Steve Schwartz scripsit, responding to Miles Hoffman (via Jon Gallant):

>I hate to point this out, but people don't understand Beethoven now.
>They may enjoy him, but that's a different thing.  I enjoy lots of
>things I don't understand.

Sagely said.  You remind me of a conversation I had with Hans Keller
some 25 years ago.  Hans was poking questions at me to find out where
my musical reflexes were and asked me what I thought of late Beethoven.
I said that I was profoundly moved by something like Op. 131 but found
it very difficult to get my brain round the musical processes at work.
Hans responded: "If you are profoundly moved, there is already a glimmer
of understanding".

Jon mentioned Per Norgard, too.  I was interviewing Per before the UK
premiere of his Sixth Symphony, and he was explaining that the music was
intended to explore the bass regions of the orchestra.  As he went into
ever-deeper detail, I asked him whether he expected his audiences to
perceive what was going on.  His response: "How many people understand
a Bach fugue".

Cheers
Martin

Martin Anderson
Toccata Press/Toccata Classics
www.toccatapress.com