...an extremely helpful and perceptive essay:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Oct/Evaluating_music_Simmons.pdf (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Oct/Evaluating_music_Simmons.pdf)
Thanks for pointing this out.
Very wise. I admire the attempt, clearly based on a lifetime of experience, to rationalise the (I won't say irrational) insubstantial and elusive factors that make up the "quality" of music. And yet, and yet..? He has nothing to say about what makes a piece or composer "great" as distinct from merely very competent. What is it about Beethoven's Op.132 that makes the blood run hot, then cold, then hot again? What is it about (name censored) that evokes hysterical acclaim from many and cold indifference not to say contempt from others? What matters in the end is solely the individual listener's response; every listener is different and unknowable by anybody not sharing the same mind space. By all means read the critics, but don't let their opinions override your own.
Yes, thanks Alan. This will need some careful reading.