Survey: Synthesizers’ value as a serious musical instrument

If you are unfamiliar with what classical synthesizer music sounds like, listen to this before taking the survey. It’s a pure synthesizer performance of Fetes by Debussy.

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First, the obvious. Have you in the past or do you now, listen to classical synthesizer music?




Do you feel you understand enough about synthesizers to opine whether they can be judged as equals to tradition classical musical instruments like the piano and violin?



If you answered yes above, where does your experience come from?





Do you feel the synthesizer can be classed with the piano and violin or orchestra as a means of producing serious classical music? If not, why not?





From the 40s to the late 60s the synthesizer was an advanced tool for electronic sound creation, usually inthe hads of a few elite. With the rise in popularity of the Moog synthesizer due to the 1968 release and subsequent three Grammy awards for Switched-On Bach by Wendy Carlos, the synthesizer began to gain mind-share in the classical, then popular music scene. The synthesizer, as a result, became popular in pop music as well as in a dozen or more copycat Moog albums in the 70s and 80s. The use of synthesizers for the production of classical recordings waned, and never really took off like it did with pop music. Why do you think this is?


This question is for arrangers, orchestrators and composers. When composing, arranging or orchestrating, does the thought of using a synthesizer as the sole producer of sounds ever occur to you? If not, would you consider a synthesizer performance of a major composition as valid as one performed by an orchestra, quartet or similar ensemble? If not, why?







For composers: If you were approached by a performer/arranger who used synthesizers exclusively, how would you feel about paying to have your piece arranged for synthesizers?






If the level of performance, quality of orchestration and volume of available quality classical synthesizer albums were to rise to a level where they would have enough presence to have it\'s own category at stores like Borders or Barnes and Noble, would you likely to buy an album?







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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 26th, 2009 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Recordings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Survey: Synthesizers’ value as a serious musical instrument”

  1. Les Marsden Says:
    July 28th, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    I’d be interested in reading the final results when tabulated.

  2. Richard deCosta Says:
    July 28th, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    Yes, I will posting the results as soon as I get enough data. Thanks!

  3. John Howell Says:
    July 29th, 2009 at 1:51 pm

    I would use synth as an instrument, not as a copy of other instruments.

  4. Raymond Horton Says:
    July 29th, 2009 at 11:37 pm

    The developers of synthesizers, in general, seemed to aim the instruments at pop applications and at replacement of traditional instruments (for example, this performance of Debussy, while impressive, does not come near the sound or effect of a good orchestral performance. I would be much more interested in hearing a good original electronic work.) Another, very important, reason that I have observed for the failure of acceptance by classical composers is the constant change of the synth, often making it hard or even impossible to reproduce a certain bank of sounds even a few years after composition.

 

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