John Smyth writes:

>If you wanted to fault Tan Dun's *execution,* that's one thing, but to
>view eclecticism as something that "dilutes what's left of the purity...."
>is dancing on the edge of a slipery slope indeed.

Being on the edge is no big deal when falling off doesn't hurt.  John seems
to have a very favorable view of eclecticism in music.  What are its primary
advantages?  I'm game for mulling it over and doing some rethink.

John mentioned that he does not doubt the sincerity of folks who cry when
listening to music.  I also don't doubt the sincerity, since crying is a
natural response mechanism.  Both my parents and my brother cried now and
then when listening to music; their reactions were certainly sincere.
However, each of them tended to have extreme reactions to stimuli of all
types.

The last item brought up by John was that I am trying in my reviews
to excavate "that elusive, lost composers sound world." News flash -
it isn't elusive at all, but is actually easy to find in the recordings
of many artists.  There are performers who try their best to convey a
composer's soundworld and succeed, those who try and fail, and those who
make little or no attempt(different agenda).  The whole point of this
soundworld business is that performers who succeed in finding it tend
to provide the best that the composer has to offer.

Don Satz
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