Stirling Newberry not only writes, I have an image in my mind of Falstaff,
beer-bellied with a grim from ear to ear and mug of ale frothing in a stein
held high:

>Merely commenting that if I were given the choice between giving up the
>wit and wisdom of Don Satz, or forgoing the high jinks of Beethoven being
>"unbuttoned" in the 8th symphony along with say Haydn skittering with
>rhythms in Op 76 No 2 - I would, with a heavy heart, be forced to choose
>he latter two works over the prose of our esteemed collegue.
>
>Anyone who can learn a 6 hour feldman quartet is either deadly serious
>or in serious need of medication to treat obsessive compulsive disorder.
>I doubt the latter in the case of the KQ.

Apparently I'm not the only one contributing to this list from "Once Full
Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Another nut KNOWS the Eighth Symphony is Beethoven
in his top form and ENJOYING it.  And Haydn, with few exceptions, wouldn't
have had the slightest idea of what anal retentives (again no one on the
list; in fact no one in particular) mean by "serious music." Those with no
talent and no zest for life write serious music.

If anyone wants to argue they'll have to take on Nietzsche, too.  No one
ever accused him of frivolity.  But he did say in dead earnest:

   "Humor is deeper and more creative than tragedy. Tragedy
    holds up a mirror to live; comedy transforms it."

Newberry's last paragraph gets my vote for this month's prize for the
funniest "serious music" comment made anywhere.  A really Sterling
observation.  Re Feldman: They who take themselves seriously are doomed to
go the distance.  Or we create our prisons with freedom just a step away.

P.S.  In checking the above Nietzsche quotation I found the following that
is going to go as the underline to "Standing Up For Nielsen." The much
misunderstand Nietzsche who was a better man than even he himself realized
wrote

"My time has not yet come; some are born posthumously."

Even more charmed are those who are born "posthumorously"
while yet alive.

Andrew E. Carlan <[log in to unmask]>
"Standing Up For Nielsen"