Richard Rodney Bennett
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What do you think of Rosemary Brown, the spiritualist who contacted famous dead composers?
Quick overview:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary_Brown_(spiritualist)
What do you think of this? I am not one to believe in UFOs and ghosts and things, but I found the following very interesting.
Apparently with no composition training, she was "visited" by the ghosts of Liszt, Debussy, Beethoven, Chopin, etc. and they dictated works to her that were very convincing in the style of these composers - in some cases full orchestral works such as Beethoven's Symphonies No. 10, 11.
Of the music seemingly by these famous dead composers, Richard Rodney Bennett, the British composer, said: "A lot of people can improvise, but you couldn't fake music like this without years of training. I couldn't have faked some of the Beethoven myself."
I thought this was very interesting and curious what others thought.
I have been interested in this question myself, and I appreciate your bringing it up.
Do you have a copy of "The Rosemary Brown Album"? It has a piece purportedly dictated by Schumann. I once wrote a piece in the style of Schumann to prove I could do better myself. But apparently I was wrong. I played both pieces for several musicians, not telling them which was which, and asking them which one they thought sounded more like Schumann. They also chose the Rosemary Brown piece.
There is also a Chopin piece in the collection. It has a fiorature sweep in which two of the notes are at half the note value of the other notes. Ihave noticed that all of the notes are of the same duration in a Chopin fioratura.
If I could meet Rosemary Brown, I would have asked her a few questions:
Number one: Why couldn't the composers write the music themselves instead of dictating to her. In "Unfinished Symphonies," one of the composers is sitting in a rotating chair, visible to RB but invisible to everyone else in the room. The composer had never seen a rotating chair before, and he was fascinated. So he rotates on the chair, thereby terrifying everyone else in the room.
Apparently, then, the disembodied composers have control over material objects. So why couldn't RB just leave a supply of pencils and staff paper on the table and let the composers write the manuscripts themselves?
Number two: Why is it just famous composers? It seems to me that obscure composers would want a chance to come back and make a second try.
Surely, somewhere, there is a collection of works by an otherwise unknown composer housed in a library in another country. If so, RB could not get there without a passport and a visa. Someone should have asked RB to ask one of the famous composers to ask this obscure composer to give RB a visit. If the obscure composer shows up too quickly to allow RB to contact someone in the other country, and if the music handwritten by RB stylistically matches the music in the library, that would be a strong indicator.
I see from the Wikipedia article that someone has tested Rosemary Brown under lock and key. That's how we know that the boy Wolfgang composed those symphonies himself with no help from Leopold.
The amazing stage magician James Randi has a million dollar check, waiting for the first person claiming paranormal powers to prove those powers under his controls. He has had many contestants, but no winners. Too bad this offer was not being made in RB's time.
It is funny, though, how spirits always resent being tested. RB once met a Polish person who tried to hold a conversation in Polish with Chopin. Chopin said, "Aha! But you're testing me!"
Maybe Richard Rodney Bennett can't imitate the style of other composers, but I have known musicians who are darn good at it. Perhaps this skill is also inherent in Rosemary Brown or her ghost-writer--no pun intended.
Whats On My YouTube Today?
BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN - Sir Richard Rodney Bennett
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