Steve Schwartz <[log in to unmask]> rebuts Denis Fodor:

>My stomach twists about five different ways when I hear variants of We
>Should All Know the Received Canon, when it's not really very clear what
>that canon is.  This makes things difficult, I know, for some, and the
>word "relativism" (as an insult) will probably get thrown around a lot at
>this point.  But if we all had perfect taste according to some external
>standard, art wouldn't be half the fun, because the fun lies in the risk of
>*not* knowing.  Of course, we could always look at the programs of the
>Munich Philharmonic.

C'mon Steve, it's clear enough what the Received Canon is, except to those
who are obsessed with doing their own thing.  And, yes, there must be some
fun in "not knowing." As a testimonial to this let's have a chorus of We
Don't Need No Education.  Concerning the Munich Philharmonic, eat your
heart out that New Orleans can't offer any classical group to match it--and
to demonstrate to the folks there what the Canon sounds like and how modern
accretions to it either develop that heritage or deliberately seek to
supersede or even mock it.

Denis Fodor