Don Satz raises some interesting ideas (please excuse the clipping):

>But, in the world of current day pop music, the songs are just as sweet and
>cloying as ever, and I, as usual, find them hard to take.

Could it be, then, that classical reviews reflect the anti-pop views of so
many classical music lovers? That is, with pop songs "as sweet and cloying
as ever" (and I think that it all too true), are classical reviewers --
some of whom also hear a lot of pop music -- almost rebelling, demanding
less "sweet and cloying" sounds from new classical recordings?

>It could be that in an age of reason/logic (if that's what we are in) the
>tendency would be to keep one's cool and not go overboard.

I think I disagree with that.  I come across a lot of people for whom logic
is a completely foreign concept.  I think that, generally -- meaning *not*
in the academic world --, people are driven by faith and emotion as much
as ever before.  In this era of "positive reinforcement," it's as important
as ever to feel good.  (Sorry for diverging from music for a moment.)

I think that ideas about what sounds good change over time.  Before the
period performance movement, I imagine that audiences would not have
accepted a substantially thinner string sound, not to mention other period
accoutrements like gut strings.  Perhaps Alan Dudley's observation merely
points out a trend in audiences that started with the period performance
movement, something that certainly emphasized less "sugary" performances.

Jeff Grossman
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