Monday, October 3, 2011

Ocean's Kingdom: a ballet by Paul McCartney

The Wall Street Journal had this story this morning. You should go read the story and listen to the four excerpts from the ballet. Paul McCartney is probably the wealthiest musician in the history of music, one of the great song-writers, bass-players (well, he can play pretty much any instrument), singers and for the last few decades taking a stab at writing classical music. More power to him! This music is not bad. It tends to sound a bit like Sibelius or Bax at times. At others it seems afraid to modulate. Certainly no match for the great ballets by Tchaikovsky or Stravinsky. He tends to develop merely by repetition and by changing the orchestral color, but this is pleasant, listenable music nonetheless.

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