Writes Stirling Newberry:

>What is "Music of our times" but a desire to allow mediocrity to pass as
>important? What is "accessible" but a paean to pedestrianism?

I do not think accessible means pedestrian.  Accessible for me can be
Bartok or Nielsen or Nancarrow, but not one of those Princeton dudes
(Babbitt for example) who think they are doing quantum field theory.  In
a moment of elderly exuberance I bought the complete works of Varese.  Bad
mistake!!  I can conceive of no circumstance when I want to play it again.
If yhis marks me as pedestrian or mediocre so be it.  A lot of damage is
being done and has been done to contemporary music by composers who are not
particularly interested in listeners.  B Chasan

Professor Bernard Chasan
Physics Department, Boston University