Karl Miller:

>...does one need to know about some aesthetic to judge music or should
>the music be judged on its own terms?  It seems to me that good music
>defines its own aesthetic.

I guess I can say yes to all of this!  But the trick for the listener
is understanding just what the music's "own terms" or its "own aesthetic"
is.  That's not always evident, especially if it is different from what
you already know or if it departs from a familiar tradition.  Surely it
is possible for an articulate composer to help us out verbally in such
cases.

Jim Tobin