Phoenix Of Classical Music

People were always curious about what kind of musicians are the so-called New Age musicians. Where do they come from? If they weren’t exactly classical, pop or anything else, what are they? Where movie composers at least had strong academical background, composers of this new electronic music were pretty much coming from no mans land. Are they essentially classical composers, pop musicians, or something undefined, something not known or named before?

This curiosity simply couldn't be satisfied at the time, since these musicians themselves didn't seem to consciously quite understand what they were doing. There was only intuition, both on the side of creators and audience. What was obvious however is that this music had much to do with classical music. Similarly as classical music, it was cerebral.

Electronic music is not something that is explained in three minutes. It is a more cerebral structure. Jean Michel Jarre

It could be seen as alternative classical -- contemporary, somewhat deviant derivate of classical music, in that way being some sort of alternative music for more in-depth music lovers. But was it? It was from the other side musically lower; there was certain roughness and naivety to it. This, and also the free spirit, the feeling of great freedom that was stemming from these records, was linking them with rock music. They could have been seen as a sort of progressive rock musicians: like pop music, this music started from what is common today but didn’t stop at most basic forms. It could have been seen as deeper pop music, as a relaxation and wondrous journey for the one whose musical world is defined by pop music. Indeed, people surrounded by pop music, used on it, were generally more able to understand this music, only if they weren't entrapped inside pop music frame.

But this music wasn't the mixture of classical and pop music worlds. Actually, it emerged as a sort of opposition to both modern academic and popular music. It was fueled by perceived shortcomings and falsities of these two worlds. Modern academic music, while aiming highly, was repeatedly not hitting the target. As for pop music, it was simply too basic and often vulgar. It did go more refined with progressive rock; but there was a big difference between electronic music and progressive rock. Progressive rock was, essentially, based on saying “yes” to both popular and classical worlds, so mixing electric guitars and pop singing with symphonic orchestra and synthesizers was usual. What was unfortunate, is that it was usually the worst from both worlds that was taken – false intellectualism from academic world, resulting in pretentious “developments” under the motto “the intentionally smarter the better”, and wilderness and lack of aesthetic concerns from popular (there are though some good prog rock pieces, I recommend to everyone to listen to “Outside The Window” of Yes group). It was like, we want to be young and wild, but also respected and don’t want anything above us. Electronic music was actually in a way antagonistically opposite to progressive rock, that was saying ‘yes’ both to current popular and academic trends, hoping to achieve both popularity and respect; electronic music achieved the same aim by saying ‘no’ to both current academic and popular music, and going back to times of good old classical. Unlike progressive rock, this music was more aiming to take the best from existing musical worlds – directness of meaning and modernity of pop, with artifice of classical. On that way these musicians were forming a kind of oppositional musical circle, although it never started to really exist as a social phenomenon. It was deep opposition to everything around. It was deeply subversive.

This disruption of existing scheme of things brought New Age in strange connection with contra-cultures of XX century, such as punk and heavy-metal. This connection was visible when icon of punk-rock Mick Jagger attended the first JM Jarre concert 1978 in Paris, after which musical history records he approached JM Jarre with words: “Hey guy, I never saw something like this in my whole life!”. Unlike most of the punks, who could only see JM Jarre as another official maker of bland music, Mick Jagger understood his subversive influence on official culture – that JM Jarre is doing on the level of institutions the same what he does on the level of street. Through jazz and pop culture the new authenticity was happening on the street level, far away from elites; and New Age musicians brought the revolution to elites too.

Electronic music was from the other side of both pop and academic world in a more essential way still: both academic and popular music were stemming from oldness of classical beauty. While there was division on pop and classical music -- where classical music is thought of as serious, quality and everlasting, and pop as superficial, merely entertaining and passé -- this division line was a more superficial, outward one. But both pop and new academic music were dependent on traditional culture – the former was existing through acting against it, the other as its apology. But with electronic music, comes the world which is neither the apology of tradition nor is contra-culture; there comes the world which is self-sufficient. It was seen as a bridge between classical and pop music; but actually, it had little to do with pop. As said, it was essentialy on the same terrain with classical music.

