What "composer" is either saying or implying (I'm not sure which) is that unless a live musician plays music it is pointless.
This is completely wrong.
Music is first and foremost a COMPOSER'S IDEA. Performance musicians have enough glorification, not to mention money and record deals. In fact, I am tired of the dominance of the performer, whether in pop music or even classical, with its pretty little cover girl violinists and opera singers. I am completely biased toward composers, and quite happy with that prejudice.
One of the greatest works of music in history is the Art of Fugue by Bach. It was never performed in his day, because it was never even scored for an instrument. It is pure musical conception - the highest form of music. The fact that a performer did not make it live means NOTHING except an inconvenience in hearing it. Of course today you can hear it played in many transcriptions.
Another example - the creation of a pure analog electronic sound composition, whether by Morton Subotnick, Edgar Varese, or any number of other more recent composers. There is no performer here, except for the audio speakers.
A composer who creates a piece of music purely for a recording is doing something exactly analogous to a painter who does not have his visual concept "performed" by someone else, but executes it entirely by himself.
This is completely wrong.
Music is first and foremost a COMPOSER'S IDEA. Performance musicians have enough glorification, not to mention money and record deals. In fact, I am tired of the dominance of the performer, whether in pop music or even classical, with its pretty little cover girl violinists and opera singers. I am completely biased toward composers, and quite happy with that prejudice.
One of the greatest works of music in history is the Art of Fugue by Bach. It was never performed in his day, because it was never even scored for an instrument. It is pure musical conception - the highest form of music. The fact that a performer did not make it live means NOTHING except an inconvenience in hearing it. Of course today you can hear it played in many transcriptions.
Another example - the creation of a pure analog electronic sound composition, whether by Morton Subotnick, Edgar Varese, or any number of other more recent composers. There is no performer here, except for the audio speakers.
A composer who creates a piece of music purely for a recording is doing something exactly analogous to a painter who does not have his visual concept "performed" by someone else, but executes it entirely by himself.