Music - Are There Any Absolutes?
Created | Updated Mar 16, 2007
"Caruso - the greatest ever tenor" - - "Thomas Beecham - the greatest conductor of recent years" - - "Heifitz - the all-time greatest violin virtuoso"
Common enough statements aren't they? But, to use the vernacular, "Says who?" Are these and similar such "labels" justified and, if so, on what grounds? Who has the depth of knowledge and understanding to make such assertions? In their time many now famous and revered musicians were mocked and even ridiculed. Who knows what effect the passage of time will have on the quoted examples?
One objective of this entry is to provoke discussion (with copious examples) of the merit or otherwise of generally accepting a 'learned' view. Must we all conform for fear of being in a small and derided minority; or can we oversimplify things and settle for, "I know what I like?"
Common enough statements aren't they? But, to use the vernacular, "Says who?" Are these and similar such "labels" justified and, if so, on what grounds? Who has the depth of knowledge and understanding to make such assertions? In their time many now famous and revered musicians were mocked and even ridiculed. Who knows what effect the passage of time will have on the quoted examples?
One objective of this entry is to provoke discussion (with copious examples) of the merit or otherwise of generally accepting a 'learned' view. Must we all conform for fear of being in a small and derided minority; or can we oversimplify things and settle for, "I know what I like?"
