Does the Devil have all the good music?

Chamber Music America recently gave a grant to Cornelius Boots, the founder of Edmund Welles: The Bass Clarinet Quartet. For the grant he wrote a piece inspired by Agrippa’s three books of occult philosophy, which is musically influenced by everything from boogie woogie to blues to heavy metal.

I had, what I would consider, the fortunate opportunity to see the work premiered at the Stone (John Zorn’s experimental music club in NYC)—and really enjoyed it. So I thought I would bring a recording of it to the group and ask the difficult question “is this music evil?” Keeping in mind that there are no lyrics and the only instruments are bass clarinets, this question becomes more difficult to wrestle.

After playing several tracks we began to discuss. All agreed that the composition and performance were of the highest level, though several felt that they may not prefer to listen to it for casual enjoyment or while having a nice romantic meal, or even while painting because it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing, relaxing or inspirational. This was mostly due, in my opinion, to the musical prominence of fast rhythms, dissonant harmony, and extreme range of dynamics.

Which begs the question, are our emotional associations with those musical elements merely the result or centuries of cultural conditioning, or do certain musical sounds have specific properties that cut across socio-cultural boundaries? Does the native music of Indonesia or India have the same emotional and spiritual effect on Indonesians as it does on Americans?

Ultimately, we agreed that with a finite mind it is challenging to place moral value on abstract music, at least because the effects of the music may not be able to be used as a criterion since they indeed differ depending on cultural background. However, even though the judgments are subjective, complex issues like whether or not this work is inherently evil, must be approached with a certain level of maturity. We must always listen to music, or view art, with discernment so as not be swayed by the wind and waves of deceitful ideologies.

We may not always be able to determine whether or not a work is truly good, or truly evil, but we can know that evil is only a parasite that cannot exist on its own—but, evil can point to good, because it itself is good twisted.

I leave you with this, “is the B flat in the fourth bar of the third movement a good or evil note?”

Kevin (and Mako, Kirk, Ryann and Bryan)