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Date: | Thu, 16 Sep 1999 22:17:17 PDT |
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Jim Tobin responds to me:
>>The individual creates the criteria for greatness and identifies those
>>composers, works, and artists who meet or exceed the
>>criteria.
>
>Fine. Are these criteria explicit and can you articulate yours?
I think most people simply "feel" the criteria and never give it any
thought.
I'll provide my criteria for greatness in a work, then add two to cover
greatness in a composer. Further, there's one step up from great - a
master composer or work.
Great Work:
1. I want to immediately listen to it a second time.
2. The work and its emotions enter me.
3. I consider the work to be structurally excellent.
Great Composer:
4. For me, a great composer in one who wrote more than an isolated one or
two great works, but who wrote at least a few. Also, a composer who
displays a consistency of excellence.
Master composer/Work:
In addition to the above, listening to the work automatically creates
within me images which are connected into a story. Also, superb melodies
which I would think can not be surpassed are immediately followed by an
even better ones.
Who are these master composers? Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert,
and Shostakovich. And I have the feeling that Mahler will soon be joining
them.
Don Satz
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