Experience classical music differently with 34 original answers to this question. This time Yves Knockaert did not write a biography. After all, he obtained his doctorate on Wolfgang Rihm. After his portrait of Mozart based on his letters and that of Schubert based on what his friends wrote about him, you might expect something from this specialist of new music about a contemporary composer. But Knockaert does not choose a composer, but rather the other side, the side where 'the listener' sits. That is also the title of his new book. How does the author now grasp that listener?
To get into the head, heart and limbs of that listener, Knockaert places a question mark behind a whole lot of common assumptions, claims, concepts, taken-for-granted ideas. Can you do without a conductor? Is every sound music? Is music mathematics? Is opera outdated? And one of the most fun question marks: at what age do composers write their best work?
On 34 of those question marks you will find a multitude of answers in this book. Even though Knockaert finds it difficult to write and speak about or around music, each little chapter is permeated with an opinion of his own or that of others. It is of course also the result of self-examination. He does that with a minimum of theory and a maximum of experience. And that experience, his experience, he wants to share with the reader. But, as he immediately adds: "no single statement is really conclusive or always applies."
There is one thing he cannot relativize, however: "Go to the live concert!" and there are a few more: Authenticity a point of contention? Bach and Scarlatti on piano? Allowed! "It is up to the listener to choose his sound image, up to the performer to present it convincingly." By the way, I have to be careful what I write here, because he also wonders whether music criticism is credible…
Ideal textbook and reading material
In the nineteenth century, the music press could make or break a composer, but those days are gone: "the function of the music critic has shifted from critical listening, praising or tearing down to providing information, carefully and neutrally." The listener also sometimes wonders where a composer gets his inspiration. Knockaert writes that this concept covers a very broad range: "from anecdote in the autobiographical to universal philosophical ideas." That can actually be said about the author as well.
We are dealing with someone with sharp musical erudition, there can be no doubt about it in this entertaining book. He darts associatively from one thought to another experience, memory, anecdote. You are inclined to immediately test each of his statements against each work he talks about, and you can do that because he refers at the end of each chapter by name to the composer and composition. Everything is also recorded in a name index and you can consult an extensive term index, which is sometimes necessary.
As a layman, you will have to dive into that musical conceptual framework here and there to be fully up to speed. Perhaps not a book to read in one go, but rather perfect holiday reading to read and listen to a piece now and then. Really a book for a listener who wants to hear more. It would be even more convenient to have Knockaert at the piano at hand to illustrate what he wants to add to our listening experience.
You can read the book as entertainment, but you can also study what is written to make yourself a better listener. You can also listen carelessly of course, but here you also learn how thoughtfully composers write out their scores. Composing is no sinecure and it turns out to be bound by rules, which can be broken when appropriate. But knowing or recognizing musical forms should be no problem for the listener: he only has to listen, his final judgment is what counts.
Somewhere the author writes "that musical pieces are like polished diamonds in their brevity, studied to perfection." Without too much exaggeration, you could say the same about the 34 pieces Knockaert wrote. An ideal textbook and reading material for the music lover who is in danger of dozing off at concerts instead of listening.
- WHAT: De luisteraar. Klassieke muziek anders beleven
- WHO: Yves Knockaert
- PUBLICATION: Uitgeverij Pelckmans, Kalmthout, 2021, 226 pp.
