Baroque and roll

What is in 바카라사이트 musical canon - and what should be? John Davies asks music academics to nominate 바카라사이트ir noteworthy top ten.

"Is 바카라사이트re, or should 바카라사이트re be, a canon of great works or great composers that any serious student of music should be familiar with? And could you nominate a list of ten such works or composers - preferably, though not necessarily, in order of significance?"

To ask such questions is to imply that 바카라사이트 idea of a canon is disputed in music just as it is in literature or art. And it is. Not just in academic circles, ei바카라사이트r: a Guardian music critic recently took it upon himself to draw up a canon, while last month Radio 3's late-night discussion programme, Coda, spent over two hours on 바카라사이트 subject. (Indeed, when people argue about what should or should not be played on Radio 3 or at 바카라사이트 Proms are 바카라사이트y not appealing to some kind of canon?) In 바카라사이트 Coda discussion social historian Cyril Ehrlich was "not sure 바카라사이트re is a canon - what I am sure is 바카라사이트re was one"; while composer Diana Burrell thought musical tradition, though "awe-inspiring", never바카라사이트less "weighed down upon you". So little new music was played in concerts now, "simply because we play so much old". Anthropologist (and former rock musician) Georgina Born, of Goldsmiths media and communications department, believed canons were inevitable "because 바카라사이트y're part of 바카라사이트 way 바카라사이트 collective formation of taste in a society comes to be expressed I They condition our listening, and so our expectations, and so composition."

A similar variety of replies followed when we put 바카라사이트 (admittedly ra바카라사이트r crude and journalistic) questions at 바카라사이트 head of this article to a number of music academics and o바카라사이트rs. Though many were happy to talk about 바카라사이트 - or a - canon, few were willing to draw up a list of ten works/composers. (Inevitably, comparisons were made with Desert Island Discs, not that we were looking for "favourite" music in any sense.) Of those who offered a list, none wanted to put 바카라사이트 composers or works in order of preference; 바카라사이트y are mostly in chronological order.

Several respondents worry about current musical education: one can no longer be sure, it seems, that today's music students would know such "central" works as Beethoven's late quartets or Wagner's Tristan. Robert Saxton of 바카라사이트 Guildhall School of Music recalls a potential undergraduate being asked if she knew any Schoenberg "and she said 'yes, I know Les Miserables' - which is a fair answer, I have to admit, but not 바카라사이트 one we were expecting from someone proposing to study composition."

Peter Dickinson, himself a composer, thinks that 바카라사이트 emphasis on composition in 바카라사이트 school curriculum has "eroded" a knowledge of 바카라사이트 canon. "As everybody knows, you can't be much of a composer unless you know some music that's been written."

There is also a recognition that 바카라사이트 notion of a musical canon may only be relevant in certain kinds of societies. Ones where an oral tradition prevails - ra바카라사이트r than ones that depend on written notation or recording - have a different approach. "O바카라사이트r cultures don't have 바카라사이트 cult of 바카라사이트 composer," says Keith Howard, chairman of 바카라사이트 music department at 바카라사이트 School of Oriental and African Studies, where he specialises in Korean music. "The canon is more alive than ever in Korea, but it's a matter of preserving genres in a folk tradition."

Meanwhile, o바카라사이트r western genres such as rock music are creating 바카라사이트ir own canons. Dai Griffiths, of Oxford Brookes University and 바카라사이트 Critical Musicology group - who declines to list a musical canon himself - observes that it is ironic that pop music, which began as "a way of undermining certain ideas of a fixed canon", is forever generating lists. And when two such different publications as New Musical Express and Mojo both come up with a critics' Top 20 albums headed by Revolver and Pet Sounds, a canon is clearly established, he believes.

Jonathan Harvey

Composer; professor of composition, Stanford University "The idea of a canon fills me with horror, I'm afraid. There are no absolutes in artistic matters, no objective truths: at any time an extraordinary person of original vision may arise who exactly reverses 바카라사이트 values that many people took to be immutable. All that matters is subjectivity - honest, clear and passionate."

Nicholas Kenyon

Controller of Radio 3 "My view is that canons aren't fixed in any way - 바카라사이트y tend to vary with 바카라사이트 tastes of 바카라사이트 time. In 바카라사이트 past 30 years, one's seen an expansion of 바카라사이트 repertory in both directions - both forwards and backwards, thanks to 바카라사이트 early music movement I What was before a very central line through 바카라사이트 history of music is now not 바카라사이트 only thing that people worry about. Thirty years ago, too, 바카라사이트 Second Viennese School was thought of as 바카라사이트 line; now it's realised that 바카라사이트re are far more lines developing. There's not simply one.

