Posted by Rick Denney on July 09, 2001 at 11:45:49:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: What's yours? posted by Zac Spurlin on July 08, 2001 at 22:57:06:
So, the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is an arrangement and not an original work? Is that why Vaughan Williams doesn't get the respect he deserves?
I've heard that Williams was warmed-over Holst. Fine. I like Holst and he composed too little music.
I've listened to nearly all and played many of Williams's scores in one form or another, and I never thought--"Oh! That's Beethoven!" If he borrowed old themes or methods, he did it creatively and characteristically enough so that his music sounds like his music. This is a quality usually lacking in those who derive from others, such as arrangers, except for those arrangers who are also great composers.
Rick "who thinks musicians sometimes take music too seriously" Denney