I keep bumping into debates about the difference between art music and pop. In theory, there’s a chasm between the two — or, at the very least, much room for  argument. In practice — on stage, in live performance — this chasm can be reduced to a small crack.

As a case in point, here is Kingston, Ont.-based composer Marjan Mozetich‘s Dance to Earth (premiered at the Guelph Spring Festival in 1999), performed last season by Sinfonia Toronto, led by Nurhan Arman.

The composer’s intention is to create art music. It is performed by an excellent classical ensemble. But the piece is filled with harmonic progressions and musical figures that would be equally comfortable in the pop world.

(Apologies for a bad  cut at the end of the video.)

http://youtu.be/HByiGevXoAg

• Author
• Recent Posts

John Terauds

John Terauds, Editor-Emeritus of Ludwig van Toronto, is currently a Divinity student at the University of Toronto and a church music director. He joined the Toronto Star in 1988, was the classical music critic from 2005 to 2012, and continues as a freelance critic for the paper. He is the co-author of Roy Thomson Hall: A Portrait, a book written with Toronto Star Colleague, William Littler.

Latest posts by John Terauds (see all)

• Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
• Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
• CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019