Jeff Dunn wrote:

>One element in the relative neglect of Rochberg seem to me to be
>political--some will never forgive him for turning tail on atonality.
>Also, some who have heard his masterpiece Piano Quintet (1976) cannot
>forgive him writing one modernist movement along with one exactly in the
>style of Schumann (and just as good as Schumann, I may add!).

Even better is the slow movement of the Third Quartet which could have been
taken from a Beethoven late quartet, I guess the one the Beethoven didn't
write.  Some saw this as a party trick, but for me this movement is the
emotional center of the quartet, extremely moving, magnificent music qua
music.

One other thing: I heard Isaac Stern play the violin concerto with the
St. Louis Symphony, not long after he'd premiered it, and the composer
was there.  I spoke with him afterwards and found him to be a charming,
gracious, serious-minded man who took the time to chat with me about some
of the structural elements of the concerto.  Our tete-a-tete was broken up
when Stern came up and told a racy joke!

Scott Morrison