Denis Fodor replies to me:

>>At this point, I wish to make it clear that I've got nothing against the
>>RC... For those of you who want examples (and to show that I'm not
>>handwaving), I'd offer the following:
>
>Steve then spins into a listing of "top fifty," a roster which looks kosher
>enough except, notably, for its lack of even a single Italian composer (but
>the inclusion of Copland).  Are Rossini, Verdi and Puccini mere chopped
>fegato?

You give me too much credit for forethought.  Yes, these are serious
omissions, but don't read anything into their omission other than the
fact that they didn't occur to me at the time, and I wasn't aiming at
completeness.

>And if the inclusion of an American is judged to be de rigueur, why not
>then Ives, who conveys both innovative genius and the American sound in
>such works as the New England Symphony and George Washington's Birthday.

I would say largely because more Copland is played and recorded -- at least
in the US -- than Ives.

>Moreover, to sniff away the RC as a nothing more than a compendium of
>European continental music that happens to have been favored for
>generations of degenerates is tantamount to a retraction of the
>claim there's no prejudice against the RC.

Is this what you read?  My hand to God ...

Of course, if what you're advocating is the RC as a Platonic expression of
Artistic Goodness, it's up to you to show it.  And "generations have trod,
have trod, have trod" is merely vox populi fallacy in a slightly tonier
form.

Steve Schwartz