Chris L Beckwith wrote:

>Ah yes, but on the other hand, much 20th century classical music has
>seriously alienated popular audiences.  (Schoenberg and his acolytes
>could clear a concert hall in minutes).  Funny when you realize that many
>serious 20th century compositions have found more receptive homes on the
>soundtracks of horror films than in concert halls.  Otherwise, serious
>music - dissonant, atonal - has fallen victim to its own cutting edge.
>(I recently picked up Kagel's "1898" - I don't listen to it much.)

This is true, of course, but only part of the picture.  You are limiting
your discussion to the atonal and "heavily dissonant composers.  What about
Barber, Copland, Rorem, Diamond, Menotti, Britten, Shostakovich, Prokofiev,
Milhaud, Poulenc, Auric, etc etc?

>Odd also that so many serious composers dismissed Gorecki's 3rd symphony
>as reactionary kitsch when it first appeared in the seventies.

That was a reactionary trend rooted soley in its time, I believe.  How
many avant garde pieces of the seventies are still played today? Most of
those scores are collecting dust on library shelves and are only pulled
down for discussion in contemporary notation classes.  I think that you
need to put the music of the 60's and 70's avant garde in its proper
historical perspective.  After all, that was the era of Viet Nam,
Haight-Ashbury and lots of protest!

>Clearly the public felt differently, embracing the Upshaw recording
>(to the tune of over a million sold - truly rock 'n' roll numbers) when
>the piece was reintroduced in the early nineties.  What does this say?:
>there's a huge public out there willing to buy and listen to new music by
>contemporary classical composers.  The problem, simply, is many composers
>have failed to step up to the plate.

It is because the public is usually afraid of anything new.  This is
not a recent phenomenon.  The critics hated Berlioz.  People raged over
Wagner.  Stravinsky induced riots.  Now they are a part of the acceped
canon.  I don't think that it is a matter of composers failing, rather,
of audiences being unwilling to change their ears.

>Why is it so difficult for contemporary composers to find common ground
>with the public? My patience for music that sounds little better than my
>alarm clock on a Monday morning has grown thin.

As well it should.  If you go back to the vaults you will also find tons
of tedious Baroque, Romantic and Classical music that no one plays anymore.
Why? Because it stinks!  The good stuff survives, and this will happen with
music of our own time.  We probably won't be around to see it though!

Kevin Sutton