Concerning avant-gardeists, Sterling Newberry wrote:

>>I have been preaching truce, clearly this is stupid of me - the
>>avant-garde and its art is based on lies, because it chooses a dishonest
>>version of history as the support for its existence."

Steve Schwartz responded:

>This isn't a sound conclusion.  The art and the history, the art and the
>artist, are different things.  You can show some disreputable artists.
>You can show some reputable ones.  I DON'T BELIEVE ONE JUDGES A PERSON'S
>CHARACTER BY THE STYLE OF ART THAT PERSON PRODUCES.  AS FAR AS I KNOW, ONE
>JUDGES A WORK OF ART AND A PERSON BY DIFFERENT CRITERIA."

Sterling Newberry wrote:

>>Clearly the only hope for art is to erase it down to the bed rock, and
>>perhaps, in a century or so, people will rediscover it, this time divorced
>>from its propoganda, and treat it as art, rather than as excellent raw
>>material for tank treads.

...and Steve Schwartz responded:

>Take ten slow, deep breaths.

The emphasis above is mine.  I decided it was high time that I looked into
just what kind of music Sterling Newberry might be writing, and to see if
I could enjoy it.  ENJOYMENT is my first consideration when it comes to
art, though it isn't the ONLY consideration.

Before getting into that let me say that as far as I'm concerned the New
York Times has gone downhill in just about every regard.  Not only are
Griffiths' comments unsupportable, they're ignorant as well as ingratiating
to the likes of Pierre Boulez? Boulez has to his credit turned out some
neat performances in his day, but he as also said some things that border
on the irrational, such as suggesting that the past history of music and
art is nothing but garbage that should be swept away.  One usually takes
such comments as the mutterings of a mind bordering on lunacy.  What I'm
suggesting is that Griffiths' comments are less than unimportant.

But what of Sterling Newberry's own music? Can we judge the character of a
person by the style of art they produce? Think about it.  A person with a
decided interest in porn is going to express it in his or her art.  What is
the character of a porn obsessed person? I think there IS a connection here
whether we want to accept it or not.

I went to the page at:

   http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/7/stirling_newberry.html

and began to listen.

The first thing I noticed is that I was going to have to endure sampled
synthetic tones.  OK, very well, I am used to this from my own
compositions.

I tried a few things and lost interest, might have to go back and try
again.

But then I tried the Quartets: the one in D and the one called Roman
Elegies.  I found myself listening to works that I MYSELF MIGHT HAVE
WRITTEN!!!  The textures were remarkably similar, the harmonies too.  The
biggest differences between these and my own quartets, I have written two
myself, are that they have far more elongated forms than mine.  But they
are not unpolished.  In fact there is much subtlety and sophistication in
these works.  I'd love to hear a real quartet tackle them!

THEY ARE TONAL!!!  Not only that but they employ various devices to shift
the tonal center.  One feels that there really is somewhere these pieces
are going.  They are not aimless, though occasionally meandering.  My own
ideas usually take a far more direct route than Sterling's.

The only place you can hear one of my pieces right now is at

   http://www.geocities.com/dburton_1951/F000108.html

as background music.

This is the first movement of my Op 18 sonata for flute and piano. The
flute part is not really distinguishable from the piano part in this
version, sorry.

Just about everyone who hears this will say, WOW, IT'S TONAL and sounds
familiar, but the juxtaposition of thematic elements is what makes the
composition, ANY COMPOSITION, work.  By the way, I wrote this movement at
break neck speed in 1996 in three days and didn't change a thing after
writing it.  It came to me in this form.

I could care less whether Griffiths ever hears it!!!

David Burton