John Dalmas wrote:

>Who, according to Schiff, were the giants of all the musical giants?

I haven't seen the article, but looking at the list it looks like he
was trying to come up with a list of the most influential music-makers
in 20th-century culture.  I didn't like the list, but when I think about
it it's hard for me to know whom I would remove and whom I would add, if
I adopt what I guess to be his criteria.  But influential in what way?
The way they have shaped musical culture in the Western world? If he's
going global, I might argue for either Ali Akbar Khan or Ravi Shankar
(my personal preference is the former).  But sticking to Western culture,
I might offer the following reasons for NON-inclusion just to get some
discussion going...  (in some cases I am playing the devil's advocate,
but I refrain from saying which ones)

Richard Strauss: Presided over the death throes of romanticism.  Most
famous works mostly written in the 19th century.

The Tunesmiths (Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Cole Porter,
Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen): Their importance was eclipsed somewhat
after mid-century.

Louis Armstrong: A giant to be sure, but I can't include him until I
know how much of what he played was his own composition.  Took jazz off
in a wrong direction by turning it into a superstar art as opposed to
an ensemble concept.  What about the Duke, for pete's sake?

Dmitri Shostakovich: Maybe.  But what is the sphere of his influence? Who
writes like him today? What new things did he have to say?

Arnold Schoenberg: Nice try, but the 12-tone system is on life support.
So much for innovation--now did he have anything to SAY as a composer?

Igor Stravinsky: OK, I'll give him this one, in the absence of anyone more
suitably qualified!

>Any comments? Bear in mind Schiff is testing some critical values for a
>musical culture that has broken down the old barriers between high art and
>low, and between performance and composition.

If Armstrong is in for performance reasons, then Charles "Bird" Parker
qualifies as well.  How about "numbers of people who know their music?"
Well, enough!  Love to hear what others have to say!

-cb