Deryk Barker bemoans a reality of the postmodern world, saying:

>My problem with Glass, well problems I suppose, are firstly his
>ultimately uninteristing compositional method and secondly the fact that
>his popularity overshadows other (IMHO) better "minimalist" composers,
>such as Riley and Reich.

Agreed -- but the reason for this is the same reason Jeffrey Archer's
books sold better than -- well, mine, for instance -- good marketing.
Adams and Glass seem to dominate the soi-disant minimalist genre at the
moment, because their PR machines and promotional managers have had greater
energy/success/luck than those of Riley or Reich.  In California I attended
the West Coast premiere of Glass's Fifth Symphony and a major staging of
Reich's The Cave.  Of the two I infinitely preferred the latter -- so did
my chum who had staged both events.  However, the 'hype' surrounding the
former was the result of Corporate America (in this case) working the
crowd.  I think the same applied to music in the much earlier days of
patronage and aristocractic support -- those who had a good lobbyist
got the gravy!

Tim 'Confused Metaphors 'R Us' Mahon
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