Wednesday, June 08, 2005
who's in, who's out?
This is, as we all know, a great forum with a very spirited discourse that is healthy, and reflects the diversity of thought that characterizes the musical/creative world. Given some comments recently about Varese being "second-rate" and just no longer relevant, it got me thinking about many other posts from the recent past about individual composers. Not to get back into this list thing, but here's what I pretty much distilled from many comments within the past few months (DISCLAIMER: this is not comprehensive. Some composers will be omitted unintentionally. My apologies in advance):
Who's In:
- John Adams
- Steve Reich
- Philip Glass
- Harry Partch
- Gyorgy Ligeti
- Pierre Boulez
- (the late) George Rochberg
- Elliot Carter
- Milton Babbitt
OK...the first first four on my list are composers I have always liked, and still do, so I'm with the in crowd there. I also like many of Ligeti's works, especially Lontano and Atmospheres, am ok with his string quartet and a few other later works, suspect he's a tad overrated, but am fine with most people really liking his music. Rochberg I respect, but never really got into his violin concerto, but I'm still probably fine.
But I'm definitely not with the in crowd regarding Boulez, Carter and Babbitt. Well, no one's perfect, so let's look at who's out per the Forum:
Who's Out:
- Edgard Varese
- Arnold Schoenberg
- Lorin Maazel
I can't comment specifically on Maazel (I like his conducting, but have not heard 1984) so I'll give the forum a pass on that one. But I'm in really bad shape with Varese and Schoenberg. I still like their music, and it doesn't matter to me if Varese lacks expressive range or if the 12-tone technique has become irrelevant.
So I'm in sync with some of the consensus opinions (points for liking the minimalists and Partch and being 80% favorably disposed towards Ligeti) and way out of sync because I think Varese and Schoenberg are ok and really can't stand most of the music of Boulez, Carter or Babbitt. (ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER: I'm not disputing that Pierre, Elliott or Milton are nice people and perhaps fabulous teachers. This is just business; it's not personal).
At first I was worried I was out of the mainstream (as if I were a die-hard liberal in the US these days...oh wait, I am). Then I came to my senses and stopped worrying.
So here's my question:
Not that it really matters at all, but who is "in" and who's "out" in your opinion? Does anyone lose credibility because he or she admits to liking (or disliking) certain composers? For example, if someone was really not happy with one of the composers in favor, should that matter?
posted by David Toub
9:04 PM
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