John Smyth replies to me:

>...  The Puccini works *are* modern but certainly not cutting-edge.
>
>My point was that his own voice was good enough, and has served him better
>in the long-run than any of the "update patches" of others he stuck on to
>modernize his works.

But is this surprising? I mean, a technique is in itself aesthetically
neutral.  It's not that Puccini uses dissonance or irregular rhythms that
make his music great.  It's the particular dissonances and irregular
rhythms, among other things, he comes up with.

Steve Schwartz