The Problems of Classical Music

People from classical music certainly understood they had problems. Everything that was a tradition of classical music – composition, sublimity, daring musical experiment etc. – was starting to go thin in modern times. New classical music was not composed anymore. What was worse still, old works started to more and more lack impact on modern audiences when compared to modern electronic works. Can masterpieces of the past be preserved in technological epoch just by repeating them in theirs current form and writing comments on them? There is that Jewish saying: if you don’t progress, you go back.

And indeed, the true, uncommanded fascination with classical music, especially among younger audience, was becoming more and more weak. It was not possible, in these modern times, to continue holding interest and fascination with classical music by just playing it in original shape, like nothing happened. Not only younger audiences were less and less impressed with classical music, but everyone involved started to understand it more and more superficially. On concerts, it was down to mere filling in of form, just professionally doing the duty, like going to the office, dully keeping the tradition, more than really experiencing the music. While played and socially respected maybe more than ever, classical music was actually being understood more an more superficially. We were de facto starting to forget classical music. Maybe Schopenhauer formulated this thought on the most beautiful way:

It would be a nice thing if we would know forever what we have once learned; but things stand completely different: everything that is learned has to be refreshed by repeating or else it is gradually forgotten. But since mere repeating is boring, we always have to in the same time learn something new.

However, circles of classical music were far too reactionary to be able to learn something from Schopenhauer. This is best seen from theirs lack of enthusiasm for high technology. Premierly so, classical music did not make use of the most advanced technology of the time. Being tied for acoustic orchestra, classical musicians went as far as to proclaim even the limitations of these instruments into theirs virtues. Cetrainly, some of them really believed this, while others were simply worried for theirs position in the society – all in accordance with this writing of, again, Schopenhauer:

Love and hatred completely twist our judgment: in our enemies we see nothing but shortcomings, in our beloved ones an advantage next to an advantage, and even theirs shortcomings look to us worthy of love. Similar secret power over our judgment has our personal advantage, of whatever kind: what is helping ours cause looks to us fair, right, reasonable; what is opposed to it comes before our eyes in all seriousness as unfair and disgusting or irrelevant and absurd.

Modernist experiments on the whole were to remain ignored within traditional classical circles. Unpopular modernist pieces were allowed to be substantially talked about, while popular ones were essentialy tabooed, presented as a kind of shalow and simple pop music. Simply, most listeners of classical music weren’t ready for anything else than traditional classical music, proclaiming all electronic experiments into deviance and extreme concepts.

The Rebirth

But then, in the middle of noisy XX century forms, the highlight of rhythm&noise culture, while populist punk was rampaging through U.K. and intelecutalized accademic scene produce similarly noisy music, comes the futurist Oxygene full of serenity, evolving from silence and nature, like classical music in medieval times. In the same XX century that legitimized the most barbaric forms, people could see this agent of most enlightened music miraculously emerging; the under-sea Oxygene was like a rebirth, reincarnation of classical music. It was the dream of returning to harmony coming true, the dream dreamed from the beginning of XX century, starting with Arnold Schoenberg. It is the question, actually, if there ever was so deeply harmonic, air-light gentle music. There is something Shakespearean in Oxygene. Many scales and constructions of Oxygene indeed pointed towards pre-Bach, pre-classical epochs; towards renaissance music. Despite all Oxygene's futuristic sound and avant-gardeness, its modal harmonic language gave it deep spirituality and made it a sort of back-to-medieval-times affair.

No wonder many doubted that something so delicate could sell in an age of combustion and concrete; but the amount of sold copies of these records showed clearly that people naturally strive towards harmony, despite being used to living in industrial cities that offer little of it. The reason for obscuration of this music in medias partially lied in that it was shining in the garbage of decadence.

