<<  -- 5 --  Carson P Cooman    LETTING THE MUSIC GROW

CC: Have you ever run into any musical hostility towards your work as a composer, either from performers or critics? If so, how did you deal with that?

DL: First, I have to say I've been extremely fortunate in the criticism that I've received. It seems that much of what I'm doing has found favor with musicians, audiences and critics alike (though there will always be exceptions!). I like to think I'm writing in an honest style -- even with its eclectic make-up -- that is not forced and is my own. Fortunately, a number of people have seemed to connect with that. I've never sat down to write a single note for a critic or an audience response! I just try and be expressive of what I feel and use my craft to accomplish this musically. In general, though, even with negative press it is probably better than being ignored! But neither negative words nor being ignored have little effect on the long-term worth of a composition that you believe in. Interestingly, Rubrics (which we just discussed) was never reviewed by the most prominent American magazine of organ music in America. Obviously, its success didn't depend on that!

On the negative front, let me mention one peculiar example. My Constellations [listen to the conclusion of 'Constellations'] (A Concerto for Percussion and Organ) remains the only piece involving organ to be one of the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards finalist pieces (1981). In a major performance in 1983 in a prominent American city, the critic reviewing the concert crucified the entire recital. About Constellations, the critic wrote:

'Locklair's Constellations, a concerto for organ and percussion, needed dancers, lights, actors, film or any other visual aid to relieve the noisy monotony and to give some idea what the mystical titles of the four movements meant.'

In 1999 Constellations was again performed in that very same city, in the same space and reviewed by the very same critic. This time the critic wrote:

'... the performance sounded academic until he got to the last piece (Locklair's Constellations) on his program ... then, he turned on the juice and let the music fly. For the exciting finale ... the organist also made his instrument soar, surge pop and growl in the collaborative painting of vivid tone pictures. Written in 1981, the imaginative piece evokes images of three constellations ... Despite long pauses between movements, the work made a tremendous impact. In response to the audience's enthusiastic applause, the artists played an amusing encore ...' At the end of the review the critic somewhat scolds the performer for giving spoken program notes on Constellations, as well as another piece on the program. The review ends: 'Since both works communicate their messages clearly, neither required commentary.' All this from the same critic who, clearly, saw things differently fifteen years earlier!

All this simply points out that a critic is but one individual (hopefully, an informed one!) who goes to a concert with their own moods and feelings and writes impressions of that one evening. Thus, I have always tried to take all remarks -- positive or negative -- within the same context, not getting inflated by positive remarks nor taking negative remarks too seriously.

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