Jocelyn Wang wrote:

>I'm not the biggest fan of Hindemith, either, but, yes, he has composed
>many works worth performing.  We have presented his works a number of
>times.  I would venture to say that the closed-minded reaction you
>described was a case of Hindemith was being found guilty by association--
>not because he composed atonal works (he didn't), but because of when he
>lived.  He's not the only composer of the past 80 years to have experienced
>such reluctance because so many, rightly or wrongly (but understandably),
>have had so many unpleasant experiences from atonal works, which are often
>associated with being "modern."

He can be so dreary.

My trumpet playing daughter, 16, brought home a Hindemith piece today
in which she is soloist.  She does not like the piece at all.  "Give it
a chance," I suggested.  We'll see.  I have a soft spot for Hindemith
because he wrote the textbook upon which my high school music theory class
was based, and I consider that course to have been the most useful one I
had in all of high school.  I still remember a lot of it all these years
on!

Mitch Friedfeld