On Friday the NYT had an appreciation and short discography of five
late twentieth century composers.  It was a bit of an odd mix- Hartke,
Corigliano, Schnittke, Berio, Messiaen.  The last three are almost modern
classics, after all, but the discographies are useful, and I was left
quite eager to hear Hartke's music.

There used too be more of this activity on our list.  Steve Schwartz
does a good deal of it, and others do so on occasion.  I hope that still
others convey their contemporary enthusiams as well.  This list often
seems preoccupied with the best performances of great symphonies, and
the best performances almost invariably turn out to be fifity years old,
lending a distinctly antiquarian cast to this list.  Likewise many of
us recently chose to discuss our "comfort music'.  No reason to give
any of that that up- but let us share our discoveries as well.

Bernard Chasan