Steve Schwartz:

>>Actually, I'm of the opinion that no composer is overrated.

OK.  I'll agree with that.  However, since some composers are more
underrated than others, there's still a "least underrated composer".
Different words, same concept.

>>Furthermore, the fellow isn't in the dock.  He doesn't have to be
>>justified.

Again, OK.

What does have to be justified is the decision to allocate time in concerts
and on the radio, and space in reference books, to one composer rather than
another.  For example:

Don Satz wrote:

>Concerning Rubbra, although I have more of his recordings than of
>Messiaen, Rubbra is relatively obscure

and will continue to be regarded as obscure until he gets more time and
space, even though members of the CD-buying public, on hearing his music,
like it enough to investigate further.

Steve Schwartz:

>Well, "numerous" is by me an invalid concept.  If the only thing that
>survived to us by Bach was the Magnificat, I'd still call him one of the
>finest ever.

I disagree. Potter's 10th Symphony is IMO a masterpiece, but calling Potter
"one of the finest ever" on that basis would be silly.

>Rubbra is barely known outside of Britain.

Sad, but quite possibly true.

By the same token, it's perfectly possible that, although Messiaen's
reputation is known in Britain, the music on which that reputation is based
is not.

>If enough people like a work with enough intensity, that's pretty much
>sufficient, according to me.

Exactly so.  That's why I picked Messiaen as "least underrated composer".
Nothing I had heard led me to believe that he was a composer people could
get intense about.  However:

>Speaking as one member of that audience, I thought it was freakin'
>wonderful.

Achim Breiling wrote:

>I love Messiaens music!  Really, all of it, especially the Catalogue,
>which is for me one of the greatest piano solo works around.  It took me a
>while to get into his music, but I am conviced that Messiaen is one of the
>few really important composers of this century, if not ever.

Jon Lewis wrote:

>listen to "La Roussarole Effarvette" as if it were pure music
>without programme.  I swear you'll be converted.

Add to this the poster who actively hated Messiaen's music, and it
becomes obvious that I've missed something - Messiaen was a composer people
do get intense about, one way or the other.  I'll investigate some of the
recommendations made on the list or privately (for which, many thanks).  It
may still turn out that Messiaen isn't a composer who appeals to me, but at
least I now know where the reputation comes from.

Peter Varley
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