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Posted by Ford on November 26, 2007, 11:24 pm, in reply to "Re: Classical Music"
152.76.0.130
I agree with Sam that the great composers connected intimately and without pretention to the popular and folk music of their times. This open-mindedness meant they were part of a broad and deep tradition which they could draw upon, a tradition which became anathema under Modernism. Only last month I read a review of a young composer which said something like "he makes the mistake of thinking that tonalism has a future". In fact, it seems that a small revolt against Modernist ideology is going on, but until composers are free of such nonsense issuing from "authorities" in academia, I remain pessimistic.
I'd also like to point out that, thanks to the vast amount of music from all ages now generally available to us in concert and recordings, we should no longer criticise new composers who refuse to show the influence of their immediate predecessors. In previous centuries, contemporary music was, pretty much, the ONLY music, unless you were an antiquarian. Now, thanks to CDs, Bach and Beethoven are our contemporaries as much as John Adams or Ligeti. Why should the Moderns get preference? There is no valid reason for such discrimination, unless you genuinely believe that the latter are better than the former.
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