Kategorie: English

The never ending life of the others

 von Moritz Eggert

The never ending life of the others

Sometimes it feels like in Germany there is an endless need of discussing the past. The past is omnipresent, like a lingering shadow that refuses to go away.
The past for us is two terrible regimes which amassed endless guilt and negatively affected the lives of millions of people, not only by bringing suffering to others but also by making people willing cogs in the machine, making them guilty not necessarily by direct action but by simply tolerating the circumstances or supporting the regimes that created them by taking part in their machinations.

Millions of deaf Beethovens. Or: the things we do for hype.

 von Moritz Eggert

Millions of deaf Beethovens. Or: the things we do for hype.

The Japanese music world was recently shocked by the scandal surrounding the famous composer Mamoru Samuragochi, a composer from the city of Hiroshima who was known for his romantically overblown symphonies and music for popular computer games like Resident Evil. Samuragochi’s main attraction as a media figure was his complete deafness and also part-paralysis (he was never seen without a walking cane) which was understood as being the result of his parents both being „hibakusha“ – radiation victims from the bombing of Hiroshima.

The motivation for writing (and playing) fiendishly difficult music is….

 von Moritz Eggert

The motivation for writing (and playing) fiendishly difficult music is….

Right now I’m practicing a lot of contemporary music (which sometimes can happen). And sometimes – when I try to decipher another one of these over-complicated bars with 20 different dynamics on 20 different notes, notated on 5 staves and with lots of the typical quirks of contemporary music notation – my mind wanders….why do I actually bother?

Why bother? Politics, opinions and musicians.

 von Moritz Eggert

Why bother? Politics, opinions and musicians.

Sometimes when I ponder the political utterings of some fellow musicians, I would wish the latter was always possible. But it isn’t, as some of these colleagues are famous, and one of the side effects of being famous is that one gives constant interviews and is asked about a lot of things, not always about music. And if one is a not-too-shy human being it is very easy to express an opinion…. or give a comment on current affairs. Or rather use the opportunity to say something completely stupid, which is more often the case.

The series finale of “Tremé”. “Inside Llewyn Davies”. Thoughts about a new attitude towards music in (good) films.

 von Moritz Eggert

The series finale of “Tremé”. “Inside Llewyn Davies”. Thoughts about a new attitude towards music in (good) films.

It seems like it was only yesterday that I recommended David Simon’s excellent follow-up series to „The Wire“, the post-Katrina-New Orleans-based show „Tremé“. Now – after a sadly shorter fourth season – the show has ended with a final episode that was every bit as good as the ending of „The Wire“ while at the same time staying true to the different focus of the series, which was less about the extremes of human crime, drug abuse and violence but more about how it is like to live in one of America’s more unusual and quirky cities.

The series finale of „Tremé“. „Inside Llewyn Davies“. Thoughts about a new attitude towards music in (good) films.

 von Moritz Eggert

The series finale of „Tremé“. „Inside Llewyn Davies“. Thoughts about a new attitude towards music in (good) films.

It seems like it was only yesterday that I recommended David Simon’s excellent follow-up series to „The Wire“, the post-Katrina-New Orleans-based show „Tremé“. Now – after a sadly shorter fourth season – the show has ended with a final episode that was every bit as good as the ending of...