But still, it actually emerged from that garbage. Like Phoenix, classical music was giving signs of being born again from its ashes -- from XX century modernistic academic and popular (punk) music. JM Jarre's music had sharp lines and classicist elegance, aimed for since Stravinsky and his neo-classicism. But how much more effortless, original and in the same time truer to classicist spirit JM Jarres pieces Oxygene and Equinoxe were. They possessed economy of means, enlightened simplicity lost since the times of classicism. It is exactly in this ability to say much with simplicity of means that is the greatest testimony of a potential of an art form; and the simplicity of constructions used in Oxygene was a proof of how much unused potential these new forms were holding. Work like Oxygene, despite it's simplicity, wasn't easy to grasp in all its facets. Actually “simple” is not quite the right word for Oxygene; Oxygene didn’t sound musically basic. It sounded more stripped-down, under-stated, than simple. It presented a kind of musicianship higher in its very base, before any real sophistication took place. Its like someone suddenly started making some hyper-music, but as a naive child would do it. Oxygene was made of a finer material than any we have seen before, but it was not evolved. Oxygene was not a sumptuous palace. JM Jarre built a cottage, but on the unconquered peek from which he looks down on palaces of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.

On the year 2006 in Gdansk, Poland, Jean Michel Jarre gave a historical concert: to the anniversary of 'Solidarnost', the movement that ended communism, “the biggest mistake of XX century” as Jean Michel Jarre himself said at the occasion. There was more then 120.000 people attending: and still, many had only vague idea of who this musician is. Many wondered, how comes that such an obviously important musician is not composing classical music, or is eventually a great rock star?

But during Jarre's interpretation of one Chopin's étude, maybe a few people in the audience got the idea of meaning of this musical figure. It was an eccentric interpretation: on a cheap organ, played very plainly, without embellishments, and so that it sounds as simple as possible, almost childish, but full of melancholy, accompanied by sounds of rain. It was a “farewell”, but not only to Chopin, but to the whole classical epoch. If someone had to say goodbye to classical music, it was one of theirs own, who loved it.

But music of JM Jarre, Vanelis and other New Age composers wasn't an agitation against classical music. It was rather an agaitation towards transforming it into an electronic form which doesn't forget nor eradicates the classical spirit, but, containing it in itself as a memory, intensifies it to the level of something “supernatural”, “cosmical”, universal, stripped of outdated and non-substantial features of tradition, and keeping the universal qualities that were always at its core, and that will be affirmed and carried further. An example: one of the things that make opening of JM Jarres Oxygene musical album recording from 1976 interesting, is its evocation of classical music - its elegance in particular – on a more transcendental level. Although rooted in classical music, Oxygenes harmonic impact and its overall aesthetics was not exactly classical, but rather something with a memory of classical music. It could be compared with what Carl Orff did with renaissance music with Carmina Burana – offering, from a distance, a more artificial version of old music. Oxygene seemingly started doing the same to whole classical tradition -- even emphasizing classical spirit. For example, I once heard a rockist version of Beethovens popular piano sonata “Fur Elise” (I can’t recall who was the performer) – electric guitar played the solo lead, backed by rock drums. What makes Beethovens original version sound more elegant and soulful – more “classical” – is its arrangement that uses uprising arpeggiated chords in the background. This is laid bare in Oxygene 1; a composition utilizing only chords and scales, with no tune for singing, yet being highly melodic, in some more general sense. The effect is magical, almost unbelievable: what we hear is not classical music, but the spirit of classical music itself – and it truly can be called the spirit, since having nothing material to it, since in music the matter is melody.

So despite JM Jarre was working in a raw and naïve way, he succeeded to turn contemporary music back to the path of classical musical beauty, by inventing a kind of aesthetics that succeeds in keeping classical virtues while adding everything good that popular and academic musicianship of XX century brought.

