gravitymax | Shared With: Everyone - Apr 13 2009 | music, politics
Quoted: The Eighties were polarised but complex times. Punk, which determined even seemingly antithetical things like Depeche Mode and ABC, was itself a reaction against Old Labour rather than New Tory and was itself part of the same coin as Thatcherism, revolting against the same, dreary, dysfunctional 70s Britain.
playlist included. =)
gravitymax | Shared With: Everyone - Feb 19 2009 | politics, music
Quoted: Woody Allen quipped that every time he heard Wagner, he was overcome with the urge to invade Poland. The positions of most others are less clear in their work, although we can hear the difference between the assertive nationalism of Wagner and the gentle folk nationalism of Dvořák or Grieg. In the case of opera, of course, there are more clues. Mozart's, for example, dealt with class war (The Marriage of Figaro) and the liberal values of the Enlightenment. Biographies often provide helpful political information as well. Some composers, like Bartók, were known to have championed the underdog and sometimes clashed with the authorities as a result. Others, like Stravinsky, Mascagni and Puccini, enthusiastically embraced fascism. Still others, like Smetana and Tchaikovsky, were tolerant individualists who kept their distance from mass movements.

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