At the same time as control and innovation were infusing mainstream music, a parallel stream of composition was being explored that would create music with broader public appeal. In the 1950s American composer Gunther Schuller noted a new trend in composition that displayed a significant influence from the world of jazz. Third Stream Jazz (as it was called) was evident in Canadian composition at this time as well. Possibly the earliest example of this was Norman Symonds' Concerto Grosso for jazz quintet and orchestra written in 1957.
Other popular cultures, including world music, pop and rock music also were incorporated into concert music in the 1960s and beyond, and appear as influences in music for all media, including music for large and small ensembles, Mixed Media pieces, and Electroacoustics.
CANADIAN WORKS IN THIS STYLE
José Evangelista b. 1943 Spain
Listen for: the Spanish folk song "Calle de la botica". This Spanish folk song is played in the violins, and accompanied simply by string orchestra. The folk song character is honestly represented through a simple but memorable melody, regular phrase structure, and repeated sections. The accompaniment supports the folk song's regular and anticipated harmonic progression.
Harry Freedman b. 1922 Poland
Listen for: the sounds of jazz in an orchestral setting. Freedman uses conventional notation here (i.e., the players are not improvising). However, he captures the spirit of jazz by his use of instruments, melody, and harmony. Sax solos lead the orchestra in a relaxed, 'swing' melody and brass ensembles in close harmony lend a definite big band sound.
Gilles Tremblay b. 1932 Arvida (Jonquière), Canada
Listen for: the sounds of the Sundanese gamelan. Tremblay explores the sonic elements of what he calls an 'extended' gamelan ensemble, combining the instruments of the gamelan with 2 harps, French horn, double bass, Ondes Martenot, and percussion. He employs the pentatonic mode (pelog) with the chromatic scale, and an interaction among the players that has an indefinite 'action-reaction' rhythmic drive.
JAZZ: THIRD STREAM AND POPULAR CULTURES DEFINED
The term Third Stream Jazz was coined by Schuller in 1957 to describe music in which jazz idioms are combined with classical concert music. Influence from jazz includes actual melodies and harmonic progressions, rhythmic syncopation, techniques of improvisation, and the use of particular instruments; concert music influences include formal structures, traditional instrumental ensembles, and techniques of harmony and melody.
However, jazz and cross-cultural references in concert music was not a new phenomenon. As early as the 1910s Satie and Stravinsky were including the sounds of jazz and other cultures into their works, continuing the expanding influence of the New World and a general interest in exoticism in the Late Romantic period. The influence of other cultures on concert music can be found similarly appropriated into 20th century music, with a proliferation since the 1960s.
INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS WORKING IN THIS STYLE
West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein (1957) USA (New York)
Saudades de Brazil, Darius Milhaud (1920) France
Ragtime, Igor Stravinsky (1918) France
RELATED EVENTS:
1957 - Canada Council for the Arts formed
1957 - Bernstein: West Side Story
1957 - First Russian satellite orbit 'Sputnik'
1958 - Brussels World Fair
1959 - Canadian Music Centre (CMC) founded
1960 - Schuller: Variants
1960 - National Youth Orchestra formed
1967 - The Beatles: Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1968 - IMAX system invented by Canadians Ferguson, Kroiter, & Kerr
1969 - French and English declared official languages of Canada
1969 - Landing on the Moon
1969 - Woodstock Festival
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