Tuesday (5/10) on the New York Times blog Opinionator, Daniel Felsenfeld writes, “I have been a composer for my entire adult life. And for the most part, despite the exhaustion and relative poverty it has entailed, this self-styled ‘job’ has been a source of satisfaction, even great joy. But in those moments of panic every artist has, I experience fears: perhaps foremost among them, the fear of losing my ‘voice,’ that unquantifiable quality that makes the music I compose exclusively my own. And as a citizen of a musical community, I at times fear something even more dire — a collective loss of voice for all of us practicing this ever-more-rarefied art of ‘concert music.’ … Composers of this genre (variously labeled ‘concert’ or ‘classical’ music for lack of better terms) seem to have less of a public platform than ever before, even for addressing matters musical. … Now, in the coming weeks, I will be serving as a guest curator of The Score” at the New York Times, “charged with the daunting responsibility of overseeing a public conversation among my peers. In doing this I believe it is important to include composers from a range of musical styles, but perhaps more important, to feature those who, in my view at least, possess a unique perspective coupled with a strong and very personal musical identity.”
Posted May 12, 2011
