Contemporary Composers

Posting about Arvo Part got me thinking about modern composers, and how I mostly dislike them. Every once in a while you hear something good, like Spiegel im Spiegel. But mostly I feel about modern "classical" music the same way I feel about modern "art": it's crap. There are exceptions, I know. And there's probably some good stuff going on of which I am as yet unaware. But mostly it's just ugly, stupid crap.

In both art and music, as in life, moderns have lost the ability to recognize and value Beauty. Along with goodness, virtue, truth, and pretty much everything else that really matters.

I actually think most of the good composing these days is being done for movies. John Williams, in fact, is responsible for my love of classical music. I remember the exact moment when I fell in love with the violin: I was nine, and I had borrowed a copy of the brand-new Star Wars soundtrack from my neighbor, after having seen the movie at the theater. I was listening to it on my little red-and-white checked record player by my bed, lying in bed with my eyes closed and imagining. And when it came to Leia's Theme, I was entranced: scenes of beauty, heroism, and love filled my imagination--and when those last, lonely violin notes played, they broke my heart.