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Alan, let me briefly comment on some of your points.
2) Yes, every music has a structure, but classical music often has a structure which is way more complex, refined and ingenious than the often simplistic and predictable song structures found in pop music.
3) That point of mine was meant to illustrate the ridiculous cultural status pop music enjoys today.Apparently pop music has so much value to so many people in our culture, that we are even interested in the personal lives and opinions of pop artists even though they are often nitwits with little musical talent.
5) See my comment on the “complexity issue” below.
7) Classical music is not written anymore? I’m not talking about the classical style (Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven) but about classical music in general, including contemporary classical music (e.g., Boulez, Carter ) which sure is classical music still being written today.
Now on to the “complexity issue” (as addressed by Nikolas, Niku and Alan). Nikolas asked the question: “since when should music be complicated to be worthy?” Let me make clear that I’m not saying music should be complex in order to be worthy. At times I can really enjoy, say, a Schubert ländler, which is not particularly complicated. However, I am convinced that the greatest masterpieces in classical music (e.g., Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion, Beethoven’s 9th, Wagner’s Ring) all have a deep intellectual and emotional complexity which is absent in most, if not all pop music.
Oh and Niku, those examples you give – Gregorian Chant and Indian classical music (but note that I am mainly talking about Western classical music) – are not good examples to refute my assumption that classical music is richer, more complex and more refined than pop music. First, Gregorian chant has a melodic richness and melodic sophistication not to be found in most western pop music –just study any of the more florid gregorian melodies and you’ll probably agree that these melodies can be considered the most perfect, most convincing one-line compositions ever conceived. Indian classical music also has a rhythmic, melodic and formal richness and refinement that makes all rap music seem like a joke.
Finally I should stress that it’s not just the music itself that bothers me about pop music, it’s also the undeservedly huge cultural status pop music has acquired at the expense of classical music (which is thereby pushed into a “cultural ghetto”) that bothers me at least as much.
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