Friday (12/16) on NewMusicBox.com, Rob Deemer comments on two New York Times articles mentioned on last week’s Hub, one by Anthony Tommasini, the other by Allan Kozinn. “While [Tommasini’s] article effectively (albeit lightly) touches on the various aspects of contemporary music in today’s traditional music scene, it also reflects some of that scene’s intransigence when it comes to breaking through the historical and stylistic firewalls that many ensembles and audiences have constructed. … The fact that very few living composers are mentioned throughout the article does little to strengthen the argument that things are looking up on the contemporary side of things. Recordings by two younger living composers are included in the online version of the article, but as they were both performed by the American Composers Orchestra, an opportunity to prove that established traditional ensembles are adding new music to their repertoires is missed. … I found it too easy to lose the forest for the trees in [Kozinn’s] article. My gut reaction when I first read it was disbelief that this trend was being presented as being something new, as many of the changes and innovations that were mentioned seemed old hat to those of us who live and breathe new music.”
Posted December 19, 2011
