John Smyth replies to me replying to Robert:

>>Yes: You don't like Bruch or Hovhaness as much as you do Mahler
>>and Brahms, for whatever reason.  It may be the one the author cites.
>>However, Mozart doesn't modulate all that much.  Neither does Josquin
>>or Byrd.  On the other hand, Reger, Raff, and Petterson-Berger jump
>>around tonally like fleas on brick.
>
>It's all in the delivery.  Music is like a pick-up line at a bar--some
>people can get away with "Let's go baby," and others have to do a lot
>of talking first.  It all depends on what you can get away with.

It also depends on a receptive listener.  To continue the bar analogy: in
some way, the pick-up artist is the target's type.

Steve Schwartz