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The Metaphysics of Music
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Detail of notation by Mark Applebaum
The Metaphysics of Notation by Stanford composer Mark Applebaum is a physical art exhibit / concert series at Stanford’s Cantor Center for the Arts. Along the marble balcony around the museum’s grand staircase and entrance hall, under the watchful gaze of a statue of the Greek goddess Athena, panels encased in glass have been installed. The panels contain various symbols in black and white; lines, curves dots, recognizable shapes, patterns. Occasionally glyphs that resemble traditional notation can be found—stemmed and beamed note heads stretched, spun and bent. Though a music staff is absent, the horizontal layout of the “score” suggests a progression of ordered time and a vertical aspect of high/low pitch—at least as interpreted by this classically trained musician, who for decades has been reading linear scores. But even this assumption is questioned by the installation’s composer, Mark Appelbaum, who says that the score can be read in any direction, and orientation, with any instrumentation.
In additional to the trajectory of the notation, the black and white color scheme also lends a hint that this is something to be interpreted and read—a form of communication akin to reading letters—as opposed to the purely visual nature of most of the painting and sculptures usually found in a museum.
The cliché of music as a universal language is advocated by Deryck Cooke in his book The Language of Music. Hindemith on the other hand posited that music is rather ambiguous art, in which the same performance of the piece of music can evoke contradicting emotions and interpretations. When Mendelssohn called music “the most accurate of the arts” I think he meant that music is so malleable in the ear of the listener, that he or she can mold it to whatever they want it to be, thus it is accurate and correct for each listener who feels a reaction. This view of music gets at the metaphysical question of ultimate reality. This is the spirit of artistic freedom presented by Applebaum’s score in this project.
Dozens of musicians have read the score, each time with unique results—recordings are available for listening at the exhibit.
I have been meaning to check out the Metaphysics of Notation which has been going on since March 18 2009 and runs until February 2010, every Friday at noon. I finally got a chance to see and hear it last week, and was inspired to make my own interpretation. When I approached Applebaum (who shows up in blue jeans, a brightly-colored T-shirt, neon-blue glasses, moccasin like shoes, and a mane of curly gray hair that would put Beethoven to shame) about performing, I was asked if I was free this coming Friday.
So if you’re free this Friday the 13th at noon, come to the Cantor Arts Center to hear my reading of the Metaphysics of Notation.
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