True youthful piety consists in successfully completing unfinished work of the ancestors and transmitting theirs achievements to descendants. Confucius

On this way electronic music made a great service to classical music, because although not being classical music, it was spreading enthusiasm for it among wide circles of young people who would otherwise pay no attention to it. I can confirm this in my case -- I doubt my shelves would be this full of classical recordings if there wasn't for my previous infatuation with JM Jarre's music. Actually, never before was there such a wide interest in classical music than today. People from BBC were surprised with an incredible number of free downloads of Beethovens symphonies, even those exotic ones such as the second one, for only five days of that experiment. One part of credits for the success of this experiment must be given to these New Age experimentators, who managed to present classical music values to new generations on an interesting and novel way.

Reducing to Authenticity

No wonder that this nature of New Age music was not recognized by classical establishment, which was still insisting of traditional sort of beauty. But beauty is more universal than any particular form of beauty. It can always grow into an even more general, even more universal form. Those who were used to one form of beauty, are shocked when they see another sort of it.

By beauties on which we are used to we defend ourselves from new beauties, which however – we don't now and don't admit that yet – have more right on us than the old ones. Oskar Davico, Poetry and Resistances

The way to hide this core problem, was to point out to musical imprefections -- indeed present -- of Oxygene and other popular modernist works. However, this was not very effective. It was obvious to everyone who understood the music that these imprefections were unavoidable and non-substantial. They were the price that had to be payed for reducing to authenticity.

Reducing to authenticity was, apart from experiment, the other obsession and the need of XX century. Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset, who was bitter about XX-century neo-barbarism seen in mass culture, had however an enthusiasm for this other process of coming down to authenticity, that was also taking place:

Public life, political especially so, felt – altogether – a need to reduce itself to authenticity, and European society will not be able for a potent jump expected from the side of the optimists if it first doesn't strip itself to bare essence and come to terms with itself. Enthusiasm that I feel for this process of reduction, awareness that it is a necessary evil if we want to hit the road towards respectable future, makes me to again demand freedom of thought towards the whole history. Future is what has to rule over the past and from that future we are to receive directions how to relate towards the past times. Jose Ortega y Gasset

This excerpt sums up the idea of reducing to authenticity and the new beginning, with a sacrifice seen in imperfections, and the free attitude towards the past. Mixture of geniality and banalities, that was one of the stamps of all of the electronic music, was expected and natural part of this experimental activity.

And at the highpeek, while immatureness of this music was immediately perceived, on the deeper layer there was actually previously unheard of maturity coming from these boy wizards. The universal character of music and the naturalness with which musical ideas were flowing and catching the listeners ear, is nothing else but maturity. Electronic music gave a premonition of this incoming mature musical world.

At that, New Age creators maybe weren’t the naturally most eminent musicians around; but unlike pop musicians, they were not making this into art. Not receiving too much from ancestors, they were the most able to cope with suddenly changed conditions, through individual effort, and do what had to be done in order to continue making music.

Nature likes to decorate it's materials. Pure blood, Brahman with Brahman and again and again through marriages, and race becomes weak and worn out. Some strong Cains son, some black blood has to refresh the pale veins of the Seth.” Ralf Waldo Emerson

It was a bit like that dinosaur story. The reason why they could succeed next to more sophisticated musicians, was they have chosen -- they were able to choose -- following common sense. No other kind of musician in that period could afford such a thing. They had more freedom than classical composers and more ambition and talent than pop musicians. So when old-type institutionalized musicians couldn’t save music, outsiders had to. These middle-level authors were the ones to whom the task of continuation of enlightened musical past was committed. That is why, despite not making mature music, they seemed being the most close to classical composers, the most legitimate continuation of what classical music was about.

That said, 1970s experimentators, while being the first, were still not the masters in theirs own idioms. Those musicians weren’t mature artists, true authorities – they at best only resembled them. They were working in the times when accent was on innovations and break-troughs, and quality and maturity was sacrificed, in order to create base for future music that will go more evolved. What these musicians did with theirs early works is not creating masterpieces of “music of the future”, or creating “classical compositions of the future” that overcame classical music; what they did is prove that the world beyond exists, and offered the first sketches, showed some basic directions inside of that space and left to others to explore further.

