Robert Stumpf, II <[log in to unmask]>:

>I have been wondering what makes some composers, such as Bruch, on a
>lower tier as compared to many of his contemporaries such as Mahler,
>Tchaikovsky and Brahms.

Nothing.  In many cases that may be just a temporary judice.  I've
known at least one person who began to listen seriously and even
fanatically to Bruch after feeling tired of Mahler's rhetorics.

>Listening to Bruch is eventually not involving because of the
>predictability due to the relationship with the tonal center.  He fears
>to travel far from it.  Mahler, on the other hand, has no such fear and
>takes us on a more interesting journey.

Don't think so.  Bruch's music is not always "predictable".  But if tonal
"predictibility" is a musical value, then Ravel's "Bolero" would be a
mediocre work, like many Schubert's Lieder.

Pablo Massa
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