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Listen To This by Alex Ross I hate ?classical music?: not the thing but the name. It traps a tenaciously living art in a theme park of the past. It cancels out the possibility that music in the spirit of Beethoven could still be created today. It banishes into limbo the work of thousands of active composers who have to explain to otherwise well-informed people what it is they do for a living. The phrase is a masterpiece of negative publicity, a tour de force of anti-hype. I wish there were another name. I envy jazz people who speak simply of ?the music.? Some jazz aficionados also call their art ?America?s classical music,? and I propose a trade: they can have ?classical,? I?ll take ?the music.?
