Bob asks: >I have been wondering what makes some composers, such as Bruch, on a >lower tier as compared to many of his contemporaries such as Mahler, >Tchaikovsky and Brahms. Bruch was the BBC Music Magazine's Composer of the Month a few months ago (March, April?). The author of the article asked that question, in essence if not in form. The answer he came up with is that Bruch, a staunch musical conservative, kept writing in the same style he grew up with, and did not go in any new directions. (snipped) You make much the same point later: >This seems to me to be at least part of the answer to my question. >Listening to Bruch is eventually not involving because of the predictability >due to the relationship with the tonal center. He fears to travel far >from it. Mahler, on the other hand, has no such fear and takes us on a >more interesting journey. Mitch Friedfeld