Mark Landson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Joel, promoting his recent piano works, said that it was time for " the
>rest of us" to take back classical music.  An unpleasant performance from
>someone who should know better.

I understand Joel's anger.  For a long time I was really incensed at the
lack of contemporary composers speaking in a language I wanted to listen
to.  In fact, that was the reason I began composing in the first place.
I thought that atonality was the problem, but ugly and dissonant sounds are
only a part of the problem.  After all, in an age where "distorted electric
guitar" defines the accepted popular aesthetic, it's difficult to say that
most people don't like modern classical music because it is ugly.  For
sure, the people who are attracted to the beauty of Mozart, Bach, and other
classical composers of the past are generally not attracted to an ugly
aesthetic.  And the people who are attracted to Nine Inch Nails are not
attracted to music that is organized in a way which is not easily
understandable.  My theory is that the aesthetics of much of the last
century are conveying philosophies which are not shared nor received well
by either side.