Jon Gallant <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>My own favorite example of non-original music is Thomas Canning's Fantasy
>On a Hymn Tune.  It is utterly beautiful, and is exactly what RVW WOULD
>HAVE DONE with the same hymn tune.  What kind of aesthetic hierarchy
>could rank a work this beautiful in a low category? A puzzlement.

It is the same aesthetic hierarchy that has placed the work of many tonal
composers of the mid 20th Century into oblivion.  The same thing happened
to Bach just after he died.  Many years ago I was asked to do a review
of Wuorinen's book "Simple Composition." In the preface he wrote something
like, "anyone who is doing any serious composing these days is utilizing
the 12 tone technique."

It is also the same aesthetic hierarchy that dismisses Piston's music
as "academic," or Poulenc's as "trivial" or any other aesthetic that,
at least from my perspective, attempts to judge music on any terms other
than its own merits.

By the way, I wish I could find other works by Canning...all I can find
are a few choral works and piece for organ.

Karl

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