(no subject)

[calimac]

Eight sentences about classical music I'd be happy never to read again from Matthew Guerrieri (via patioboe)

Gems. I will admit to having committed anniversary honors on dead composers (I did it just this week), but only as an excuse to call public attention to composers I was listening to yesterday and will be listening to again tomorrow. Otherwise, though, I've heard and loathe 'em all. Yes, I really have been told that I don't like what I like, and all the rest.

Comments

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I find that most criticism of art is aimed mainly at other art critics. This is a good example.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Well, I am an arts critic.

The relevance of this post to general readers is that these sentences often appear in writing directed towards them. Be warned that they're empty cant. That's all.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard several of them. And I have no problem calling Mozart or Beethoven "popular". They were never on the radio because radio didn't exist, and they needed sponsors because producing music was expensive. The fact remains that a lot of people liked their work, and their works were performed widely outside their own venue, and they were in demand as artists. Please don't let today's marketing hype be the standard for music popularity. Please.

And I have no problem with marking a composer's Odometer Year. Yes it's artificial, but it reminds listeners about good music. People like birthdays. What the heck. A composer's 500th Anniversary is not an important milestone for the composer (who isn't around to blow out the candles), but it's an excuse for a party.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Since you haven't heard some of the statements - I guess you don't read what I read - you may have missed the point. It's the people who criticize modern music by saying "Mozart and Beethoven were the popular music of their time" who are using today's marketing hype as the standard for music popularity. That's the attitude Guerrieri is mocking.

Similarly, I doubt Guerrieri has anything against making a whoop on your favorite composer's birthday. What he's opposed to are the giant floods of All Mozart, All the Time.