Music and the occult

Artists such as Paderewski seem to have disappeared long ago... Artists who are not only musicians but magicians too. Not stage magicians but real wizards. Now we have just piano technicians, if you know what I mean.

Notice the hypnotic gaze:


A most interesting story at http://www.konkurspaderewskiego.pl/index.php?p=1&lang=en&s=147

If I may quote a little:

Abram Chasins noticed "the majority of audience was under the hypnotic charm of Paderewski long before he touched the keyboard". Whereas James Hunecker, an important and highly respected critic, recalls his participation in performances given by Ignacy Jan in the following manner: "I assure you that I witnessed Paderewski's recitals, during which I completely forgot about my opinions, my individuality merged with the crowd and I was sitting and pondering whether I can really hear something, or whether Paderewski feigns his movements and does not touch the keys at all? [...] The tone gets out of the piano as if nobody touched it... Is it the art of hypnosis? If it is a magic trick, nobody is so adept at it."

 

Hypnoses and magic are all very well, in fact page turners in my experience often seem to get hypnotised… No the real issue with music and the occult is the ectoplasm problem. The damn stuff gets every where. It gets all over the keyboard, your fingers stick to the keys – buggers-up your legato I can tell you. It really does for the hammers. Have to call the tuner again – “Oh gawld not the ectoplasm again! Them B flats aint gun'a take much more y'know!†And I hate to think what it must be like for brass players…

 

Indeed, according to 20th century mumbo-jumbo science magic does not exist. In the middle ages people knew better... and witches and magic really existed. I believe that some of them really flew high through the sky on their brooms... Is it unusal to believe this?

 

Take a look at Werner Herzog's documentary on Gesualdo - now there's an interesting occult link

 

TOTALLY OF TOPIC :OT:

One thing I noticed is that painted and drawn portraits always look far more impressive than photos. Is it because the painter is able to grab the spiritual aspect of the person or just that it is easier to cheat with painting than with photography?

Sometime ago a friend wanted to take photos of me and she repeatedly asked me to frown, to smile and other kinds of stuff. In the end she kept the more lugubrious photos (and some where I seem a bad guy full of Schadenfreude).

Why those? I asked. They capture the more telling aspects about you.

Yeah, right.

 

It is because photographers use cheap film brands and cameras.
They should stick to heavily advertised film brands and expensive custom made cameras, preferably Swiss ones.

Speaking of occult, Of course, the vast majority of "witches" were not witches at all.
But a small tiny-winy minority of them were real witches.

And a few of them, just a couple ones, actually flew high through the sky on their brooms.

Of course this was EXTREMELY rare, but it was done!

 

Photos can only give a split second view of a face, but a painter can build a composite of views and aspects over several hours or days into one portrait. Subtlety and nuance can be captured bringing out the character of the sitter rather than, as in a photo, the vagaries of momentary expression.

I don't know about 'hypnotic gaze', but Paderewski seems to be having a seriously bad hair day…

Larkrise, it's interesting that you should mention Gesualdo. His Tenebrae Responsoria are some of the most truly spooky music I know. Those wildly twisting chromatics, painful dissonances and that all pervasive dark mood. Try listening to these pieces on a winter's night with the lights out – guaranteed to give you the screaming abdabs! I would recommend the Hilliard Ensemble on the ECM label.

 

I agree. But in romantic and early 20th Century painting we very often have people looking into the distance, into the absolute, into the dark hollow of existence and so forth. When we actually see photos of the portrayed person, we see that he/she is often just an ordinary person.

 

Hmm… well in that case I don’t think said portrait of Paderewski can be a fine exemplar of the art. It doesn’t look to me as though he’s looking into the dark hollow of existence; in fact he seems to have something of a squint!

 

No, he is looking beyond earthly things, beyond the absolute. Look at his air, too. You certainly don't mean he has a hangover...

 

Veering on topic.

What Bat said is quite true. Certain musicians do create, just by the way they behave and look, a certain mystique.

For instance, Kempff was impressive to see and he transmited, in his youth, a kind of electric energy, later a very human grandeur.

Leonhardt breaths asceticism (it seems this is not true) and pure disdain for words and even people - he is just playing his music.

Bersnstein was a bit of a clown, but a very effective communicator (and a great musician, even if I do not really like his views).

Maria João Pires is less effete, but her facial and bodily expressions are really moving (even if I, again, find her way of playing - not her expressions - a bit obscene).*

Koopman just shows he is happy amusing himself with the music: he seems like a child who is absorbed by a intimate game. He has a slightly gnomish look that makes this even more effective.

Karl Richter was totally inexpressive.

The looks, the Gestalt of a musician act as a kind of cue to the emotions he is trying to convey and it is quite impossible not to be affected by them. In fact, in the old days, there was a lot of talk about the looks of musicians: it was taken as a part of their music making. For instance, it is impossible to dissociate E. Schwartzkopf's mannerisms when singing and her expressions.

The reason I said I did not like Ushida's expressions is because I find them overdone and that this shows (I think).

* I use the term 'obscene' in its early sense: not to be presented in public.

 

This is the same as actors do (sorry for my bad english, I don't alway bother). So, performing artists are some sort of actors. You find Ushida overkill, but in silent movie she would have done well.

This is actually quite clever what Uchida does. Because we all know that when someone in the audience coughes, soon almost everyone coughes. When she expresses a lot of feeling, soon the audience feels the same way, except you Rodrigo.

Did you really see Kempff? He had charisma, right?

Occult and music. Well in Indian classical music there is famous raga Malkauns, and it is said that if it is performed well in midnight, supernatural things may happen. It may even attract evil spirits. So be careful with that one. Bismillah Khan's shehnai recording is very famous, I have it. Shehnai is sort of Indian oboe, almost impossible to play well but Bismillah mastered it.

And there are malhar ragas which are associated with monsoon and may even cause rainy weather, according to.... well, reliable sources.

 

Is there a Raga that will stave off global warming? If so there's hope for us yet...