What all was about on the end was not making the bridge between popular and classical circles, but something more grave -- a “war” within musical elite itself: the traditional elite rooted in the past, and the modernist elite rooted in the future. The obvious victory of the latter, that happened during 1970s, was to be hidden by presenting theirs works as classical-meets-pop affair; but popularity of the best modernist pieces was only the outcome of creativity of these records, not of trying to be popular in the manner of pop stars.

This "war" was essentially a generation issue. Electronic music was the true creativity of the new, cosmopolitan generations. There was a distinct feeling that these middle-leveled free experimentators were giving impulse to nothing else but to a new musical elite, different musical state and new common practice, that is to inherit existing dying classical aristocracy. Many battles had to be won again; these middle-leveled, home-based, “domestic” musicians were constantly challenged by barbaric pop, but without the help of the old elite. Classical music institutions were protecting the artist; but not the electronic one.

Obscured Geniuses

This was one of the reasons why these musicians never got the true media limelight. They did come to world fame, but without being visible in medias. They were far less known than theirs music. Even with his unprecedented concerts extravaganzas -- it is hard to believe but true -- JM Jarre was producing less public awareness than an every day gimmick of Madonna. Sometimes they were on the bitter side because of this.

Journalist: What would be the faults of Jean Michel Jarre ? Jean Michel Jarre: I am a bit marginal in the show business, because, for example, I don't sing, in a universe wherethe 3 minutes song is the only thing known! If there is no lyrics, there is a mistake in the mixing... I don't either do a music with the concept of downfall, like fallen damn rock.

Oldfield tried to explain like this:

Media just shy away from things they can't control. They'd much rather have a new Jason or Kylie album than something from a boy from down the road who's created something unique.

But it was also theirs reclusive character, striving away from being public characters, that much helped this. They were hiding themselves and preferring to remain hidden, rationalizing that on many ways, building mysterious identities and explaining how they think every popularity is bad.

Bob Doerschuk: Does get it harder for you to create as you become more famous? Vangelis: Oh, it's a tremendous problem. Sometimes I'm completely panicked. Like now, for example. I'm living in constant fear that I have too many social values, which creation doesn't have. To me, success has always been just a vehicle for me to keep this place, my laboratory alive, and to buy more synthesizers. For nobody is going to just give me money for that, you have to make it yourself. But the only responsibility I feel to myself now, is because of my popularity. I must ask myself, why is my music so popular now? Have I done anything wrong? I feel that it is possible for people with a lot of popularity to give something to listeners that could be very damaging".

Those who tried to embrace these musicians, didn’t know how. No one quite knew what to make out of them. Music of this "New Age" generation continued posing problems to music journalists who tried to find a fitting genre for it, or invent a new one. “I just can’t pin him down” was the reaction of one musical journalist on Jean Michel Jarre, who started as being seen as progressive rock, continued with synthesizer&electronic, euro-pop, electronic jazz, over New Age and ambient, to finish as dance, chill out and techno. As fashion changed, etiquettes changed.

The Paris Opera ballet will shortly dance to "Oxygene"; it is the first time that a No.1 on the charts will be heard at the Opera. It shows that music need not belong to a ghetto or specific category. Jean Michel Jarre

While being prowd on theris success in avoiding belonging to "a getho", they were certainly less happy about the fact that they were, basically, belonging nowhere.

The Growing Diversity

XX century will live to see the ever-growing diversity of produced music. This growing diversity of musical space did bring something positive -- freedom for experiment, that was lacking during classical times. There was now less rules, restrictions, have-to-s. Movie music was the frist to act on this way; soon pop music started giving signs of evolving, and was less and less in accordance with what pop music originally was about. Especially with progressive rock, pop musicians made more deep-sounding music than rock usually is, often going completely instrumental. Shadows, Fleetwood Mac, Yes and Genesis are examples of such rock-based more artistic music, these latter producing beautiful and famous instrumental piece Albatross.

But this freedom came with a price.

