Posted by Brendan on March 17, 2002 at 00:15:17:
In Reply to: gubmunt 'poser goes on tirade at concert posted by js on March 16, 2002 at 09:46:29:
As a composer as well as euphonium player, I find your remarks against this composer highly insulting. First off, every composer, regardless of his ability and the quality of his work, deserves to be properly acknowledged for his work. Composers do and should have self-respect. We as composers should not just be happy that a professional orchestra is playing our music, which is rare enough in and of itself. Failing to recognize Mr. Ince's work in the program is reprehensible.
Secondly, public Universities pay composers to teach. I hardly see being faculty of a state university as government funding for composition. Other countries actually do make a policy of strongly supporting their creative artists, but not the great United States. The creation of music or any other art should not be dictated by the demands of the marketplace. Regardless, University teaching is hardly a lucrative profession.
Finally, you suggest that any music not written in D major is worthless. Plenty of bad works have been written in recent years in both tonal and nontonal contexts. The percentage of all music ever written that is actually great is very small. You can't simply expect masterpieces without all the mediocre works to go along with them. Much of comtemporary music is bad, but the few gems are what is important. Just as history has distilled all of the classical output down into Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, history will one day distill our now contemporary music into a few great composers, Like Ligeti and Boulez to name two prominent ones. Neither Ligeti nor Boulez write music in D major, but both are extremely capable of doing so if they so desired. Their musical craftsmanship is exquisite.
Works such as Ligeti's Horn Trio or Chamber Symphony, or Boulez's Piano Sonatas are masterpieces on par with masterpieces of any previous era. Just because they don't sound so simple and inviting on first listen does not mean they are not beautiful and masterly works. Much of the focus of art in the past century was finding beauty in nontraditional places. I know personally, the more places I am able to find beauty, the more I enjoy life.