The music that is better than itself

a reply to: Astyanax

It's a common sense observation.

Otherwise, you are correct.

originally posted by: Astyanax
Similar experiments have shown that most people confabulate differences and critical comparisons between identical colas and blended Scotch whiskies in blind taste tests. Everybody's a critic.

Can you supply a reference?

originally posted by: Astyanax
The reach of human vanity is infinite. Anyone who thinks himself immune from such frailties knows little of humanity, and of himself least of all.

Then the one who wrote

originally posted by: Astyanax
a reply to: vernichter
You may be unable to perceive the difference to which I allude, but it is there all the same.

is not immune either.

originally posted by: Astyanax
a reply to: Liquesence

So, this basically says is that, insofar as "classical" type music is concerned, the general public is conditioned to believe that there are certain masterpieces only because there is an academic consensus that those works deserve elevated recognition.

That's the paranoid interpretation.

The student of human nature merely recalls that most people are poorly educated and lack taste, and will do their best to cover up these inadequacies in the presence of those they believe to be better supplied with them.

No further explanation is called for.

The problem is that the music critics who are well educated and have excellent taste managed to trash and praise the same record when it was released under different names: www.abovetopsecret.com...