Why do we hate modern classical music?

The Guardian ^ | 11/28/2010 | Alex Ross

[mojito]

A full century after Arnold Schoenberg and his students Alban Berg and Anton Webern unleashed their harsh chords on the world, modern classical music remains an unattractive proposition for many concertgoers. Last season at the New York Philharmonic, several dozen people walked out of a performance of Berg's Three Pieces for Orchestra; about the same number exited Carnegie Hall before the Vienna Philharmonic struck up Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra.

The mildest 20th-century fare can cause audible gnashing of teeth. Benjamin Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings is a more or less fully tonal score, yet in 2009 at Lincoln Centre, it failed to please a gentleman sitting behind me. When someone let out a "Bravo!" elsewhere in the hall, he growled: "I bet that was a plant." I resisted the temptation to swat him with my pocket score.

[marron]

Classical music has withstood the test of time.

Thank you. Exactly. What a conceit, to write something and call it "classical". Its a classic when generations have past and it is still beautiful and its still means something to people.

[RobRoy]

>>“Modern classical music” is an oxymoron. Classical music has withstood the test of time. The avant-garde crap being peddled today as “modern music” won’t last past next leap year.<<

I wonder, was there not music written contemporaneous with the “classics we love” that was “bad” and hence, long forgotten?

[Borges]

Of course there was. The overwhelming majority in fact.

[r9etb]

I’m curious about how you feel about Philip Glass.

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Philip Glass? Who's that?

[CrazyIvan]

“Boeing orchestra” Why does that conjure up an image of a
group playing jaw-harps going “Boeing, Boeing”? (I'm not
laughing)

[paterfamilias]

“I didn’t even know people still composed classical music today.”

Billy Joel composed a collection of classical piano music. The CD is named “Fantasies & Delusions”. I have heard a few pieces - quite good.

[JRandomFreeper]

Wagner, but unfortunately, not forgotten.

/johnny

[RobRoy]

To quote Slappy Squirrel, “Monotonous, yet repetitive”.

I have mixed feelings about Glass. I originally hated the stuff but learned to like it in moderation, as long as it was a background to something else.

Maybe if I started taking some drugs I’d appreciate it more.

[MrEdd]

The article only makes sense if you stick an icepick through your head before reading it.

Most film scores ar classical music. Many of them are very good and quite popular. This fact eviscerates the thrust of the article.

[RobRoy]

Which reminds me, the only album I ever wore out and had to buy a second copy was this gem (at least to me):

I actually dumped it all off Limewire (I still own the vinyl, so back off, RIAA) and thoroughly enjoyed it all over again.

[Borges]

Wagner, but unfortunately, not forgotten.

Because he was hugely influential and continues to be. His music was also really great.

[RobRoy]

>>The article only makes sense if you stick an icepick through your head before reading it.<<

I can’t believe I fell for that. No, it did not help at all!

[Borges]

Classical Music Ping

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Frank Zappa, if you don’t have anything else on the turn table...

[JRandomFreeper]

So influential that Sam Clements said "His music isn't as bad as it sounds". Lots of people haven't liked his music for a long, long time.

/johnny

[gdzla]

Mozart (arguably the among the greatest of composers) once said “Melody is the essence of music.”
There is no melody in today's “classical” or much of any modern day music.

[FroggyTheGremlim]

Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps, the Firebird, etc.

Modern? Cacophonous? Quite.

Classical? Of course.

[Borges]

He’s as popular now as he’s ever been. Tristan might be the best opera of the 19th century. The Ring and Tristan get put on all the time. Even his earlier operas.

[r9etb]

Because it’s usually an expression of the composer’s narcissism, it’s yawningly predictable, and it’s unpleasant to listen to.

[ronnyquest]

"Why do we hate modern classical music?"

Because much of it is neither "classical" nor music.