Posted by MG on March 17, 2002 at 23:37:32:
In Reply to: gubmunt 'poser goes on tirade at concert posted by js on March 16, 2002 at 09:46:29:
Many people have this misconception that the condition today's composers find themselves in is somehow different from how things were in the 18th and 19th centuries. The fact is that it has been extremely rare since the very beginning of Western art music for a composer to be wildly popular in their own time. This doesn't mean we should force ourselves to like everything we hear under the assumption that we don't yet understand its true greatness, but if you claim to be a musician, the last thing you should be doing is going around making blanket condemnations of these people's work. Seriously, if you play tuba, I hope you absolutely LOVE doing transcriptions because the repertoire for this instrument is thin in comparison to many others, and the vast majority of new contributions are not exactly going to be tonal. Personally, I think this is a great time to be a tubist and/or composer of works involving tuba because this instrument and its repertoire are relatively young, and we have a chance to play an active role in shaping it. If you want to hear "listenable" music in D major, you should give it a shot yourself instead of bellyaching.