Walter writes:

>Among the successive lists that I see posted in this poll, I see more and
>more lists w/ fewer and fewer works from the second half of this century.
>I wonder if this has some significance.

One significance for me is that most of us don't know the works from
the second half of the century or have as great a familiarity with them.
I would also say that we don't have the luxury of time - only fifty as
opposed to one hundred years - to sift things out and to gain perspective.
I can certainly name composers and works I like from the second half of
the century.  I can't yet, however, tell you what the major movements have
been, as I can for the first half of the century.  For example, it seems
to me that minimalism and neo-Romanticism have at least been "in the news."
Whether these are signficant or even all that different remains to be seen.
They may well turn out to be part of something larger.  Then there are
composers who don't seem to fit into any trend, at least I don't see it
yet.  Where do Larsen, Daugherty, Knussen, Rouse, Kernis, or Weigel fit?
What do we make of eclectics like Bolcom or Ades? Are Paert, Vasks, and
Gorecki more than flashes in the pan? Are these merely sports or part of
something larger?

Steve Schwartz