Donald Satz wrote:

>Bernard Chasan writes:
>
>>This will get me voted off the island:
>>
>>St. Matthew Passion
>>Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (finale)
>
>Seriously, those are two fantastic pieces of music.  What's not to like?
>I'm from the Enquirer, and I want to know.

When Comissioner Satz asks, we acolytes  must reply.

Concerning the Ninth Symphony, the finale is  (to me) a letdown
after the boldness and edgy  beauty  of the earlier movements.

As for the Passion, my reaction is not based on the music, but on the
content.  The music is simply too sectarian for my tastes.  I know that
some listeners, not necessarily Christian, find the music magnificent,
and its emotional intensity of univeral appeal.  I don't find that to
be so.  It is simply not the religious content per se that puts me off
- I can listen to the Missa Solemnis twice a day because I find  that
its Christian message somehow does transcend narrow sectarianism in a
most magnificent manner.

John Parker has a posting on this list in which he says that our dislike
of specific works of great music is based on our flaws, not the composer.
Well, of course this is a kind of parlor game which has nothing to do
with the composer, but simply reflects our personal and complex responses
to the music.  But this response is in my view, not based on a flaw. We
are not obligated to love everything.  Perhaps we cannot.  It also should
be noted that these responses are not fixed in stone.  Only recently did
I finally begin to appreciate George Rochberg's music after years of
considering him not quite authentic.

Bernard Chasan