Inane Classicism

“During the sixties, a number of important cultural transactions took place. The classical musical tradition (that is, new music being composed in the tradition of Beethoven and Mozart) finally collapsed under the weight of its own inanity. The fact that John Cage and Karl Heinz Stockhausen were at all taken seriously was a sign that …

Musical Four-wheeling

“Music, quite simply, has to go somewhere. It is organized in time. If there is no reason why one note should follow another, there is no way of organizing that time in any coherent fashion. Atonality meant a freedom analogous to taking down all signs and abolishing all roads.” [E. Michael Jones, Dionysos Rising (San …

Happy Birthday Dear Blog

So today is my blog’s second birthday. For all the intoleristas who are following my doings most assiduously, this means that I am just now entering my terrible twos. And right now I have my eye on that interesting Vase of Diversity on the Coffee Table of Mutual Affirmation. Seriously, I am very grateful to …