Albie Cabrera on the Received Canon:

>Whatever it is...  beneficial or not...  it *is*.

Is it? Getting down to business, there is no RC at all that anyone could
come up with that would gain universal acceptance.  The whole notion is
bogus and a waste of time.  It's like coming up with a list of the 25
sexiest men and women on the planet - depends who provides the list.

>And it's a challenge in itself to break away from it when the general CM
>world/CM powers-that-be constantly pushes it on you.

Come on now - nobody is pushing anything on anyone.  Each of us is free to
seek out what we want and easily avoid getting sucked up into some kind of
'follow the leader' game, particularly since there is no leader to follow.
And if you think there is a leader, I'd love to know the name.

Let's take this one more time from the top and put the RC puppy to rest.
A particular individual loves 20th century and modernist classical works.
He/she seeks out concerts and recordings devoted to these types of works.
This person has his/her own preferences and no notion of a received canon
matters one bit to the individual.  The RC is a moot issue since it doesn't
really exist except for those who wish to claim it exists; however, those
folks could never prove it exists or prove what it consists of.

If you love Tchaikovsky, go for it, but don't tell me that he or any of
his works are part of the received canon.  Essentially, who cares? Those
who love his music listen to it; those who don't just stay away from it.
What's the point of taking this any further?

Concerning folks new to classical music, they need no received canon.
All they need is their ears and a little common sense.

Don Satz
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