our parents – musically illiterate. But you seem to give up half way through (an evaporation of will?), which leaves us hanging. Are you going to continue to do this (put them in, not leave them out)? I suppose it’s too much to hope that you revisit some earlier posts with the same gadget. If you do I promise to re-read them.

By: Jack Bross

Jack Bross — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:31:03 +0000

I think one situation that strikes me as a possible “Situation 2″ would be in the context of a particularly sublime variation in a Theme & Variations. I mean in the sense that the variations themselves set out a series of treats, and you don’t really know what you are in the mood for but you kind of wander into the piece looking for something tasty. When one particular variation provides that sudden moment of transformation where it feels like this has been what the theme has been waiting its whole life to do, that’s your Type 2 Treat. In the case of Mozart (since you want some Mozart) they often seem to be the codas. Think of the very ending of the Clarinet Quintet, for instance.

And speaking of codas, I was also pondering what sort of Krispy Treat you have when there are multiple sublime moments that sort of pile up. For example, the end of Schumann’s Davidsbundler Dances. We get the “as from a distance” moment of mysterious waiting (already some sort of treat), followed by the return of a particularly nice theme from earlier in the piece (which feels like a genuine Krispy Treat except…) followed by that last little waltz that manages to be simultaneously happy and sad (and is a different sort of treat, but just as remarkable) Maybe that last movement is a nice glass of milk or cup of coffee or something that washes down the previous treat. I dunno.

By: claire

claire — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:52:26 +0000

hhmmmm … i have a proposal … i think your blog entry would translate wonderfully to film. i make videos on youtube, and i would love to turn this into a short video, focusing on the three rice krispy treat situations and delving a bit into the music. can i have your permission to do this, and use your words. please reply to this comment or drop me a line at claire.karoly@gmail.com. thanks!

By: wtf

wtf — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:02:37 +0000

I missed a step in this recipe and my Aldwell Schachter is now all sticky. I’m denking it in coffee.

Metaphor, krisp and Schenker… I like the little double chocolate cookies myself. You’re on the Starbucks marketing payroll, yes?

Situation 3: ah infancy. I picture a UWS toddler unsure whether life is awful or rad (who really ever knows on the UWS?) alternately screaming and noshing through tears on the krispy treat his expensively highlit mother has shoved at him.
True story.

By: sheil

sheil — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:26:06 +0000

Dang! When I studied this piece, its personality perennially confused me. I adored every morsel of it, but confess that I never really ‘got it.’ Could have used a few Jeremian analogies for sure, back then…my coach was ‘above all of that.’

THAT SAID, the analysis was a bit of a disappointment for the sole reason that the Rice Krispy Treat Situations alone had provoked such gut-wrenching, ball-busting laughter from this erstwhile placid abode that the neighbors all called 911…

By: ACB

ACB — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:00:04 +0000

This is like a music theory version of Einstein’s Dreams – which is awesome.

I even like the football reference…

By: Ann G

Ann G — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:20:19 +0000

Did you know that in NYC the Rice Crispy Treats are spelled “Rice Chrispy?” There are two theories to this change:

1) To stay clear of branding rights.

2) They are very Holy treats.

Perhaps this is why you wanted one so badly…you’re really seeking Jesus.

I on the otherhand was not seeking rice cripsy treats, nor JC, nor seeing you on a train, but in fact I did.
And that was a wonderful thing.

By: eire

eire — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:27:59 +0000

Children are encouraged to play, not solely to win, but in order to play the game; this enlightened state of play rarely exists. The desire to win is wound into the game’s fabric. People also win competitions playing Beethoven’s 4th Concerto. But if the purpose of winning is play, losing is but the side-effect, a symptom of winning. Play at this level, at Beethoven’s level on the musical page, has no hint of triviality (it scorns even the negative connotation of “trivial”) though it is humorous, though it wavers and waffles; it is profoundly indecisive, it shivers with delight at the time you need and crave before you seek what you desire, it laughs with you at your losses and gains. And each time you move decisively forward, it reverses the field, so that you must play back in the opposite direction, so that playtime needn’t ever end.

It is simply not possible for me to view any discussion of musical analysis through the lens of a football match, a game whose beauty I can certainly appreciate, but that has been called by those at the highest level, “war, without the guns”.