Steve Schwartz  writes:

>I think you're asking for the wrong thing.  How about classical music
>tolerates less freedom of "arrangement" than does pop? For example, "Blue
>Moon" as doo-wop, by Bolcom and Morris, or by Billie Holiday is still "Blue
>Moon." Beethoven's Fifth and that disco classic "A Fifth of Beethoven"
>aren't both Beethoven's Fifth.

This distinction rings truer than the drumbeat test!!!  Perhaps it can
be taken a step further:  classical music is less tolerant of arrangement
because it is generally more structured and complex than popular music.
So the pieces work together in a given way - in the manner that a Boeing
747 works best if the pieces are not radically rearranged.  A kite, on the
other hand, may be fooled with in various ways and will still fly.  Or is
this a tad far fetched?

Bernard Chasan