Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Art vs. Fashion


“I’ve reached an age where I’m two generations past when I was considered avant-garde. I went right from avant-garde to being old hat in five minutes, and you start to feel superannuated. With every new generation, popular art changes. Already there’s a generation that thinks the Beatles are old-fashioned, which I find screamingly funny. The same thing is true of plays and musicals. People need things loud and fast. That’s one of the things that I like about ‘Little Night Music.’ The musical says: Slow down. Slow down and think.Chills go up my spine whenever I hear someone say that a certain musical form is timely or relevant. For me the goal has always been telling a strong, clear story, not being in vogue, and balancing music and lyrics so that orchestrations never overwhelm the story and its words. Too many musicals today lose that.”
Stephen Sondheim

2 comments:

  1. Have a look into my world: In nowaday´s business a fast change of habits and style is en vogue. Every year a new management technique. While approved methods and useful ways are nothing but old hats. “Slow down, slow down”, that´s what I tell the youngsters around me.
    I feel proud of my age´s wisdom, others only see calcification of my brain. For us who passed the sixties two things shouldn´t been neglected: To remind ourselves as being youngsters and to leave open some doors for new generation´s “stuff”. If not, even Stephen Sondheim would never meet his successor.

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  2. I do not think, that People need things loud and fast. Maybe it makes them forget their problems for a few hours. But if if their souls get touched by a story and balancing music and lyrics and their emotions get set free, they will love it much more, I am sure.

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