The Choral Contrarians

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"The Gift Economy" is a Choral Contrarian Lost Episode, recorded in Summer, 2024. Richard and Eric use the recent article "Toward a Gift Economy," composed by Simon Oliver (published July 2024) in the Plough Quarterly, as a springboard to both generally and specifically discuss …

Richard and Eric try to locate the intersection point of emotion and performance.  They not only attempt to differentiate the difference between how emotion works for the audience versus performer, but also debate the value and perception of emotion's usefulness as a performer of music.  Do we…

Richard and Eric wonder about the goings-on of music and performance in dreams.  What piece is heard there?  Who wrote that piece?  What ensemble performed the piece you heard in the dream?  Is there anything to be learned from those questions?  Maybe there is something similar going on when a cond…

Richard and Eric gather round the old fireplace to chat about a variety of things, including reading a wonderful note from Swedish composer Mattias Sjöberg.  High-back chairs and a roaring fire is a wonderful time to reminisce and celebrate hygge during the dark, winter season.

Eric and Richard ask the question no one is asking (and maybe for good reason): Is there an intersection between the concept of liminal space and choral music?  They discuss this fairly defined aesthetic phenomena and posit if any aspect of it can be seen in the light of music performance.  Oh, and…

Richard and Eric dive deep into an article in The Critic, entitled "Have I Seen the Future of Music; On a performance in three dimensions for all five senses," by Norman Lebrecht.  The article largely reviews pianist Yuja Wang's recent collaboration with renowned English artist David…

Richard and Eric, after struggling to come up with topics for the pocast, resort to asking ChatGPT for help.  They review and analyze what offerings AI provides, which leads to a much larger discussion of how AI might intersect the fine arts, most specifically choral music.  It is an interesting de…

Richard and Eric look into a quote about art and music that has been making the rounds of social media recently.  Formally attributed to postmodernist/neo expressionist artist  Jean-Michel Basquiat, it reads: “Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.”  Why does the statement ill…

Richard and Eric have returned from the proverbial grave!They catch up a bit and then briefly tackle the difficult task of creating a discernible ethic an ensemble can utilize and rally around on a practical level.  They look specifically to a recent movie: "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the…