The openness and eclecticism of current musical life has been brought at the expense of a system of shared beliefs and values and a community of artistic concerns… Whether or not one likes what on hears, current music represents an honest, if unflattering, image of a cluttered and unfocused age. Robert P. Morgan, Twentieth-Century Music

Instead of musical art being one, as it was during classical period – despite all the variability between the authors - now there was coexistence – peaceful? - of isolated musical circles, incomparable since having different criteria, methods and aims. Movie music is supposed to work for movies, academical music was concert music with appreciation for abstract concepts, popular music was supposed to communicate towards vast audience on everyday basis etc. In all of that, the basic orientation is supposed to be provided by two most general sub-spaces: “academic” and “popular” music. However both of these spaces are lousily defined, which only continues to show that true orientation and understanding of modern day musical culture was lost. On Wikipedia, worlds largest free Internet encyclopedia, art music is currently understood as an umbrella term (term that is referring to largely distinct things):

Art music (or serious music) is an umbrella term generally used to refer to musical traditions implying advanced structural and theoretical considerations. /../ The term primarily refers to classical traditions (including contemporary as well as historical classical music forms) which focus on formal styles, invite technical and detailed deconstruction and criticism, and demand focused attention from the listener. /../ While basically referring primarily to Western historical classical music, the term may refer to: Classical music, whether European classical music or other cultures appearing in the List of classical music styles. Contemporary classical music, including electronic art music, experimental (art) music and minimalist music, as well as other forms. Some forms of jazz, excluding most forms generally considered to be popular music. Wikipedia

Popular music would be defined equally substance-less. This is the consequence of loss of notion of universal musicianship. A musician is expected to belong to a limited sub-space of musical space, from which he doesn’t step out of, nor even look outside of it. From the perspective of a listener, none of the products from these musical sub-spaces is addressing him as a universal listener. It is expecting him to act as a part of sub-space to which music belongs. Both as a professional musician and as a music lover, one is forced either to restrict oneself to one of numerous musical sub-spaces, or try to be many different things in the same time. While young people learn music inside of classical common practice, when they go home they listen to music which is outside of it.

From this perspective, times of classical music look much more idyllic than they probably were: one can only imagine a composer such as Beethoven, who could make any kind of music he wished to and remain who he is. Today, it is ridiculous even imagining something like academic composer writing rock music.

There was an almost urgent need to rediscover the inclusiveness that classical music possesed in its time. However, neither academic nor popular musicians were able to achieve this.

All Together Again?

All the cacophony of different etiquettes and names used for "New Age" music was for itself probably the best proof that this music was nothing of it, and all of it in the same time. This music seemingly had inclusiveness lost since the times of classical music. All existing musical genres saw it as having something to do with them. For example, JM Jarre was seen as synth-pop from the side of Kingsley (composer of “pop-corn” tune), considered for the follower of Pink Floyd and progressive rock from others, fans of Klaus Schulzte and Tangerine Dream were presenting him as influenced by them and the Berlin School, classical musicians saw him as commercializator of classical music; jazz musicians were seeing him as electronic jazz, while latter euro-pop, techno and dance musicians will, again, see him as their’s progeny. Others think this music is most naturally connected with film music.

Although having something to do with all these scenes, music of New Age generation was not mixture of all these musical genres, but extract of what is common to all music. Concentrating on what is in the base of all sorts of music, it was creating an awareness of our inner feel of “pure music”, “music as such”, regardless of the genre. New Age music converged somewhere else and above all the genres, to a plane that transcends all of them. It was bringing the idea of pure music of our times -- what classical music was in its age.

It was unexpected that this inclusiveness will be achieved, taking how multifarious, cluttered and seemingly irreconcilable modern musical space was. But this music was sublime enough to seemingly achieve that. Psychologists were using JM Jarre's "Oxygene" in therapy and it was in the same time danced in discos. And when it hit the top of the charts in the U.S., it hit the top of all charts.

It was top in jazz, pop, classical and even country. Jean Michel Jarre

Not only musical genres, but nations were transcended also. This music could have been equally intimately accepted by people of all nations.

