Karl Miller writes:

>In my class in contemporary music, taken by most of the composition
>majors, I had them listen to...Penderecki (at that time he was still
>avant garde), Boulez, Stockhausen, Pousseur, Berio et al.  ...  I doubt
>the person on the street these days, would be able to name any composer.
>Similarly, it seems like we don't have icons anymore.

Karl's list of avant garde composers tells us precisely why the general
public no longer pays any attention to serious music, and why even the
music-loving public stays away in droves from any concerts involving
music by what was formerly termed "the avant garde".  Thanks loads Pierre,
Karl-Heinz, Henri, and Luciano, not to mention al.

BTW, an article ("Music's Missing Magic" by Miles Hoffman) in the current
issue of the Wilson Quarterly perceptively analyzes just what the "avante
garde" threw away when it abandoned tonality in music.

Cheers///JON