<<  -- 2 --  Gordon Rumson    FOOL'S GOLD

While those modern classical composers have labored mightily and been driven deeper into poverty, Glass has become rich and famous. (But let me say I find some of his music enchanting and magical). How could it be so?

Perhaps we need to rethink what music is and what it is for.

Clearly music is not an intellectual form. Because here is music of no discernible intellectual content that is wildly more successful than the music of Schoenberg or Stravinsky.

Clearly then music is not high art. For here is drivel that is profound; doggerel that is eloquent; simplemindedness that is deep. Shakespeare's Fool has the centre-stage and does profundity pour from his mouth? Given the effect of the music on audiences, the answer is yes.

Glass may have the technical accomplishments of a good musician, but his music is not complex. It is not like the vast canvases of music that have been churned out to absolutely no avail for the last 75 years.

What can we learn from this?

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