Steve Schwartz writes of Gerber's synthesizers:

>As symphony orchestras die off, as fewer and fewer people turn to
>classical music out of choice, as audiences and repertoire ossify - in
>short, as resources become scarcer for the amount of new and not-so-new
>music out there - composers will probably have to join Gerber's enterprise,
>radicals and conservatives alike, just to hear what they have written
>and to make a basic effort to distribute the works to others.

A chilling thought, and one which should motivate all of us to fight
ossification wherever it raises its ugly head.

It may well be that Gerber or others will use his techniques to produce
new works of artistic import.  Steve's faint praise for the actual music
indicates that this possibility is not yet realized.

But what is really chilling is the possibility that new "in the style
of" works will be created for those who crave new "Beethoven" Quartets
or "Mahler" symphonies.  We may even get the new quartets played by "The
Budapest", and "Bernstein" conducting the "Mahlers".  Or, in a REALLY
bold experiment, "Toscanini" doing the "Mahlers".  And, worst of all,
thousands of new "Vivaldi" concerti to be played by Boston's WCRB,
which broadcasts classical music to relax by.

Professor Emeritus Bernard Chasan
Physics Department, Boston University