Music Book Review: The Courage of Composers and the Tyranny of Taste: Reflections on New Music by Bálint András Varga

The Courage of Composers and the Tyranny of Taste: Reflections on New Music
by Bálint András Varga (Music 780.922 Var)

Contemporary classical music, often referred to as “New Music,” occupies a curious place in the modern world. The music continues to be studied and composed, but it often stays near the orbit of academia, not being performed as often as “the classics.” At times the music can be “difficult,” it is often said, and falls outside of the tastes of many concertgoers. But it goes on nonetheless, and from this listener’s perspective, there is a world of compelling, evocative music waiting to be found there.

Interviewer Bálint András Varga takes this set of circumstances as a starting point for interviews with 33 living contemporary composers, asking each of them a series of questions about how their creative practices intersect with the world of commercial necessities like concert halls and recordings. He focuses on the concept of “courage” to look at inwardly-focused creative pressures, and “the tyranny of taste” for insight on external pressures on the creative process. In the course of 33 interviews (mostly conducted via email), he receives 33 unique perspectives on how composers have faced these issues. Many notable living composers are included in the book, such as George Crumb, John Adams, Libby Larsen, and Christian Wolff. Varga follows the extensive composer interviews with two smaller sections that focus on music critics and festival directors.

Although Varga structured his book around an agenda—his framing questions around “courage” and “the tyranny of taste,” after all, invite a certain oppositional posture against the public at large—he ultimately lets the interviews go where they may, and the results show far more nuanced and complex relationships. Many of the composers he interviews reject his notion of “courage” outright, and quite a few take umbrage with his framing of the “tyranny of taste” dominating or otherwise hindering their creative lives. A majority of the interview subjects are international composers who reflect more on World War II or Cold War-era political strife affecting their work and lives than other externalities. While some composers answer Varga’s prompts in a manner that extends into lengthier conversational formats, most answer with a simple, direct paragraph or two, succinctly laying out their compositional intentions without getting particularly entangled in the prompts. Ultimately I think Varga fails to make his case for “courage” or “tyranny of taste,” but he captures some worthwhile insights into the featured composers’ approaches nonetheless.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Talking Music by William Duckworth, or Source: Music of the Avant Garde, 1966-1973, edited by Larry Austin and Douglas Kahn.]

[ profile of Balint Andras Varga at the time of his passing in 2019 ]

Recommended by Scott S.
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