You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink... I share the
distress about younger folks' taste, but can't help feeling that elder
generations have failed to explain what virtue the water holds. On the other
hand, the joy of discovery is maybe best facilitated by just laying out the
wares.
Frankly, I wouldn't be starting my sweet young things on Brahms, however.
Probably Messiaen is the answer to the inevitable question.
P
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to
> poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Mark Weiss
> Sent: 20 May 2005 20:09
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Brahms and music generally
>
> One of the things I'm distressed by is the general lack of
> knowledge of classical music among younger poets. I think I
> learned a lot more about form, not to speak of sound, from
> devouring the canon. There's simply a lack of complexity to
> popular music, as lovely or exciting as some of it is.
>
> Also distressed at the general lack of knowledge of folk
> music, and I don't mean the music of Bob Dylan and Donovan
> Leitch, profound students of the tradition. It used to be one
> of the things that held us together as communities.
>
> My Carlos was taken to a Cailith (please, please correct my
> spelling) by a then girlfriend of the Belfast Irish variety.
> He was utterly amazed that everyone knew all the songs. In
> the US you'd have to go to a Protestant church to find the
> like, and the fare would be hymns for breakfast lunch and supper.
>
> Mark
>
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