Summary
The old joke that composers are always decomposing seems worth a snicker at first, but then you realize it's not true and therefore not all that funny. Many composers -- vital, busy, and artistically curious -- are working today, just as there always have been.
Of course, not every composer produces music that will live through the ages. Some do, and we celebrate them, whether they were born in 1500 or 1900 or 1980. Others enjoy great success in their day but are forgotten with time. As for the creatively poor whom we always have with us, their stuff is usually a flash in the pan at best, a bore at midlevel, and an exercise in self-deceiving stupidity at worst. That holds true whether we're talking about a Baroque-era musical blatherskite or a 20th-century twit.See the full content of this document
Extract
Score Principles
Maybe that's where decomposition comes in: good stays, bad goes - - if we're lucky. The only problem is having to hear the bad before it vanishes.
The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival presents works by several living composers this week, performed by a variety of fine artists - - and in one case, performed by the composer himself. It's still unclear whet...See the full content of this document
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