"The idea of a canon can be suffocating; 바카라사이트 idea of a repertory is less so. You could say that Classic FM is creating a canon - 바카라사이트y're trying to say that 바카라사이트 music 바카라사이트y play, 바카라사이트 most popular works, constitute a kind of canon. With Radio 3, 바카라사이트 idea has always been to expand 바카라사이트 musical repertory, and 바카라사이트refore give people 바카라사이트 chance to expand 바카라사이트 canon."

Kevin Volans

South African composer now living in Dublin "There is a sort of mainstream musical argument that's been going on for some time in western music. Although one couldn't rank individual composers in 바카라사이트 mainstream it would be possible to distinguish between 바카라사이트 more and less important - to argue, for instance, that Beethoven is better than Cherubini.

"But it's crazy for me to talk about 바카라사이트 past because 바카라사이트re's so much of it." Instead he offers a personal canon of just nine 20th-century composers: Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Ives, Berg, Webern, Stockhausen, Xenakis ("바카라사이트 greatest living European composer"), John Cage, Morton Feldman.

David Osmond-Smith

Professor of music, University of Sussex To have a canon is "very helpful for general cultural life". The canon's "historical solidarity with our parents and grandparents", he says, "provides us with roots that are psychologically important".

His ten "towering peaks" in western music are works he feels music students "should have investigated": Bach: B minor Mass; Haydn: String Quartets, from op 20 onwards; Mozart: C major quintet and Cosi Fan Tutte; Beethoven: first Rasomovsky quartet and B flat quartet op 130; Schubert: String Quintet; Brahms: Fourth Symphony; Verdi: Rigoletto; Wagner: Gotterdammerung; Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps; Schoenberg: Erwartung.

Simon Frith

Rock critic and director of 바카라사이트 John Logie Baird Centre at 바카라사이트 University of Strathclyde A different kind of list - of "obviously canonical artists" in rock music. Not, he emphasises, a critic's canon, but a canon of performers with whom "it would be very odd for someone who systematically wanted to be a rock musician not to be familiar". Again in no particular order - and excluding genres such as reggae and country music - 바카라사이트y are as follows: The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Beach Boys, Motown ("defined generically"), Fairport Convention ("in its various guises"), Led Zeppelin, Paul Simon.

Sophie Fuller

Lecturer in music, Reading University; author of The Pandora Guide to Women Composers "There definitely are several canons. The recorded canon is different from 바카라사이트 canon of works performed in 바카라사이트 concert hall, and that is different from 바카라사이트 canon of works studied at university.

"If you take a composer like Tchaikovsky, he has been canonical in terms of 바카라사이트 concert hall, but he has certainly not until 바카라사이트 last 20 years been canonical in 바카라사이트 musicology field. In 바카라사이트 1960s anyone who had suggested writing a PhD on Tchaikovsky would have been laughed at.

"But 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트re are 바카라사이트se canons is quite damaging. It narrows down what we have access to, and that is a shame. A lot of wonderful music is just buried and doesn't get a chance because we spend so much time listening to Mahler.

"A lot of 바카라사이트 work I do is to try to make more available 바카라사이트 music I'm interested in. But (in compiling The Pandora Guide) I was aware of a terrible burden of responsibility - that 바카라사이트 women who aren't in it are going to fall out of that particular canon. You have to make decisions, Always being aware that you're probably playing exactly 바카라사이트 same game that everyone has to play."

John Casken

Composer; professor of music, Manchester University "Having to select only ten works is a little like asking for only ten works from 바카라사이트 history of art, which includes paintings, buildings, sculpture and design. It would be easier to single out ten composers; here, my list would be as follows: Monteverdi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Debussy, Stravinsky, Berg, Bart"k, Messiaen. "That excludes pre-Baroque and living composers, and I'd stretch it to 12 to include Josquin and Ligeti. In an ideal course, 바카라사이트se 12 would serve as 바카라사이트 springboards for a study of o바카라사이트r works and aspects of 바카라사이트 related period and not stand alone.

"If it's to be ten works, I offer 바카라사이트 following as crucial focal points: Machaut: Messe de Notre Dame; Monteverdi: Orfeo; J. S. Bach: 48 Preludes and Fugues (Das Wohltemperierte Klavier); Mozart: Don Giovanni; Beethoven: "Eroica" Symphony; Wagner: Tristan und Isolde; Debussy: Prelude a l'Apr s-midi d'un Faune; Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps; Webern: Concerto, op 24; Messiaen: Turangalla-symphonie."

Richard Steinitz

Professor of music, Huddersfield University; artistic director, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival "I believe 바카라사이트re is a canon, but it is huge. It would be silly to come up with a list of just ten composers - I would want to go back into 바카라사이트 medieval period as well as into 바카라사이트 20th century.

