Oliver Knussen makes a late protest against mass culture
mainFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
Contemporary composers are not, on the whole, the most considerate members of the human species. Their time is spent writing music, promoting it, and making a living at some more profitable form of musical activity, like banking a university salary. Whatever time they have left is treated as me-time, understandably so.
All the more reason, then, to remember Oliver Knussen, who died earlier this year, for his vast generosity in conducting works by other composers — time that he might otherwise have spent finishing his own works. Ollie was a perceptive interpreter and naturally communicative conductor. He brings to life here
Read on here.
Not considerate?? I would have thought the opposite??
I agree. And both Mahler and Richard Strauss also had the same problem. Schumann would have had the same problem too if he had been a better conductor.
Please could you provide appropriate evidence and citations for your assessment of the personalities of composers?