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“Is modern music misunderstood” is the title of a YouTube video that was recently posted in which its creator spoke about her reactions to music heard at a recent festival of contemporary classical music.  Sharing my comment to it.

I don’t think contemporary classical music is misunderstood. It’s just that much of it simply isn’t very good. If you look back through the history of Western classical music, those composers whose work has lasting relevance are (a) far and few between; (b) although they brought fresh ideas and techniques into play, they were also firmly grounded in the traditions that preceded them; and (c) worked exceedingly hard to master the tools of their trade. We are now in an age where many composers have little or no grounding in the Western classical tradition (such as thoroughly learning counterpoint) and think they can get away without it. Much contemporary classical music is written without thorough mastery of technique and, more importantly, seemingly without a goal that goes beyond creating something that will gain the work its 15 seconds of notoriety. In order for music to convey emotions, as every great composer well understood, the music must use all of the tools of the craft: tonality, harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, structure, timbre, etc. Drop one of them and a fundamental element that provides music with its great emotive power is lost. Much of the music being written now seems very oriented around driving rhythmic devices and sound effects. That’s not enough to be more than, I think, a passing fad.

That said, at any moment in time, no one can predict which artist is creating works that will survive the test of time. There are, no doubt, many living classical composers whose work will be listened to with passionate enjoyment in the far future. We just can’t recognize who they are now. Some, taking Schubert as an example, may not even be known by more than a few at the moment, but will be recognized long after they are gone. But the vast majority of those writing today, like their predecessors, will disappear into history – because their music lacks what makes great classical music great.

I know that I have a personal bias towards the classical music tradition but whether it a result of that bias or an honest observation, it has always seemed to me that a degree of musical perfection can be found in some classical music that is unsurpassed by any other musical genre or tradition.  What do I mean by musical perfection? It is the realization that from start to finish in a musical composition the composer made the best possible choice of notes at every instant.  No other choice of notes could have been made without diminishing the effect of the music to some degree.  Every note in the score is in exactly the right place and perfectly conveys what the music is expressing.

Does all classical music achieve this? No.  However, certain composers achieve that level of perfection more consistently than others.  Of course, J.S. Bach springs first to mind.  Over the years, having played nearly the entirety of his keyboard works and closely studied many of his other scores, it is a rare occasion indeed when I find myself thinking, oh, he got carried away and went on too long, or a bit of more careful editing might have made this piece better.  There are few other composers about which I can say that generally but there are many classical composers who when at their finest, wrote perfect pieces.  There’s a reason, for instance, why Beethoven’s manuscripts look like they do.  He thought intensely about the placement of every note – wrote and revised until every extraneous gesture was honed away – and in his best works one is hard put to find any out of place (although, again my personal bias, I find what I would consider to be his best works to be far fewer than do most people).

Classical music comes from a long tradition that incorporates generations of exacting technique that comes into play when composing a piece that by virtue of a consistent interior logic seems inevitable at every moment in time.  Again, while this may simply be my personal bias, I don’t find any other genre of music that achieves this.  There are many genres of music that predominantly rely, for example, on improvisation.  While there are so many brilliant musicians who improvise with the most astonishing facility, still, I often find myself thinking that if more time and care was paid to the placement of each note, the overall result would be far better.  When listening to performances by musicians known for their extraordinary skills at improvisation, I still catch myself thinking, oh, that was a rote phrase that doesn’t really add anything to the story this music is telling.  Thinking as a composer, I am always asking myself, what is the next perfect note? What needs to happen right now?  A contrast? A repetition? What is the direction of the music and how should it best get there? Improvisation, no matter how quick a thinker the player is, cannot answer those questions with the best possible answer at every moment.

Thrilled to learn that my album AGAINST WAR is the recipient of a Global Music Awards Silver Medals in both the contemporary classical and album categories. It has been my great fortune to have such fine musicians bring these compositions to life. Thanks to Lisa Rombach, Marek Štilec and the musicians of the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice as well as producer Jiri Štilec and recording engineer Václav Roubel!

Coming of age in the ’60s, I absorbed in my core a belief that peace was possible. In that small instant of time, it did seem to an optimistic and naïve teenager, that the millions of voices protesting in the streets, energized by rock and roll, could make a difference. The young would take over from the old and make the world a better place. Of course, it didn’t turn out that way – and it never has. Revolutionaries become what they seek to replace. Despite the discouraging tone of these words, I still harbor an inner faith that music possesses a power to reach into the hearts and minds of those who are listening and influence them for the better. With that thought in mind, much of my music has been written to encourage thoughts about the possibility of peace. Yes, much martial music has been composed over the centuries to stir up the passions of soldiers to go to war – but music also has the power to elevate, to bring peace to troubled spirits, to light the path to an inner space that is free of anger and strife.

DECLARATION OF PEACE. Somewhere in the world, there is a war going on, always. Declared or not. If I had the power to wish it, I would simply declare peace, and leave it at that, for all time, putting an end to senseless wars. Not having that power, I’m left to imagine it, creating my own musical declaration.

AGAINST WAR. Dedicated to the 11,000 or so poets who responded to the call and contributed their words and thoughts to Poets Against the War in the hope that reason would prevail over reaction. If only their effort had prevailed back then, the world would be in a better place today – but fear, hysteria and war mongering ruled the day. In our current times, their words still ring true – and are needed more than ever.

EVERYTHING PASSES. This music started off in one direction, but then reading a brief poem by Peter Levitt turned it in another direction entirely. A gentle poem, read during the same week that the world’s attention was turned to the mass shootings of innocent people in two cities in the United States, it’s imagery of petals falling like past lives, struck home – and became the theme of this symphony.

Listening links for AGAINST WAR