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Sat, 3 Mar 2001 14:28:32 -0700 |
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Ed Zubrow wrote:
>Karl might want to look into a book called "Understanding Toscanini" by
>Joseph Horowitz. He talks extensively about the way "masterpieces" got
>defined (at least in the US) by market forces as well as esthetic
>considerations.
So called "masterpieces" get defined by repetition. The music gets played
over and over again until regular listeners become so familiar with the
music they think it's a 'masterpiece'. The reverse happens to those whose
music hardly ever gets performed. Concertgoers, who resent having to work
at listening by hearing something relatively unfamiliar, assume that the
less a piece is performed, the less of a masterpiece it is. Everyone on
this list knows composers whose music they admire and enjoy but who are
almost unknown to the general concert-going public.
And symphony orchestra management knows what music is the "masterpieces"
Hence, every concert I've gone to I have to sit through the umteenth
performance of a "masterpiece" in order to hear the music I came to the
concert to hear origionally.
Dave Harman
El Paso, Tx
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