Klarinet Archive - Posting 000878.txt from 1998/01

From: George Kidder <gkidder@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Music: Modern vs. 'Old'
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 09:52:15 -0500

Benjamin Maas wrote:

>Another thing: There are some really great "modern" works in the
>repertoire. There are also some really bad works in the rep. The
>difference is with the old, there has been a filter to weed out the bad. It
>is called time. If there is a premiere of a bad piece, it might not be
>remembered 20 years from now, but that is time's filter. It, however, is
>heard by people and it reinforces this notion of contemporary music being
>this big evil thing.

This reminds me of the elaborate proscenium arch and frieze in the old opera
theater in Philadelphia (was it the Lyric? - its been 40 years, and I know
it was completely remodeled since then) which was decorated with the names
of the "great" composers of the time it was built. The "3 B's" of course,
and Mozart, but there were perhaps 20 others, some still well known, but
some of whom I had never heard, even then. Time certainly has a way of
separating the eternal from the transient.