Regarding a recent performance of an apparently inane bit of work by
Pauline Oliveros, Kevin Sutton seethes:

>By the same token, what can we say of "musicians" who "specialize" in
>this kind of nonsense.  Does it take a conservatory education and years
>of preparation to be able to zip and unzip your damned instrument case?
>Even if you can do it in some sort of tempo and rhythm, you're still an
>idiot to call it music.
>
>I miss the days when composers wrote music, and musicians played it.

I realize Kevin is upset, but like many rants his comments are greatly
overstated.  He seems to be taking the very existence of such work as a
personal affront and seems to be equating it with contemporary composition
in general.  I think there are relatively few performances of this sort of
thing and I imagine that most of the people who attended had some idea of
what they were in for.  Such music, or whatever you want to call it, is so
marginal that I really can't see what there is to get excited about.  Maybe
Western Civilization is doomed, but I don't think Ms. Oliveros' role in
its destruction is very profound.

To suggest that there are no composers writing music for musicians to play
seems simply absurd.

Regards,

John Parker