The Choral Contrarians
A couple of friendly conductors bantering about complex issues affecting the choral world.
The Choral Contrarians
Chain Links and the Cult of Progress
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Eric Barnum and Richard Robbins
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Season 3
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Episode 9
Richard and Eric tackle a juicy quote about Herbert Howells from a 1950s Musical Times article composed by Gerald Finzi. “To some the idiom will appear ‘dated,’ and poorer critical minds attach much greater significance to this word than it deserves. ‘All only constant is in constant change,’ but too often the generations see only the change and overlook the constancy. We are, after all, only a link in a chain and each link must, of necessity, lie the opposite way to its predecessor.” Where are we at today with some of the notions Finzi presents?
Finzi, G. (1954). Herbert Howells. The Musical Times, 95(1334), 180-183. doi:10.2307/934754