Chapter 186 (1/2)
Volume 5 / Chapter 186
TL: LightNovelCafe
“I’m sure you all know, but these 12 songs are now at the same starting point. The ranking is meaningless now. We didn’t choose the best but just had them pass the baseline. Please keep in mind that they are just boxers who have passed the weight test. Now, we’re only thinking of the best regardless of the ranking from yesterday. We’ll be starting the first vote.”
The 12 judges wrote the song that they think is number 1 and handed it to the committee head.
After checking the titles written on the papers multiple times, she looked surprised. The result is completely different from what she had been expecting.
“Well, this is an interesting result. I thought the result would come out in one try.”
Marion Cotillard put the papers on the conference room table and announced the result.
“6 votes, 5 votes, 1 vote. As none of them have over ⅔ of the votes, or over 8, we need to vote again.”
The winning song needs to have 8 out of 12 votes. They will either debate the songs and vote again until there is a result. If they vote hundreds of times and the committee head believes that they cannot come to a conclusion, the competition rule is to decide on a 2nd and 3rd place without a 1st place winner.
“6 votes were for‘World of Europe,’ 5 votes are for ‘Choral Concerto’. The last one with 1 vote is ‘Deception’.”
After knowing the results, a few people had looks of disbelief.
“I think we need to discuss at this point.”
In contrast to when they had been choosing the 12th place, someone started speaking immediately after the committee head spoke as though he had been waiting. It was in a high voice.
“Honestly, I don’t understand. I thought there would be votes in opposition, but 5 votes? Isn’t it a blessing that such a large song has been created so perfectly in the 21st century?”
“I assume you’re talking about the choral concerto?”
“Yes. That’s the one I’m talking about.”
“Don’t you think you’re overestimating it? A large song does not equate with a great song.”
“Do you think I’m only saying this because of the length of the song and the number of instruments organized in it? If the choral concerto is not a great song, what is?”
If the interpretation of the work had been different, it would not have been so frustrating. Everyone knew that the cause for opposing the song lay elsewhere.
“Isn’t it a song following Beethoven’s choral?”
“Following? Only the vocal is the same. Isn’t it the Schiller poem that everyone knows? They just used the same song. It’s an entirely different music. On top of that, it’s not in German but in English.”
“It’s not only that. This was created with the purpose of being compared with Beethoven. How could the instrument times be the same by movement? The number of bars is the same as well.”
The reason for opposition eventually came out. It was the rogue intent to drag Beethoven in for attention. Their sincerity, however, did not appear.
“Very well. We admit that the composer’s intention is too obvious. But why are we trying to censor composers’ thoughts as judges? We need to judge based on the music itself.”
“That’s right. The image that Beethoven’s choral symphony has – a large song, vocal, and Schiller’s poem. You’re dragging this through as though it is plagiarism…”
“Who said that it is plagiarism?”
Even the opposing side was defending it against plagiarism.
“Just looking at the 1st movement with a subject that is continued perfectly, it is different from the abilities of other participants. And what about the symphony of the 2nd and 3rd movements? I felt like I was looking at the harmony of soprano duet. There’s nothing more to say about the 4th movement. I felt like my heart was collapsing around that catharsis.”
The other judges were only listening. What they had felt about the song had not been very different. They just differentiate between feeling and evaluation.
“I can’t remember the last time I felt something like this… Did you get this kind of emotion from ‘World of Europe’? Isn’t it a song that combines many European folk songs in order to throw awareness of a problem?”
As the praises for the choral symphony continued, the real reason for not giving it their votes came out.
“Can’t we simply think of it as the composer having some fun? If it hadn’t been for the vocal part with lyrics from Schiller’s ‘Ode to Joy,’ it would have gotten all 12 votes without argument.”
“Are you saying that we should go upstream to the era of classical again?”
“What are you talking about? What era is there to music? If the work is good, that should be everything for the evaluation.”