[NewMusic] Will someone PLEASE put Baby Bernie to bed?

[Michael Henry]

...and change his diaper, too?  It's so full of crap it's overflowing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/arts/music/23holl.html


"The heavens, the earth, music and people’s insides, all responding to an overriding symmetry: an appealing idea. The universe sang a celestial tune, and Mozart sang along in emulation. Earth, air, fire and water were the common denominators for the human condition. Despite evidence to the contrary, the old stories prevailed. It almost made you sympathize with those slap-happy creationists and intelligent designers trying to do in the theory of evolution. Not too different are the numerous haters of contemporary music: listeners who pine for an orderly past, not an unpleasant present.

Unpleasant truths were another topic brought back forcefully by a concert at the Kitchen in September, by the fine young group Either/Or. Here was a program of 1960s arrogance and self-absorption, with people like Cornelius Cardew, Christian Wolff and Earle Brown as the main offenders. Listening to a collection of composers sharing inside jokes and private messages in music that reeked of contempt for the public made me get down on my knees and give thanks that an era so damaging to music was over. It didn’t drive an intelligent public away from classical music by itself, but it helped."