Bob: you are right about the rappers, too, although they would argue that they are just "telling it like it is".

I do not believe music must be all "sweetness and light", in fact Mozart and my brother, Delton Lorenzo Hudson, both have quite a bit of dissonance in their compositions. The difference I find from them to others such as Cage is that their dissonance is subtle and meant to enhance, while that of most modern composers I've heard seems to be the main reason for writing the piece!

My brother's argument on this is much more in-depth. If you like to read one of his articles, let me know and I'll send it to you. I doubt if you've heard of him, uless you were in the east of CT/West of MA/RI areas from 1984-1993 or in WY/CO recently or before 1984. We did a lot on a limited budget, but finally ran out of money and steam, mine to be exact! We do have a couple of cassettes which well when we marketed them, totally produced on a shoestring, by ourselves.

His music has been likened to Mozart, Sibelius and others whose music is tonal. He's been called the Sibelius of the Rockies. It has a clarity about it which demands precise playing. His best known piece is his tone poem, the "Ode to the Rockies", which was premiered here in WY in 1984. When back East, it and several of his solo piano pieces were featured, along with interviews of him on NPR at UMASS-Amherst and Yale.

Susan, I am sorry, I've not heard of the composer you mentioned. I've really been out of that line of work for the past 3-4 yrs. when I started my own career, finally! I am fairly opinionated though and do not care for Messian or Krum. If those are the choices of your husband, he probably wouldn't like my brother's pieces. Because of their sublety, people often mistake them for non-experimental, mostly because they are tonal and beautiful. Remember, I AM biased, but I am also a classical musician. I always told him I helped to promote and produce his music NOT because he was my brother, but because the music is divine!

As Bob said we are each entitled to our opinions and I do respect that.

Thanks,

kat