A crucial point, though, is that we are not alone in our struggle to solve the problems that confront us. We humans learn from each other, and tend to preserve, study, and build on the breakthroughs of our predecessors. Wisdom accumulates. We have come a long way since Newton.
-
-
It has been fascinating communicating with you, but when one contemplates the vast spaces of Sibelius's Fourth Symphony or the Milky Way, I'm not sure we've come that far at all.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Speaking as a mathematical physicist, I can tell you that we have come a very long way indeed. We now know how and why the stars shine. We know how many there are, what they're made of, how they formed, how they develop, and how and when they will die. Far beyond Newton.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
But has music gone beyond Bach, Mozart and Beethoven? Even musical instruments beyond Stradivarius?
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
From a Platonic perspective, the question is not whether music itself has advanced, but whether our understanding of it has. Do we make progress in our understanding of musical works, as we have made progress in our understanding of the Milky Way? Have we learned from our past?
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
In music - probably no...
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
This is a profoundly pessimistic assessment. If we cannot learn from our past -- if not even the most sedulous and prolonged study of our predecessors' achievements can enable us to see farther than they -- then we are in the nightmarish position of Sisyphus. Why go on at all?
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
We are reflecting on the difference between knowable and unknowable. Certain physical truths are in the former category, whereas many of us - fancifully perhaps - put beauty is in the latter. The fact finite 'progress' is impossible in art is not depressing, but inspiring.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
To me this just seems patently absurd. Who but an arrogant ignoramus would insist that great past artists contribute nothing lasting to the practice of their art? Do cellists today learn nothing from Casals and Rostropovich? Do pianists learn nothing from Rubinstein and Richter?
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @MathPrinceps @jamesmeredithd1 and
I do not mean to offend, but neither am I prepared to acknowledge the impotence of the past to inform and to benefit the present and future. No one emerges from the womb knowing how to practice an art. The knowledge is transmitted, and transmuted, from generation to generation.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
Who today plays Bach in ignorance of Glenn Gould? Who plays Rachmaninov in ignorance of Vladimir Ashkenazy? Certain extraordinary individuals reveal to us essentially new things -- and even if we strive not to imitate them, we are all changed by their revelations, forever.
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.