Dave Harman <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>Jocelyn Wang wrote:
>
>>Yeah, we need more cacophony.  If it weren't for guys like them, who would
>>make listeners wary of anything composed in the last 70 years or so?
>
>That statement could be applied to any period in Music history.  Have you
>ever read the 'critical' reaction to Beethovan's 2nd symphony when it was
>premiered?

Your analogy is flawed because 1.) Beethoven did not write any atonal
works, 2.) his music never made concert-goers wary of anything else
composed contemporaneously, and 3.) it has been 75 years or so since the
spread of the atonal plague, and all the fuss about Beethoven was well
forgotten by the time 75 years had passed, but it is still safe to say that
the vast majority of concert-goers or very much put off by atonality.

Steve Schwartz <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>Technically speaking, it isn't cacophony any more than it's noise.

On that point, we agree.

>It's simply music you don't happen to like.

On that point, we do not.

Jocelyn Wang
Culver Chamber Music Series