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Posted by A Concerned Reader Allow me to correct some of your errors. Did you even read the book? Your reading comprehension clearly lags behind your considerable ability to indulge yourself. 1. There is no-one by the name of Robert Solomon. Did you mean Larry Solomon? 2. You complain of lack of common-sense and passion. Read again. Common-sense is mentioned explicitly. As for passion: Milton Babbitt—or “Uncle Mil” as we like to call him—is a lusty fellow who stills enjoys beer and baseball at the age of 97, and his music reflects that. 3. Your “polemic” complains of a certain triteness in the selection of compositions for study. On the contrary: they were very carefully selected. The pieces reprinted here were chosen because they have already been anthologized and analyzed. They are work that has been influential in America, by composers who are American or have worked in America. America is the greatest nation on earth. Or they have been chosen because they illustrate certain important atonal concepts. 4. Apparently you apply the same crude broad-brush approach to everything. Fine distinctions are lost on you. I challenge you to demonstrate that you even understand the issue in the following passage, about Stravinsky’s Symphony in C: “Stravinsky reflects this awareness when he calls the piece Symphony in C rather than Symphony in C Major.” I await your response. 5. I’m mystified why you complain of the use of numbers to identify pitch-class sets. This is more than merely a convenience, and in addition, adds to the elegance and serious demeanor of the analysis. 6. Experience has shown that undergraduates need structure and firm discipline. You invite chaos and amateurism by implying that they ought to be exposed to other theories. The Compleat Musician is a quaint fantasy of the past. To my hairy, Birkenstock-wearing “friend” I say this: Wake up and smell the latte. Today’s professional theorists drive SUV’s, talk on cell-phones, bolster their self-esteem with the latest SSRI’s. Get used to it. And please, get the help you so obviously need.
on 10/8/2006, 2:09 am, in reply to "Straus: Intro to P.T. Theory"
24.63.115.63
I read with great annoyance your scurrilous, mean-spirited, ignorant, and shoddy “review”—if it can be dignified with the word—of Post Tonal Theory by Joseph N. Straus. Clearly this is a case of the “reviewer” suffering not only from narcissistic personality disorder but also from professional envy. Face it, my friend, Straus has a job and you don’t. I shudder to contemplate the misery behind your words.
His composition is not limited to gray abstraction; He has composed a musical and the background score for several adult films. The piquant rhythms produced by his time-point system have--to my ear—a deep erotic sensuality. In time his influence will extend far beyond the U.S.
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