Bernard Chasan writes:

>...the canon is to orchestras what comfort food is to restaurants,
>but is it really enough? Is that all there is? Is the canon a reason to be
>smug and complacent? Should we accept uncritically the collective wisdom
>of the tastemakers? Is there no value to discovery?

As long as we're with the restaurant trope, let's try it this way:  the
canon of classical music is what a Michelin three-star restaurant is to
fancy dining.  Understandably, even a gourmet wouldn't want to subsist on
that kind of a diet consistently.  There's nothing wrong with a pastrami
sandwich at the Essex Delicatessen for a lunch or for some DimSun now and
then.

But you're not likely to succeed in running a three-star place, with
three-star prices, while serving extra-canon fare such pastrami on Jewish
rye, DimSun, or, come to think of it, high-tech, low-bulk, hi-calorie space
rations.

Denis Fodor