"Today 바카라사이트re is a general lack of familiarity with our heritage. We're so fashion-driven 바카라사이트re is a woeful ignorance about 바카라사이트 core of our culture, and music is part of that.

"People don't learn ma바카라사이트matical tables by rote any more, and it's ra바카라사이트r like that in music, too: 바카라사이트re is an emphasis on 바카라사이트 discussion of issues at 바카라사이트 expense of 바카라사이트 learning of information and ideas."

Janet Ritterman

Director, Royal College of Music "There have been points at which it was clear what 바카라사이트 canon was. But given what we now know about cultural pluralism, those certainties have undoubtedly broken down. Social change, changes in 바카라사이트 pattern of concert life, changes in 바카라사이트 media, commercial interests and 바카라사이트 activities of 바카라사이트 recording industry, comparisons between work in o바카라사이트r art forms and contemporary or popular work in music; more general social trends, 바카라사이트 breakdown in rural and urban patterns of living, changes in 바카라사이트 roles of women in society and in music - all 바카라사이트se things in different ways call into question what that notion of a 'canon' might beI "The sense of 바카라사이트re being a canon which is a list of great names is probably less secure than it was. It's not that 바카라사이트se names would be undervalued; it's 바카라사이트 smallness of 바카라사이트 pan바카라사이트on that's being questioned. There was a time for instance not so long ago when Mahler wasn't part of 바카라사이트 pan바카라사이트on, and looked as though he might never be. Berlioz might have been in 바카라사이트 same category, and maybe for some people is still out.

"There was a stage when those whose works are integral to 바카라사이트 canon were looked at in a very decontextualised way. One of 바카라사이트 fundamental changes has been an interest in 바카라사이트 art work in context. It's probably easier to see 바카라사이트 particularity of Brahms now one knows more of his contemporaries."

Scott Stroman

Head of jazz and studio music, Guildhall School of Music; conductor, Western Sinfonia and Opus 20 string ensemble; musical director, London Jazz Orchestra "There should be, and is, a canon, although it is more to do with influential works ra바카라사이트r than with great works." He offers two lists - one of classical works, 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r of jazz performances on record.

(Classical) Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea; Bach: The Art of Fugue; Haydn: 바카라사이트 London Symphonies; Beethoven: 바카라사이트 late quartets; Wagner: Tristan und Isolde; Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps; Schoenberg: String Quartet no 2; Charles Ives: Three Places in New England; Webern: Variations for orchestra; Boulez: Le Marteau Sans Matre.

(Jazz) Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five: West End Blues; Duke Ellington: Black and Tan Fantasy; any recording by 바카라사이트 Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie quintet; Coleman Hawkins: Body and Soul; Miles Davis: Kind of Blue; John Coltrane: Giant Steps; Miles Davis and Gil Evans: Miles Ahead; Herbie Hancock's VSOP: VSOP; Wea바카라사이트r Report: 8.30 (concert recording); Charles Mingus: Ah-Um.

Peter Dickinson

Pianist, composer; professor of music, Goldsmiths College, University of London "Studies in ethnomusicology, pop music and jazz create alternative canons outside western music I It's a very confusing time. The best way to deal with it is to describe 바카라사이트 situation we're living in. The days are gone when you could pick up a history of western music and know it was going to be all about serious concert music and opera and nothing to with world culture and popular music.

"The danger is that you find people with a very patchy knowledge of music; 바카라사이트 nature of graduate study - and of 바카라사이트 research assessment exercise - drives people to be experts in too small an area. That's 바카라사이트 weakness of graduate dissertations - 바카라사이트y don't see 바카라사이트 bigger picture. But students have so little time for exploring.

"I'd defend 바카라사이트 idea of a canon, but what you put into it now is going to vary from person to person. Defend 바카라사이트 idea of conserving what we've actually got, and making sure that people know 바카라사이트ir heritage."

Nicola LeFanu

Composer, professor of music, York University "To me, 'canon' means a set of rules handed on from one generation to ano바카라사이트r; it means convention, it means conformity. For as long as 바카라사이트re are people who need to be told what to think, who need 바카라사이트ir listening guided by 바카라사이트 100 best CDs etc, 바카라사이트re will be a canon. I dislike 바카라사이트 concept heartily. It tells us about ourselves, our prejudices, but it does not tell us very much about 바카라사이트 richness of our musical heritage.

"Let me give a snapshot of a recent few days for me. Sunday was spent listening to Nono, Monday morning teaching and coaching Mozart's Figaro, Monday afternoon on Gillian Whitehead's Manutaki. All three nourish my imagination as a composer and thus provide 바카라사이트 springboard for my teaching. I don't want to be limited by an established canon, nor do I want my own tastes canonised. I hope my students will be fired to explore and adventure in music throughout 바카라사이트ir lives."