Here's an oft-cited expression: "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." I've often wondered where it originated. Happily, someone has looked into this question.
I like this expression because it's open to some interpretation. The most obvious inference is that writing cannot possibly hope to express and articulate the nuances of music. It's hard to argue with that. Although one could easily suppose it's just a critique directed at critics: stung musicians taking an opportunity to bite back.
But are there other ways to read this expression?
Could dancing about architecture be a good thing? A tribute to the genius of the architect rather than a waste of time?
This week, the In Concert quiz plays with a variant of this notion - music about architecture. Over the centuries, many works have been written about buildings, or have referred to some structure or room in their titles. One example that leaps to mind is Mussorgsky's Great Gate of Kiev, from his Pictures at an Exhibition.
PLAYYour challenge this week is to identify the structure or room or building that appears in the title of the following three selections (separated by the sound of a bicycle bell.)
Don't answer here on the blog. Email your answers to inconcert@cbc.ca. Three correct entrants will win a recently released classical CD.
Think of it as the Clue-the-board-game version of the In Contest quiz, except there's no need to identify the weapon, nor the perpetrator. Just the location. You don't have to say, it was Mussorgsky, at the Great Gate of Kiev, with his piano. The correct answer would simply be "gate".
Last week's quiz presented a musical rebus - musical examples arranged to suggest a phrase. The correct answer was April Fool or Poisson d'Avril. The winners are Tim Hutchinson in Saskatoon; Michael Bales and Maggie Rogow in Toronto; and Michele Satanove in Roberts Creek, BC.