I find it odd that this composer's works should become the focus of
a discussion on ugliness in modern music.  I came across her music a
few years ago and was immediately taken with her work which I find dark,
intense, and maybe on the verge of painful at times, but ugly is the last
thing that comes to my mind.  And I doubt that anyone can say with any
confidence that Ustvoskaya is responding to the ugliness of the times with
her music because I do not think this composer, who apparently is a near
hermit, has ever had much to say about it.  Frankly, I have heard very
little art music I would consider "ugly".  Is music that is harsh, overly
aggressive, arhythmic, unsettling, nerve-wracking, annoying, or infuriating
by definition ugly? I don't think so, but even if I were to concede an
objective ugliness to some music, I don't see how Ustvoskaya's work falls
in that category.

And anyway, I would never concede such a thing as objective ugliness in
art.  I can be moved, intrigued, and sometimes delighted by music that
raises the hackles on my neck and feels like a nail through my eardrums.
If it engages me, then as far as I'm concerned it has accomplished what
I seek from art and in that sense it contains a kind of strange beauty.
I know this sounds like a kind of aesthetic nihilism and I'm not always
comfortable with this notion that every artistic and moral judgment is
basically an individual decision.

But what can I do? I know what I like.

Regards,
John Parker
Tucson, Arizona