Re: Wagner and friends

[David Baron <d_baron...>]

RE: Leonard Bernstein (z"l).

I never said that this was not great music. I even tried to listen to his
"Mass" when Kol HaMusica played it after explaining its history, in itself,
quite a story. While I am sure that Bernstein never said he believed in
Yorshke and that the Mass was a different type of statement entirely.
Listening is not enough, BTW, since this piece is as much theatre as music.
Anyway, I had to turn it off after a while. It took two decades, if I
remember right, before the Pope would listen to it!!

Leonard Bernstein's "Kaddish" is also a very non-conventional work and Jew
and Gentile alike could be put off by it. It took a while for this to get
acceptance as well.

While certain tunes, i.e. O Holy Night or even the Battle Hymn of the
Republic (look at the verses beyond the first one that everyone knows!), are
maybe the greatest ever written. They are not for us. That simple.

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