The universality of this music was further proved by the kind of popularity that it enjoyed. While popularity of academic music evolved around respect decided inside of current professional circles, and popularity of popular music evolved around imposed fashions, universal popularity that this music enjoyed was based on beauty of music that is liked from inside, outside of pressures of current fashion and of commanded respect of academic circles, that both interfere with the actual experience of music. Value of New Age pieces was decided by honest communication of our inner experiences. And this is very important. This was the case during XIX century, when agreement on values was essentially reached through agreement of how we subjectively see things. We have a natural need for such kind of agreement. However, XX century academic circles pracitacly supressed honest personal opinions and replaced them with intelectualized and very abstract talk. Pop circles were similarly dependent on media "hypes". Music of New Age musicians however didn’t need neither media hype nor commanded respect of academic world to become popular; audiences didn’t have to like it in any way, what’s more, they didn’t even want to like it, yet they did. It was like a force of nature.

And on the peek, New Age authors also managed to disturb the division between “serious” and “pop” music. The well-established XX century concept of masses that do not need anything apart from basic pop music, as opposed to elite that from the other side make and consume very intellectualized, tough to understand, “non-accessible” music, was denied.

I think maybe we tend to think that the only possible music is a song that's three minutes long. Just as, on the other hand we forget that Mozart wrote some pop songs for the society of his time, and even made some pieces for dancing, for balls, which were the discos of that time. Jean Michel Jarre

Jean Michel Jarre didn't arrive to make universally liked music by accident. Contemporary classical music, where he belonged on the beginning, bothered him because of its reactionary spirit, and its powerlessness to communicate towards general audiences.

Before I left the Center, I made electronic music for the Opera of Paris. It was the first time that electronic music had entered this bastion of tradition. They made me paint the loudspeakers gold to match the decor, which should tell you something. The music I did then was quite different from Oxygene, but that was maybe the beginning for me, because the occasion was quite important in France. I came into contact with the media, and I realized how isolated we are as composers. A century ago there were no such barriers. Tchaikovsky, for instance, conducted his orchestra in front of his public. Now. you have recording studios, you have record companies, you have TV, radio, the press, hi-fi, loudspeakers, and then the public. If you don't know how to go through these channels, you are losing your function as an artist, which is communication. Jean Michel Jarre

So belonging to neither the established musical circles yet being successful, these composers could take pride in making the fact that music does not need any kind of state push more apparent than even the greatest classical composers.

No Mans Land

Music that possesses universal virtues needs no help of rhetorics and musical state to make its impact. But if that rhetorics is not there, something is wrong. While we get to know music through our subjectivity and individuality, we also want these inner impressions of ours to be affirmed through talk with others. That affirms our impression of complete reality of the world that we felt inside the music that touches us; without such sharing, the music itself starts to lose its reality. It is wrong when we can’t even speak about what is happening and make a community of concerns and values, such as that which existed in classical music period. As Felix Mendelssohn was telling to his sister:

Do not commend what is new until it has made some progress in the world and acquired a name, for until then it is a mere matter of taste.

Established musical world, that had a monopoly on musical talk, ceased to justly comment on New Age generation. When written about, whether from pop, classical or avant-garde writers, it was covered on a wrong and superficial way.

New Age is to remain an ambiguous body of music to these days. It never formed a musical scene in the way of classical, jazz or pop music. Each of the authors was to remain a world for himself. Unlike classical times when composers inter-mixed, made friendships, and helped each other, these musicians never mixed and collaborated. While that was also a part of its charm, it was also irritating and disturbing. It certainly slowed down the advancements in the field.

Isn’t it weird that I'm the only instrumental writer apart from Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis? I'd like to see somebody come and play differently from everybody else, not using the Blues scale, not turning into jazz, but making something new out of nothing. I'd like to see more variety, honesty, creativity, uniqueness! Mike Oldfield

So music was there, musicians were there, audiences were there, but there was no one to talk about it. So music lovers out there were left alone with that vague but deep impression about some transcendent level of music that the music of this generation of musicians suggested.